Leafer Circular Design

LEGENDARY INTERVIEW

Design Legends ("DL") had the distinct honour to interview legendary designer Leafer Circular Design ("LCD") 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?

LCD : Leafer’s co-founders met at the National Cheng Kung University Institute of Creative Industries Design (NCKU ICID). One was an industrial designer exploring service design for the circular economy. The other was a communications researcher exploring user experience and web development. They united under the mission of helping small and medium-sized enterprises become circular businesses through system thinking, a focus on users, and maximizing material value.

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

LCD : We are circular designers because we want to help businesses satisfy their target users in a way that maximizes the value generated and of the resources used.

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

LCD : Designers have both the blessing and curse of knowing that the world around us has been designed. In this world of our own creation, we have the privilege of working with key business decision makers, and the responsibility of helping them consider sustainability and impact.

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

LCD : As circular designers, we consider whether the value of the resources used are maximized. Our design work ranges from the design of a product or production itself, to its supporting packaging or visual communication, to the overall service design or user experiences, and to any other sort of work to create value. Our favorite designs are the ones in which the client was willing to work with us on rethinking their original inquiry. Rather than being a product-driven design team, we’re driven by the goal of helping the client achieve greater value through strategic reevaluation and efficient resource allocation.

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

LCD : To design is to learn how to observe something, to replicate it, and then improve upon it.

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

LCD : Designers need to be able to zoom in and out of the challenge at hand. This allows them to think outside the box, while also creating fine-tuned solutions to meet the challenges presented.

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

LCD : A successful design helps the target audience envision a better outcome and includes tangible steps to make that happen. It’s system-driven, user-centric, and maximizes use of resources.

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

LCD : We hope companies will be open to letting designers work with them on higher-level projects, considering strategy and business model. A good designer can identify a company’s advantages, the value of its used resources, and create business models, products, and services to make efficient use of resources to satisfy the needs of their users.

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

LCD : We focus on working with small and medium-sized companies. They’re the backbone of our economy and often the most interested yet hesitant to use new business models in line with the circular economy. We’re trying to change the world, one step at a time.

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

LCD : In the future, we hope to create a system for connecting Taiwan’s small and medium-sized enterprises to a network of circular designers. To achieve this, we are working on training designers and gathering momentum as a design company.

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

LCD : Rather than being object-driven (e.g., a product, a brand, a platform), we’re driven by the goal of helping the client achieve greater value through strategic reevaluation and efficient resource allocation.

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

LCD : We are inspired by the world around us. From the work of other designers, from nature, from the unspoken systems that our society has created.

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

LCD : One design item we’re a fan of is Gogoro’s battery swap network. The design of this business model has successfully allowed their electronic scooters to infiltrate the local long-established gas-powered motorcycle market, and now they’re expanding into other international markets.

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

LCD : It’s hard to pinpoint a single greatest design, but a memorable one we are proud of was the creation of a new product line using a client’s production byproducts. We essentially helped them create value out of thin air, while maximizing the use of existing resources.

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

LCD : To design is to learn how to observe something, to replicate it, and then improve upon it.

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

LCD : Leafer is an interdisciplinary design company focused on helping clients join the circular economy. Even if we weren’t able to “design”, we would be helping our clients with strategic planning and business consulting.

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

LCD : Design is envisioning the result, and planning the process. It is about communicating a tangible solution to address the needs of a target client or user, and then clarifying the steps needed to achieve that.

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

LCD : We are grateful to our long-time clients for working with us since our beginning as freelancers.

DL: What helped you to become a great designer?

LCD : Many iterations and interactions helped us become great designers. Each time we work with clients, we hone skills to discover the true needs behind their initial inquiry, get better at communicating proposals, and create better designs that maximize the value of resources used.

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

LCD : Early on, we were approached by an activism group asking for unpaid proposals to a large enterprise’s goal of reducing plastic waste. We figured why not, and approached the project like we do with any other case: taking a step back to identify the reason behind this plastic becoming “waste” in their system, and creating a solution tailored to address that issue and that creates value for all involved. When we heard the proposals from the other groups and their feedback, we knew they had no real desire to change their business model, and just wanted a shiny new product package for the sake of greenwashing. This solidified our desire to focus on helping small and medium-sized enterprises, and to hold true to our mission of creating products and services that create economic value and reduce environmental impact.

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

LCD : Designers should present their work in a way to best communicate to the target user. There is no one solution to accomplish this.

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

LCD : We’re currently working on a workshop to help designers lead businesses to reconsider their resource use and business models. We hope this can help more companies employ designers in higher-level design projects, ultimately creating more circular economy businesses.

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

LCD : In the future, we hope to create a system for connecting Taiwan’s small and medium-sized enterprises to a network of circular designers. To achieve this, we have to start training designers and gathering momentum as a design company.

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

LCD : Most new clients are unfamiliar with design, thinking it’s only about making objects attractive. Due to that, we often hear the innocent question of “can you give me a quote for a _ product?” This greatly underestimates the value design can bring beyond object exteriors, whether it be creating a new experience for existing products, creating new services based on identified user needs, or even creating new business opportunities.

