Ruma Design

LEGENDARY INTERVIEW

Design Legends ("DL") had the distinct honour to interview legendary designer Ruma Design ("RD") 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?

RD : RUMA is a new and fresh design team founded by two industrial designers with wide experience in the industry, chiefly in the automotive field.

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

RD : I always dreamed about creating something different, to come up with new shapes and volumes, from architecture to fine arts, and applying those ideas to technology and transportation design.

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

RD : It was totally my decision

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

RD : RUMA specialises in transportation and mobility design, with focus on high-tech and upscale products as well as a growing interest in the sustainability and wellbeing industries, which we are passionate about.

DL: What should young designers do to become a design legend like you?

RD : We are an up and coming company with incredible talent and experience and our hard work is paying off in different ways. But to become a legend, which is something we aspire to, you must remain constant, always try your best, be motivated and train your talent. It may sound cliché but there are no shortcuts.

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

RD : A great designer thinks big and always goes beyond.

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

RD : A great design is when you find a beautiful shape that follows and helps the function; innovating in the technology and materials and adding new values to the current market.

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

RD : Just by having a look at the consequences of a bad design.

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

RD : In RUMA we aim high. We want to be at the forefront of technology and lead the most ambitious projects that we come across. Things like Hyperloop or even spacecrafts are what really makes us tickle.

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

RD : We have kept so busy this first two years we have not even had time to ask ourselves that.

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

RD : Despite the risk of sounding cliché again, our secret is to always thing outside the box.

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

RD : There are some ‘geniuses’ like Daniel Simon, Luigi Colani, Sergio Pininfarina, M.C. Escher, Zaha hadid and some others that have inspired us over the years.

DL: What are your favorite designs by other designers, why do you like them?

RD : It comes to my mind the Alfa Romeo 33 stradale designed by Franco Scaglione or the Lancia Stratos Zero by Marcello Gandini.

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

RD : A luxury premium Swiss watch that will be launched ,if the little bug allows it, this 2020, where we create a beautiful merger of materials, technology and swiss precision, with added value such as a never-seen-before accuracy and innovative treatment of surfaces.

DL: How could people improve themselves to be better designers, what did you do?

RD : As I said before, you must be constant, do your best, be motivated and train your talent.

DL: If you hadn’t become a designer, what would you have done?

RD : Oh! very disparate yet somewhat interconnected things, from psychology to architecture.

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

RD : Making things better, smarter and nicer.

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

RD : My parents have been my greatest allies, for which I feel thankful and privileged.

DL: What helped you to become a great designer?

RD : Greatness is a pursuit. Effort and motivation have helped us to get where we are, but greatness must always remain an aspiration.

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

RD : Not having a clear path or enough information to get to my targets

DL: How do you think designers should present their work?

RD : With eagerness and self-awareness. Learning to land punches and overcoming obstacles, and looking at your accomplishments with prudent humility.

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

RD : A smart healthcare product for clinical treatment.

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

RD : Our ultimate goal is to help humanity advance and reach new horizons from the humility of our desks, knowing good design can push technology to the stars, quite literally. We would of course love it if our brand would get to be remembered in the future, for an iconic design that became ingrained in popular culture like those designs that we grew up loving.

DL: What people expect from an esteemed designer such as yourself?

RD : People expect us to look at things differently and provide them with an ingenious solution.

DL: How does design help create a better society?

RD : Giving new solutions to emerging needs; helping people and making the world easier and nicer to live in.

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

RD : Bringing together the newest technology and applying it to one of our exciting new projects.

DL: Which design projects gave you the most satisfaction, why?

RD : A smart motorbike helmet concept showcased at the CES Las Vegas 2020 which we designed for a leading company.

DL: What would you like to see changed in design industry in the coming years?

RD : I would like design in general to be more valued by sectors outside its own. To many people, good design remains an invisible aspect of why a good product is good. When in fact, oftentimes good design is the difference between a product that makes it, and one that fails.

DL: Where do you think the design field is headed next?

RD : Virtual Reality, 3D printing and user experiences.

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

RD : It depends on the size of the project, and how many people are involved in the design team.

DL: When you have a new design project, where do you start?

RD : Sharing a coffee with the rest of the team at the office’s lounge and doing a brainstorming.

DL: What is your life motto as a designer?

RD : There is always a way to improve it.

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

RD : The best designers create trends, the rest follow those trends.

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

RD : It is crucial for our designs. The marriage of technology and design is responsible for the giant leaps our society has experienced over the last two decades.

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

RD : As a multidisciplinary team, we use many kind of softwares, since hand sketches, to vectorial sotfware and high end quality 3D surface modeling

DL: What is the role of the color, materials and ambient in design?

RD : As crucial as the rest of the features. Particularly materials, which can be the most important part of a product.

DL: What do you wish people to ask about your design?

RD : We are passionate about our designs and can talk at length about any aspect. A good design, however, should be self-explanatory; what we call User Experience and User Interface. If feedback is not positive in every single aspect of the design, we would have to go back to the sketch board.

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

RD : The first thing that comes to mind is something akin to; Wow! What a fantastic solution, how could I not think of that? We are happy to see great design becoming apparent in many industries and it inspires us to continue coming up with new ideas.

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

RD : Working as a team is essential to make a good product, it is something we learned after working in the automotive industry for many years. A big project is an organic interaction between you, your partners and third parties. Co-design is our default as a team of two, and right now we are each other’s ideal design partners.

DL: Which people you interacted had the most influence on your design?

RD : A lot of people have influenced me along my professional career. It is important to appreciate the good work of a chief designer or a colleague, but it is also important to learn from other people’s mistakes.

DL: Which books you read had the most effect on your design?

RD : I couldn’t say which book had the deepest effect on my designs, but I read some good books related to design, and psychology of design which may have influenced me indeed, such The Shape of Design by Frank Chimero, Cosmic motors by Daniel Simon or Principles of Three-Dimensional Design by Lucius Wong.

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

RD : Technical skills are of the most important things to grow day by day, and doing it so within some of the best design teams in the world has certainly helped a lot.

DL: Irrelative of time and space, who you would want to meet, talk and discuss with?

RD : Luigi Colani would be remarkably interesting to meet

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

RD : I would not say I am famous at all, but having received several awards is very motivational, and gives us even more strength to carry on working.

DL: What is your favorite color, place, food, season, thing and brand?

RD : Red; Bolonia beach In Cadiz, Spain; Spring; cars, Bang & Olufsen

DL: Please tell us a little memoir, a funny thing you had experienced as a designer?

RD : Once, on a crowdy day earlier this year, while attending the CES Exhibition in Las Vegas, I was dying for a coffee; but the queue of the cafeteria was such that I started a conversation with the man in front of me. After exchanging a few words, that man turned out to be the CEO of a big company who proposed my team to design their new star product.

DL: What makes your day great as a designer, how do you motivate yourself?

RD : Motivation is important, especially in our great team, but personally it helps me a lot to exercise every day; it clears my mind and keeps me focused on my goals.

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

RD : Since I was a kid I always loved sketching and cars; and I wanted to do great things.

DL: What do you think about future; what do you see will happen in thousand years from now?

RD : It is hard to say but we if we have not disappeared as a species yet, we will likely have become a post-scarcity civilisation by harnessing the power of our home star. What a vision! Dyson swarms, space lifts, interplanetary vessels… they will need designers, that is for sure!

DL: Please tell us anything you wish your fans to know about you, your design and anything else?

RD : In most cases, a good project is not the work of a single person or the lone child of a supernatural genius, but the result of a great multidisciplinary team working together eagerly for the same purpose.