The baby elephant was interviewed last week
It is known as the "ghost talent" designer in the domestic design industry
After the 90s, he is Hu Haoxiang Erik Hu
Winner of the German Red Dot Supreme Award and iF Design Award for two consecutive years
Recognized by the Shenzhen Municipal Government as overseas high-level A-class talents
With curiosity about this designer
The baby elephant had the next conversation with him
01/ Who is he? /
▲ Hu Haoxiang Erik Hu
Hello everyone, I am Erick, the chief designer of Opelean, a post-90s Guangdong person. After graduating from the Department of Industrial Modeling Design of Hunan University, he went to Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design in the United Kingdom to continue his studies in product design, and then studied at the Domus School of Design in Italy.
Worked at Jozeph Forakis Studio in Milan, working on projects such as Foscarini, The Plust Collection, Italia Independent and more. At present, he is the main designer of the product in Shenzhen Genting Information Technology Co., Ltd., responsible for the design of Opelean brand intelligent oral care products. 02/ New / Oclean X Nature electric toothbrush
Product name: Oclean X Nature
Slogan: "Smart" blessing, return to natural white
Product color: polar purple, morning mist green, cherry pink
Little Elephant: What is the main design concept of this new product? Hu Haoxiang: This new product is based on an upgrade based on the Opelean X product we launched last year, and the core of the design inspiration for this upgrade is the gift of nature. As Zheng Banqiao said: "In the early autumn of Jiangguan, when you wake up in the morning to see bamboo, smoke, sun shadows, and fog, they all float between the dense leaves. The chest is full of emotion, so there is a sense of painting. "In fact, our design is the same, what we want to express is exactly what we want to express - the bamboo in our chests."
▲ Inspiration intent diagram (image from pexels)
Everything in nature is rearranged and combined by our senses, touches, perceptions, and visions. Form a new product with the temperature of human emotion. They invisibly deepen our worship and reverence for nature, and what we want to do is to bring the beauty of nature into the daily life of urban people.
At the same time, the Oclean X series is also the industry's first color touch screen electric toothbrush. The biggest highlight is the color touch screen that comes with the electric toothbrush body, which can not only intuitively display the brushing data information, but also directly adjust the brushing mode, brushing strength and other settings through the touch screen. Up to now, there is no direct competitor in the market.
Loving landscapes and indulging in nature is the most natural pursuit of people. This time, we selected three of the most distinctive colors from nature: polar purple, morning mist green, and cherry pink, hoping to comfort the tired hearts of urban people with natural elements. Let people re-examine their lives through contact with natural elements, obtain inner healing and fulfillment, and discover the mysteries of life.
[1] The inspiration for the polar purple polar purple color is aurora, and its key word is expectation.
▲ Polar Purple
I have traveled to Iceland and Norway four times to seek the Aurora Borealis, but unfortunately I have not been able to do so each time. But I never gave up hope, after all, chasing the aurora is a happy thing in itself. We hope to express the mystery and anticipation of nature through "polar purple". After all, there is hope, there will be hope. Even a faint light of hope can light up the yearning for nature and freedom in the haze of the city.
[2] The key word of morning fog green morning fog green is awakening.
▲ Morning mist green
The trivialities of everyday life inevitably make people increasingly numb. I hope to convey this relaxation and awakening to the urban crowd through the green color of the morning fog. The first thing to do every morning is to brush your teeth, open your eyes, a touch of morning fog green, over the reinforced concrete urban forest, with the first rays of sunlight to remove the fog in the forest, bringing the freshest breath of air.
【3】 As the name suggests, the inspiration for cherry blossoms is the cherry blossoms.
▲ Cherry blossom powder
The world knows the beauty of cherry blossoms, but I want to use cherry blossoms to express strength. Some time ago, many people should have seen the video of the cherry blossoms blooming in Wuhan during the epidemic. Without the crowds of the past, the cherry blossoms in the city bloom quietly and fall quietly, like the wind and rain like the sea. After experiencing the harsh winter, it will all the power it has accumulated and release all the beauty overnight. It made us more confident in defeating the epidemic, and at the same time inspired my creation. Cherry blossoms are gorgeous, and their femininity contains wild vitality, just like the beauty of modern women. Independent, intellectual, and elegant in femininity and balance of power.
Little Elephant: What is the difference between the polar purple, morning mist green, and cherry blossom powder launched this time from the so-called net red electric toothbrush colors on the market? Personally, I feel that you are a little restrained in the treatment of color, why? Hu Haoxiang: A good-looking color, it is enduring, not aggressive. (It is necessary to get the most natural and comfortable color by constantly grading, experimenting, and proofing.) These three colors were launched, and our team set the color after more than 300 color gradings, more than 50 proofs, and repeated adjustments.
▲ Some products are proofed
I think colors have a life cycle. Especially now everyone likes to chase the popular color, this popular color at first glance is stunning, catching the eye, but over time, it will produce visual fatigue, and even produce a sense of disgust. Most of the products on the market at present are just blindly catering to the popularity. You say that this year's popular mint green, I will produce mint green, you say next year's popular avocado green, I will produce avocado green. Designers don't think about the relationship between color and product at all, just change colors. The job of a real product designer is to balance this "stunning" and "time test", which is commonly known as how to make the color attractive. It can be said that our color is not catering to the fashion, five years, ten years later, look at this color, still beautiful, still able to impress you, this is the power of the classic.