DL: How does design help create a better society?

LCD : It’s commonly quoted that the design stage is responsible for 80% of a product’s environmental impact. We as designers have the privilege of working with key business decision makers, and the responsibility of helping them consider sustainability.

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

LCD : We’re currently working on a workshop to help designers lead businesses to reconsider their resource use and business models. We believe this can help more companies employ designers in higher-level design projects, ultimately creating more circular economy businesses.

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

LCD : A recent memorable design project was the creation of a new product line using a client’s production byproducts. We essentially helped them create value out of thin air, while maximizing the use of existing resources.

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

LCD : As circular designers, we consider whether the value of the resources used are maximized. Yes, agricultural waste can be combined with plastic trash to create new products, but surely this is costly, creates relatively low new value, and will be harder to separate in the future! A better design might take a step back to identify why this plastic ended up as trash, find ways to efficiently extract value of each individual part before being “waste”, and involve a design that keeps future separation (value) in mind. We hope to see the design industry create long-term value rather than twice used trash.

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

LCD : We agree with IDEO CEO Tim Brown’s statement, “The next big thing in design is circular.” More and more businesses are realizing how unsustainable their business models are to themselves and the planet. Circular economy is a practical approach to becoming sustainable, with design at the core of making it possible.

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

LCD : Object design can take anywhere from a few months to a full year.

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

LCD : Our design process starts from exploration and clarification. Following that we propose and revise based on the client’s feedback. Lastly, we execute our ideas, creating something that we’ll all be satisfied with.

DL: What is your life motto as a designer?

LCD : Users are central to any design. A design without their needs and situations in mind is useless.

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

LCD : A successful design helps the target audience envision a better outcome and includes tangible steps to make that happen. In this way, design makes trends possible. Still, at the same time, it’s trends that help inform what designs to make.

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

LCD : We like to get our hands dirty by experimenting with new materials, platforms, and technology. For example, based on our experience optimizing an earth-based plaster ratio, we feel that clay has a lot of potential in replacing cement. Technology exploration opens our imaginations for future design work.

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

LCD : We use all the common tools: Adobe Creative Cloud, Google Cloud, Figma, Pinterest, etc. We use Figma in most projects we do to communicate ideas.

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

LCD : A successful design helps the target audience envision a better outcome and includes tangible steps to make that happen. It’s system-driven, user-centric, and maximizes use of resources.

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

LCD : We encourage curiosity and any sort of questions. It’s only through inquiry, observation, and communication, that we can improve our own abilities and output quality.

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

LCD : We see an opportunity to learn from their success. After all, to design is to learn how to observe, to replicate, and to improve something.

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

LCD : We design from goals, rather than objects. We like working with clients who are willing to work with us to re-clarify their needs. This allows us to work back from their initial request (e.g., a new product) and define the best solution to their actual need (e.g., perhaps an upgrade service to an old product will create more value for both the client and users). In that sense, design is a cooperative sport.

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

LCD : We’ve learned a great deal from our clients. Listening to and observing their situations, needs, critiques, and praises are what have allowed us to innovate thus far.

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

LCD : It’s hard to pinpoint a single most influential book, but we were heavily influenced by the concepts in the books “Products that Last” and “Products that Flow” by several authors affiliated with TU Delft.

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

LCD : Over iteration after iteration.

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

LCD : We always enjoy our chats with Shadow Chen, the CEO of the Circular Taiwan Network. We could talk for hours about global circular economy initiatives, the evolving industrial design field, and the challenges of running an organization.

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

LCD : We’re grateful that the merit of our work has been recognized by other designers. It’s not only encouraging to us as a motivator to continue, but also helps us to communicate to others the value we bring to our clients.

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

LCD : We’re biased, but we think Taiwan is a wonderful place. Taiwan, as a small island, has seen many different eras from aboriginal pasts to colonization by both the West and East to military dictatorship to modern democracy silently fighting for independence. As a small country with few natural resources, economic survival has been about finding niches and creating services between raw suppliers and buyers - often meaning design gets squeezed out of the business equation. We're excited that design in Taiwan is experiencing a design rebirth, as businesses realize design's ability in differentiation and revitalizing products and services.

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

LCD : We’re very lucky to have such great clients. In the distant past, miscommunication led to a fallout with one of our long-term clients. However, they weren’t able to find another designer of our caliber and quality, so they eventually reached out, and the miscommunication was smoothly resolved. Projects with them are always great.

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

LCD : We love the sense of achievement that comes from identifying the root issue of a situation, and later, developing a solution that creates value for all involved. We’re also invigorated by the challenge of possibly optimizing it further.

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

LCD : As children, many of us liked art, tinkering, and exploration.

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

LCD : We think humanity will become even more intertwined with technology. We hope that humanity can quickly move to circular economy business models, so that humanity can comfortably exist a thousand years from now.

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

LCD : We are Leafer on most social media platforms. If you have question or are interested in cooperating, please email us at hello@leaferdesign.com