At the 2024 Milan Design Week “This Future is Currently Unavailable” International Satellite Exhibition (April 15 to April 21), two student design works from the School of Creative Arts at Shanghai University of Science and Technology stood out and were successfully selected for the exhibition. These two works are among the few Chinese designs to enter the satellite exhibition, deeply exploring the profound connections between traditional culture, emerging technology, and sustainable development in the context of the artificial intelligence era. The works adopt a futuristic perspective, critically analyzing the challenges posed by technological reductionism while innovatively proposing a unique Chinese design philosophy that integrates humanity with nature, traditional culture with modern life. During the exhibition, they engaged in discussions and envisioned blueprints for the future of humanity with designers from around the world. These remarkable design works stem from the outcomes of the Emotional Integrated Design course.
Project Introduction
01.
Casting Lots In Modern Form
Students: Luo Yutong, He Jiaxin, Du Chencheng
Instructors: Liao Shulin, Zou Yue
Photos of the work “Casting Lots In Modern Form”
This is an era of unparalleled abundance in both material and spiritual life. In daily life, people face various choices and decisions regarding everything from clothing and food to career and love. According to statistics, as of 2023, 78% of young people in East Asia have attempted various methods to seek answers to life and daily dilemmas. This interesting phenomenon reflects the contemporary entertainment spirit of the younger generation, who often resort to random options for life choices. In response to this social phenomenon, this work employs technologies such as NFC, Arduino, and AI random generation models, incorporating contemporary interactive elements based on young people’s behavioral preferences. It aims to attract users to resolve their confusions or avoid unpleasant choices in a more relaxed and enjoyable manner, such as deciding whether to attend a concert with a good friend despite feeling unwell. A compact and minimalist black box can be easily placed in crowded areas like streets and subway stations. After completing a virtual interaction, users can scan the NFC chip hidden in a fortune cookie to receive a randomly generated emoji symbol representing an answer. The design combines traditional rituals with modern technology, providing a new daily life and entertainment experience.
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Photos of “Casting Lots In Modern Form” at Milan Design Week
Official introduction of the design week
https://isola.design/Designer-Projects-casting-lots-in-modern-form544
02.
風 Breathings
Students: Fan Runming, Lu Shenhuan, Liu Yutong
Instructors: Zou Yue, Liao Shulin
Photos of the work “風 Breathings”
The work titled “風 Breathings” is an installation design themed around wind and emotional connections with nature. Contemporary society is filled with artificial objects, and people have forgotten their emotional ties to nature in a “reductionist” lifestyle. This work examines the specific life connotations of wind beyond its meteorological symbolism, using wind as a medium to create empathy between humans and nature. The installation uses wind as input, based on real-time global biological information such as pollen, seed, and dust mite content, along with digital intelligence technology, to create breathing wave patterns on a vertical membrane, conveying the life essence of wind. Through interaction with abstract representations of life, the audience is prompted to reconnect with their “roots” in nature, enriching their experiences of nature and awakening a renewed focus on the natural world.
(Swipe left and right to view the gallery)
Photos of “風 Breathings” at Milan Design Week
Official introduction of the design week
https://isola.design/Designer-Projects-feng-breathings
Shanghai University of Science and Technology and Milan Design Week
Milan Design Week, as the largest comprehensive international design event in the world, has a history of over 60 years. Due to its far-reaching influence, many cutting-edge technology companies, such as Google, Adidas, and Lexus, actively participate in it to explore the vast prospects of combining aesthetics with technology. For a long time, Milan Design Week has been the design event with the most global participants, providing a crucial communication platform for designers, artists, enterprises, and academic institutions, further promoting innovation and collaboration in the international design community. The School of Creative Arts at Shanghai University of Science and Technology participates in Milan Design Week activities every year, showcasing the integration of cutting-edge technology and artistic culture in Chinese creative concepts, welcoming interdisciplinary teams of teachers and students to participate.
Introduction to the Emotional Integrated Design Course
The course aims to explore emotional design methods in future daily life against the backdrop of intelligent technology. In the course, students design around emotions and develop conceptual prototypes, aiming to showcase new forms of emotional existence or new forms of triggering emotions, deeply exploring the essential meaning of a good life and reflecting on current popular culture.
Course Leaders
Zou Yue, Assistant Professor, Researcher, and Head of the Mixed Ecological Creative Laboratory. Research areas include future design, bio-digital design, and post-anthropology. By using design practice as a cross-disciplinary poetic research tool, he speculates and critiques daily life, aiming to enhance the common well-being of humanity and nature. Articles created using personal design works as research subjects have been published in academic journals such as Futures. His design works have been exhibited multiple times, including at Milan Design Week, London Design Week, and Stockholm Design Week.
Liao Shulin, Associate Professor, Cross-disciplinary Designer, Design Consultant, and collector of Nordic jewelry and Japanese art. Graduated from Shanghai Jiao Tong University and Birmingham City University, he has taught at the China Academy of Art for over fifteen years and has published several personal monographs. His professional focus includes design management, user analysis, and service design, having served top domestic and international enterprises and institutions such as Toyota, Lexus, Hyundai, Panasonic, Samsung, the National Museum of China, and the Shanghai Import Expo.
Text | Zou Yue, Liao Shulin
Typesetting | Wu Yuqing, Zhou Xiangrui