Joe Miller是來自英國的產品設計師，在歐洲領頭的產品設計與開發(fā)咨詢公司之一的DCA工作已近兩年。在DCA的時間里，他摘得了iF也榮獲了紅點。這個熱愛創(chuàng)造和發(fā)想新鮮、有趣、且具意義的點子的設計師，和設計之間有怎樣的故事呢？我們不妨來了解一下。

Joe Miller

Narkii:

作為歐洲領頭的產品設計與開發(fā)咨詢公司之一，DCA在選人上有什么標準呢？您身上有哪些優(yōu)勢？ 

As one of Europe's leading product design and development consultancies, what are the talent-selecting standards in DCA? What are your advantages?

Joe:

DCA招聘許多專業(yè)的人，針對不同專業(yè)都有獨特的人才選擇標準—內部擁有廣泛的技能，肯定是DCA的主要優(yōu)勢之一。 由于我很少參與DCA的人才選拔策略，我只能說說我個人的招聘標準。任何希望在該領域尖端工作的設計師都應該要能夠展示出強大的創(chuàng)造性思維，并擁有相應的技能，將他們的思想和點子美好地帶到生活中。 

DCA employs people from such a large range of disciplines, each having their own distinct talent-selecting standards – having such a wide spread of skills in-house is certainly one of DCA’s major advantages. As I am seldom involved in DCA’s talent-selecting strategies I can only comment on what my own personal standards would be for hiring new talent. Any designer wanting to work at the top of the field should be able to show great creative thinking and have the subsequent skills to develop and bring their thoughts and ideas to life beautifully.

Narkii: 

DCA的服務范圍涵蓋多個領域，您有具體負責哪一塊嗎？

DCA has been focusing on many sectors, are you in charge of a specific one?

Joe:

DCA是一家大的設計顧問公司，有一些部門經理負責管理四個部分的設計和工程項目，這四個部門分別是：消費者，交通，商業(yè)或工業(yè)以及醫(yī)療或科學。我作為一名工業(yè)設計師，可以跨越這些部門展開工作，不過，我大部分的項目是消費者部門的——消費者部門的項目通常包括消費電子產品，快速消費品（FMCG）或品牌戰(zhàn)略工作。 

As DCA is a large consultancy, there are a number of sector managers that manage design and engineering projects across the four sectors, which are: consumer, transport, commercial/industrial and medical/scientific. In my role as an industrial designer I am able to work in across all of these sectors, however, most of my projects have fallen into the consumer sector – The consumer sector projects usually comprise of consumer electronics, fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) or brand strategy work.

Narkii: 

您有過三段實習經歷，它們對您現(xiàn)在的工作有怎樣的影響呢？

You have three intern experiences. What kind of influence do they have on your current job?

Joe:

我的前三份實習為我現(xiàn)在的這份工作做了種種鋪墊。為許多著名的國際品牌服務，我獲得了寶貴的經驗，學會了如何做出可供生產的解決方案以及如何將品牌身份轉變成3D產品和形狀——所有的這些經歷將我塑造成了現(xiàn)在這樣的設計師。 

My three prior internships prepared me in a number of ways for my current job. I gained valuable experience working for a number of well-known international brands, learnt about how to create production-ready solutions and how to translate a brand’s identity into 3D products & shapes – all of these experiences have helped to shape the type of designer I am in my current role.

MERSIV 沉浸式語言學習概念

Narkii:  

每個國家的文化、思維等都有所差異，自然設計流程上也就有所不同。您的設計流程通常是怎樣的呢？ 

Countries vary in culture, thinking pattern, etc. So does the design process. What kind of design process do you usually follow?

Joe:

我不認為每個項目都應該遵循一個“圣杯似的”的設計流程。 我的設計流程因項目而異，取決于項目的性質和時間。 

I don’t subscribe to the thinking that there is one ‘holy-grail’ design process that should be followed for every project. My design process varies from project to project, changing depending on the nature & timeframe of the project.

