Chenglong Tao

LEGENDARY INTERVIEW

Design Legends ("DL") had the distinct honour to interview legendary designer Chenglong Tao ("CT") for their original perspective and innovative approach to design as well as their creative lifestyle, we are very pleased to share our interview with our distinguished readers.

DL: Could you please tell us a bit about your design background and education?

CT : In the middle school era, I majored in art painting. The major in university studies was art decoration design. But after graduation, I did not do the design work in the interior decoration industry, but engaged in graphic design.

DL: What motivates you to design in general, why did you become a designer?

CT : At first, I was only able to find a job related to art after graduation, and later became a love. I was willing to take the time to do better with my interest.

DL: Did you choose to become a designer, or you were forced to become one?

CT : At first, it should be forced. At that time, the family’s economic conditions were not good. After graduation, I was not allowed to engage in painting careers. At first, I even excluded the operation on the computer. At that time, I felt that I felt a sense of accomplishment in painting and painting. After a long time, I have an interest, and finally I like design.

DL: What do you design, what type of designs do you wish to design more of?

CT : Fonts, jewellery, these two design types

DL: What distinguishes between a good designer and a great designer?

CT : The works designed by great designers are beyond the times; the works designed by excellent designers are in line with the current trend, but after a few years, they are out of date.

DL: What makes a good design a really good design, how do you evaluate good design?

CT : Vision and function must be perfectly integrated. I have seen many competitions held by Yuanxiao in China. The first prize has some ideas, but the specific visual design can't keep up. Even the product styling and the annual typesetting display are very ugly. Not a few, no harsh attitude, the impact is very bad.

DL: What is the value of good design? Why should everyone invest in good design?

CT : Art works with practical functions, that is, this thing has the aesthetic enjoyment in addition to the use function, this is the good thing everyone should invest.

DL: What would you design and who would you design for if you had the time?

CT : Fonts and jewellery design, while Chinese fonts require a lot of time to make. If you have time, I still choose to cooperate with the font company, because the font company has technical support to improve production efficiency.

DL: What is the dream project you haven’t yet had time to realize?

CT : A new set of fonts has been taken by a font company, but the other party is a small startup company. The time and rewards for me are very limited. I want to implement a complete set of Chinese title art fonts.

DL: What is your secret recipe of success in design, what is your secret ingredient?

CT : Others like to watch more, see more natural and think more, but the things that are made have traces of imitation; and my approach is contrary to others, it is ok to see other people's works, but can not imitate, to make Creative ideas that are different from those of others.

DL: Who are some other design masters and legends you get inspired from?

CT : The public number tweets of some merchants in the chat software, which share some works and industry trends every day, but I just look at it, don't imitate it, see if it can improve the horizon, the industry is just tweet can strengthen its professionalism.

DL: What is your greatest design, which aspects of that design makes you think it is great?

CT : The pendant design of the Chinese character hollow structure (sorry that this design has not been shown on the line, will be seen in the future), this design has made the Chinese square characters into a hollow three-dimensional structure, simple and without any excessive modification, wearing groups are not limited to men and women gender.

DL: How do you define design, what is design for you?

CT : Keep improving and repeating it, this is my attitude towards design.

DL: Who helped you to reach these heights, who was your biggest supporter?

CT : I have no one to guide my growth. Everything depends on my own interests. In the Internet age, I can find information and improve it slowly, instead of stepping into the sky.

DL: What helped you to become a great designer?

CT : Art foundation + refinement attitude

DL: What were the obstacles you faced before becoming a design master?

CT : Public relations

DL: What’s your next design project, what should we expect from you in future?

CT : Jewelry design, this is another design direction that I am going at the same time. I will see the jewelry works I designed in the future.

DL: What’s your ultimate goal as a designer?

CT : Become a master of design

DL: What are you currently working on that you are especially excited about?

CT : To make a Chinese character series pendant and other jewelry design, as well as a small number of daily necessities design, the manuscript has been completed, has already achieved some honors.

DL: How long does it take you to finalize a design project?

CT : This question depends on the design. If you design a Latin font, it takes only half a month from the character design to the OTF format font file output. If you are designing a Chinese character library, the Chinese characters of a set of fonts need at least 6763 to qualify. More than 9 months. Jewelry design looks complicated, usually male jewelry is relatively simple, not so many diamonds inlaid, there are not so many complex curve shapes, the construction period is very short.

DL: What is your life motto as a designer?

CT : Think of design as a hobby, and take action and devote yourself to it.

DL: Do you think design sets the trends or trends set the designs?

CT : The trend of this thing, on the other hand, limits the differentiation of design, and it is easy to be similar to most designs on the market, and try to avoid being led by the trend.

DL: What is the role of technology when you design?

CT : Technology is to quickly convert design ideas into visual works services. Technical proficiency can save a lot of time for work. The same quality works faster than others, complete better, leave more time for Design concept, scrutiny,

DL: What kind of design software and equipment do you use in your work?

CT : It can be said that unscrupulous, plane, three-dimensional as long as it can serve the design works, often several software turns to use the division of labor, such as CorelDRAW & Illustrator, they are vector drawing software, but the functions are different, each has its own strength, I am doing fonts CorelDRAW is preferred because the curve curvature will change after Illustrator's node is deleted; Photoshop is preferred for processing images, and InDesign is used for editing layout; if 3D is used, 3ds Max is used, except for mainstream software, some independent renderers. (such as KeyShot) and small software can be used.

DL: When you see a new great design or product what comes into your mind?

CT : I will sigh the author's unique ideas.

DL: Who is your ideal design partner? Do you believe in co-design?

CT : The cooperation between a team, the ability between the players can be different, but the level of cooperation can not be too much. So I usually complete the design tasks independently.

DL: How did you develop your skills as a master designer?

CT : Think more, basic questions are less asked; in the Internet age, most problems can be solved by searching for answers.

DL: How do you feel about all the awards and recognition you had, is it hard to be famous?

CT : The quality level of the awards and the number of awards are necessary for joining some design institutes. The award is the premise. The success is based on whether or not to actively join some professional organizations and participate in activities and exhibitions.

DL: When you were a little child, was it obvious that you would become a great designer?

CT : When I was a child, I wanted to be a painter. When I was designing for a long time, I found that design is a creative industry. When a work is created, the achievement is as good as pure art.