Interview With Bai Fan From China

Born into an artists’ family, I soaked up inspirations of various art genres in the process of growth. The impressions they left in my mind are like attractive commodities in “showcases”, and we are shoppers reflected on the grass windows. I hope to collect the inner worlds of different people into my “showcase”.

I’ve accumulated rich large-scale commercial activity planning and visual design experiences across more than a decade of my career, and established good cooperative relations with many world-renowned brands. I’m committed to renewing conventional visual narratives with thoughtful design language, and connecting commercial aesthetics and creative culture to make them reality. To better align brand value to content value, I founded my own brand – WANGJIANXI, with an aim to create a unique spiritual homeland full of fantastic, fancy, and childlike ideas.

Design is a tool to tell stories.

There is no such thing as a perfect design. There are a thousand Hamlets in a thousand people’s eyes. Design has different meanings for different people. Design plays a role in people’s lives, and it is meaningful only when it is connected with people. One can only pursue what he or she thinks perfect, and it may be something new for others.

I once saw a toy – an exhausted Ultraman sitting on the ground to rest while smoking after he strips off half a monster’s clothes. The plot depicted by the toy attracted me immediately. In films, the Ultraman and the monster represent justice and evil, respectively. However, the toy deviates from our mindset about Ultraman movies, and brings us to a fresh plot that may be closer to reality. I like such designs that reflect the true side of our hearts.

Designs that show attitudes, designs that reflect social phenomena, and designs that convey spiritual pursuits.

I like to ponder over social phenomena and dig into human nature deep inside, and then depict them with design language in a euphemistic, metaphorical manner. In terms of details, I pursue delicate contrast and pay attention to expressing feelings and telling stories with my design works. I also like to create characters that are both good and evil in my works, set up “naughty tricks” or create unexpected twists.

The process of conception starts with interactions with the world. I pay attention to prominent social problems and often chat with ordinary people to record their big dreams. Based on such interactions, I determine the start point and finishing line of my creation, and constantly make explorations and experiments in the process. Just like GPS leads us to our destinations via different routes, “all-digital R&D” makes the creation process more fault-tolerant and enables me to enjoy different views along the journey of design.

The country’s social, economic, and cultural environments all exert influence on my design conception, which is mainly manifested in my thinking of society inspired by everyday life.

It is of great significance for me to win this prize with international influence. It enables me to display my works and my thoughts on design worldwide, and connects my work with the world.

The real world is undergoing profound changes. The wrestle between centralization and de-centralization caused by the concept of metaverse, in fact, focuses on the theme “control”. Regulation and competition, simplicity and complexity, influence each other, and are mutually transferable. Human society has always pursued a kind of “control” that combines balance and opposition. The winning work, which covers toys, collectibles, decorations, etc., combines simplicity and exquisiteness and integrates deconstructionism and constructionism, featuring meticulously designed details and expressing rich emotions and stories.

The structure of the work itself demands extreme refinement. The work seeks to achieve sustainable design. The major challenge of the design lies in ensuring refinement while achieving a balance in energy efficiency.

The award represents a recognition of my work’s design concept and quality. It inspires me to pursue ceaseless breakthroughs and innovations.

The implementation of design concept is a process to transform abstract concept into reality. Design has imperceptibly become a pillar supporting people’s spiritual world. My love for design urges me to stick to the path of creation and look for the bright spots in my heart.

China now has a complete industrial system, which is conducive to turning design concepts into reality.

Nowadays, artificial intelligence replaces humans to complete basic creation and even some creative thinking. The continuous development of science and technology will push designers’ core capacity to the limits. In this context, design will transform, upgrade and become more spiritual, shifting towards a “soul-oriented” direction. I expect the day when man and machine are deeply integrated and co-exist will arrive soon.

Design is not only a flash of ideas, but a process requiring long-time accumulation of skills.

I think Muse. World is a great platform to obtain the latest news about design. It can provide an objective standard for you to analyze and evaluate your own works. In addition, designers should pay attention information in other fields because design is a combination of diverse, comprehensive ideas.

My father is an artist. More than just art creation, his works help protect and inherit traditional culture. His style and aesthetics provided an inspiration for me, and his spirit and experience also inspired me to shape my own theory. Thus, I created a visual system totally different from traditional art.

I would like to express my thanks to professional judges for their recognition and support.