不過，一般我喜歡從一些非常隨意的草圖開始，這些草圖對于其他人來說常常更像是無法辨認的涂鴉，但是它可以幫助我很快地專注于問題，并思考可能的解決方案。通常，我也會在設計初期就開始使用CAD，因為我發(fā)現(xiàn)畫粗略快速地3D模型是從各個角度評估設計的一個有用的工具，這是2D草圖所不能做到的。在設計流程的后期，我會在Solidworks 和 Keyshot之間來回，用后者來評估設計在不同關照條件下，以及在不同的顏色、材料和表面處理下是如何工作的。 

However, I generally prefer to start with some extremely loose sketching, often these sketches look more like indecipherable scribbles to everyone else, but this helps me to quickly wrap my head around the problem and think through potential solutions. Often, I also start using CAD quite early in the design process, as I find creating rough, fast 3D models is a useful tool in evaluating designs from every angle, something you can’t get from a 2D sketch. Towards the later stages of the design process I am generally jumping back and forth between Solidworks & Keyshot, using the latter to evaluate how the design works under different lighting conditions and how it works in a variation of colours, materials and finishes.

Narkii:   

您覺得設計流程中哪一塊最重要呢？ 

Which part of design process do you consider the most important?

Joe:

再次，我認為這取決于項目。比如，如果我是從無到有地去創(chuàng)造一個產品，那么點子發(fā)想的過程是最重要的——當點子很垃圾，那后續(xù)創(chuàng)造新東西也沒有意義。但是，如果項目是要去改良一個現(xiàn)有產品，那么對形式細節(jié)進行細微調節(jié)的過程就會更重要。 

Again, I think this is dependent on the project. For example, if I was creating a product from nothing, I would consider the ideation process to be the most important – there is no point of creating something new if the idea it is based on is rubbish. However, if the project was to reskin an existing product, the process fine tuning the details of the form would then become more important.

Narkii:    

您的作品KORUS無限模塊麥克風獲得了2017年的紅點概念獎，您是如何想到這個設計的呢？ 

The KORUS Wireless Modular Microphone won the 2017 Red Dot Concept Award. Can you tell us how did this idea occur to you?

Joe:

在我很難同時錄下吉他和我的聲音時，我就有了這個想法——似乎其實不用這么麻煩，這么多的設備也沒必要。我開始思考，回想以前樂隊錄音時遇到的困難。對這個問題進行了一些錄音和現(xiàn)場表演的研究后，我就想到了一種新型的麥克風。之后我做了很多實驗，就這個點子試了很多種不同概念，直到設計出了KORUS 麥克風。 

The idea came to me when I was struggling to record both my guitar and vocals at the same time - There seemed to be an unnecessary amount of hassle and equipment required. This got me thinking, reminding me of previous struggles when trying to record bands I had been in in the past. After some more research into the problems with audio recording and live performance, the idea for a new type of microphone struck me. This idea then developed as I experimented with different variations on the idea, until the final KORUS microphone was created.

KORUS無線模塊麥克風概念

Narkii:    

我們知道為品牌服務需要尊崇品牌的一些特定元素。在這種框架之下，您是如何創(chuàng)新的呢？這種框架對您來說是阻礙還是促進您的設計呢？ 

We know that designing for brands require the designers to follow specific elements of the brands. Within this frame, how do you make innovation? Does this frame obstruct you or facilitate you in design?

Joe:

我不認為品牌的視覺語言對設計創(chuàng)新是一種障礙，在品牌語言之內進行設計，對于創(chuàng)造出穩(wěn)固統(tǒng)一的產品組來說非常關鍵。不過，當品牌把設計僅僅當做在生搬硬套，而非一種創(chuàng)造新的更好的事物的工具，那么就有問題了——這樣的心態(tài)毫無疑問會限制設計的作用。 

I don’t see designing within a brand’s visual brand language as a barrier for innovation, designing within the brand’s language is crucial to create a strong, unified set of products. However, problems arise when brands see design merely as a box ticking exercise and not a tool to create new and better things – mentalities like this can certainly limit design’s impact.

Narkii:     

平時有什么愛好嗎？這些愛好有給您帶來什么靈感嗎？ 

What is your hobby? Do you get inspiration from it?

Joe:

我最喜歡做的事情之一就是旅行，我能看到人們是怎么生活的，以及在他們的文化之下，他們與產品之間的交互又有什么不同。我希望這些東西能夠影響和激勵我成為更好的設計師。 

One of my favorite things to do is travel, seeing how people live and interact with products differently depending on their culture is something I hope has influenced and inspired me to be a better designer.

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