I am Jing-cai Liu, an Industrial Design student at the Eindhoven University of Technology. Passionated in designing for societal challenges, design for transformation through the involvement of multi-stakeholders, and multi-disciplinary research. Fascinated with the art, culture, sustainability, current trends, and future developments.

MY IDENTITY

My Background

I am Jing-cai Liu, currently following my master’s program in Industrial Design at the Eindhoven University of Technology. I am born in China and I have been living in China during a part of my childhood in a village surrounded by nature. This environment has shaped my thoughts to be a person with care for nature and to be always positive in life. When I was 10, I moved to the Netherlands with my parents. This experience has shaped me to be a flexible person and easy to adapt to a new environment. I believe my background has also improved my curiosity in different cultures.

Creative mindset

I consider myself as a creative person. Already during my primary school, I have explored my skills in drawing, painting, and handcraft. The creative skills also have expanded in my design thinking throughout my bachelor and master study. I am always looking for new ideas, innovative thoughts during design. I am also eager to learn and to explore new things. I think creativity is something that has shaped humans to be intelligent creatures. Creativity is needed in every field to reach radical innovation.

Independency & Teamwork

In a team, I could play different roles to enhance teamwork. I am a good leader, a listener, and a collaborator when working in a team. I always can find my role within a team and could find my strength that is appropriate in the team I am working with. On the other hand, I could also be a very independent person. If I know what my goals are and what I like to do, I will always work towards these goals.

MY VISION IN DESIGN

Design should be something that makes people happy and its conditions are harmless for human beings and nature. Natural resources are depleting and are destructed by the human. I think nature is vulnerable and should be protected by the human. Although we cannot live without consuming natural resources, we could balance this by discovering alternative sustainable resources. Hence, my designs should be created in sustainability. For example, I always to try using sustainable, natural materials to make my prototypes. I also try to waste as little material as possible.

Besides this, I think a product or system should be designed with empathy for the user and adds value for an identified group in the society. For example, I am interested in finding “solutions” for current debates or current societal challenges. I am curious about designing for social themes such as privacy, elderly, health care, emerging future, etc. I believe that it is important to let people think about current debates, no matter if they have different opinions about it. It is my goal to let people pay attention to those subjects that may have impacts on the future.

As a designer, I feel responsible to make more convenient products to improve and to facilitate the daily lives of people through considering the user’s wishes and demands. I believe that a successful design also needs to include the value of different stakeholders and consider collaboration or co-creation with engineers, scientists, experts, different social and governmental organizations, etc.