Xiao Xiang: As a daily necessity that everyone is familiar with, how did you control the details of the product in the process of designing this new product? Hu Haoxiang: User experience is supreme, and ordinary things need to be paid the most attention. Holding it in my hand and holding it in my mouth, these most inconspicuous contacts are important entry points for me to consider. This action of holding is the most commonly used and natural state of human hands. Starting from ergonomics, it is necessary to consider the size, shape, material, and touch of the factors that affect comfort.
▲ Details show when people see this product, naturally pick up, thumb naturally falls in the key position of opening, this is the second nature. All our designs are designed to follow the second nature of man.
▲ Color touch screen using color touch screens such as Opelean X Nature, why do we think of adding a touch screen to electric toothbrush products? Because the communication on the screen is the most intuitive, what you see is what you get, and you don't need complicated conversions. After brushing, the user visually displays the blind spot monitoring results on the screen and displays the brushing effect in eight partitions, which is the most intuitive. At the same time, by sliding the screen to set the brushing force, mode, time, etc. can also intuitively see the setting results, the interaction of the sliding operation is also the operation method that people have long been familiar with the mobile phone screen and the bracelet screen, and there is no learning cost.
▲ Wall mount suspended storage
Details are where the designer's skills are best demonstrated, and the simplest things are often the hardest. A small change in detail stems from a lot of research and insight into users. Oclean X Nature's suspended storage wall mount is an industry first. Everyone knows that electric toothbrushes are placed in the bathroom, the air is humid and easy to breed bacteria, and the bottom is more likely to have water stains and mildew. The wall hanging rack of suspension storage first solves the problem of storage and occupying space, suspended placement, to ensure ventilation and dryness, rapid drainage without mold, plus the storage rack is removed to become a charging base, it can be said that a design solves three problems.
▲ Product use effect display
▲ Three different product packaging displays
03/ About the Designer /
▲ Hu Haoxiang Erik
Little Elephant: How to get involved with design? What attracts you? Hu Haoxiang: I became a product designer because I was influenced by my father since I was a child. When I was young, I really enjoyed drawing. My father was arguably a geek of the '90s. When everyone's computers were still CRT monitors, my father bought a liquid crystal monitor. The fact that the huge monitor with the square head and the square brain could become so delicate was a great shock to me at the time. Many of the electrical appliances that my father bought were imported from Germany and Japan, and compared with the domestic single style and rugged appearance of the products at that time, I had a hazy understanding of product design. I wanted to create something like that.
▲ Student day works - faucets
Little Elephant: What are your daily design inspirations? And how do you accumulate material? Hu Haoxiang: Observe more, go out more, and experience different cultures and lives. Every year, I must take a month to walk around at home and abroad. When Japan received the award, it felt that Japanese design was everywhere, from tableware spoons to urban environmental planning, it could reflect the details of design and bring deep shock. Many foreign museums and exhibitions are worth seeing.
▲ Erik backpacking
▲ Smart toothbrush sterilizer
Little Elephant: Have you encountered any bottlenecks in your previous design work? If so, how is it solved? Hu Haoxiang: The most impressive thing should be the first product design after entering Oclean, which is a cooperation between Opelean and a century-old oral care brand. Before, I also thought that the design of electric toothbrushes would be very simple, not just Madaga shells, brush heads. But for the first time, a comprehensive study of the use of toothbrushes was conducted. This includes picking it up, holding it in your hand, squeezing toothpaste, opening, using, ending, putting it back in, and brushing your teeth. Each link is enlarged, looped, and in the humble action, looking for a new design entry point. It is very difficult to complete an electric toothbrush design originally. It has many limitations, such as waterproof, the size of the motor affects the shape of the product, the size of the battery affects the structural design, the material of the keys, will affect the use experience, the lines of the fuselage will affect the anti-slip comfort; the limitations of the production process will affect the landing of the concept, in various restrictions, the design of a different new design, was my biggest challenge at that time. Later, I treated myself as a user of a product, experiencing the process of use over and over again, and summarizing the various problems obtained in the process of use. Through decomposition, these problems are solved one by one.
▲ Electric toothbrush travel box
Xiao Xiang: What do you think is the overall atmosphere of domestic product design, and how is it different from foreign countries? Hu Haoxiang: At present, I feel that domestic take-it-allism is more prevalent. Because of the tight time, designing a product in a short period of time lacks an in-depth research process. Often every two weeks a new product comes on the market. Oclean adheres to the principles of originality, practicality + beauty. Every new product starts from 0, so our product iteration is not fast in the domestic industry, but each one must be a classic. Because of this, after the launch of our products, they are often borrowed by friends.
▲ Electric toothbrush brush head packaging
Little Elephant: As a two-time Winner of the Red Dot Grand Prix, what experience can I share? Hu Haoxiang: All designs are not imaginary. Every line, every function has a source. The point of innovation is different, but it is not different for the sake of pursuing difference, but form accompanies function.
▲ 2019 Red Dot Supreme Award - Kiwi TV Box
▲ Red Dot Prestige Award 2018 - Edge TV Box
Little Elephant: Finally, can you give some advice to students who are studying industrial design or studying abroad? Hu Haoxiang: If you study abroad, you will soon find that foreign schools have very different requirements for you to study than domestic schools. In China, schools focus on imparting skills-based learning and training, and relatively speaking, they do not attach much importance to research and design thinking. In foreign countries, teachers pay more attention to the rationality of design, the combination of theory and practice. This, coupled with the difference in language, meant that we had to start all over again. The ability to study by yourself is very important, and more importantly, you love the profession of industrial design, love the process of solving problems, learning industrial design is very difficult, never stop learning.