Design For Manufacture

Di Zhu

Di Zhu is an industrial designer based in Shanghai. He researches, envisions, invents, and designs. Through concepts, prototypes, and products he explores ideas about the future.

His primary interests are centered around near-future technologies and speculative thinking. He speculates different future possibilities, reveals cultural and political mechanisms behind them, and illustrate the insights through creating preferable future scenario and making physical and interactive prototypes.

Education

BA in Industrial Design, Shanghai Institute of Visual Art - Detao Master Class, 2014-2018

Exchange in Industrialization, Howest University, 2017-2018

Exhibition

MARS 2060, Milan Design Week 2020 - Ventura Future - Cancelled

HEAR, Invited to Zagreb Design Week 2019

HEAR, Milan Design Week 2019 - Ventura Future

Contact

ku.ca.acr.krowten@uhz.d

www.dzhu.work

Linkedin: Di Zhu

Instagram: @di.pdf

Degree Details

School of Design

Design For Manufacture

Photography and video production have always helped Di think about how to tell a story better. And design gave him an opportunity to create and tell a story simultaneously.

He always believed that design should not be driven by function but by emotion. In the context of commercial design, his work aims to solve problems and improve the user experience from the perspective of user emotion. In addition to the user-centered design method, by applying objects-centered design thinking, to create works that are suitable for the environment, society, and different cultures.

During his MA study, he focused on speculative design. He speculates different future possibilities, reveals cultural and political mechanisms behind them, and illustrate the insights through creating preferable future scenario and making physical and interactive prototypes.

MARS 2060

A speculative design project about the exploration of Mars. The project imagines future sports equipment that will be used in the first Martian Olympics, and considers planetary expansion in terms of cultural colonization.

2020 will see the first humans on Mars, with missions launching from China, NASA and private companies such as SpaceX. With the Martian launch window every 2 years and 2 months, the exploration of Mars continues to attract massive public attention.

Based on existing Mars exploration research and the projected plans of national space agencies, the project imagines a Mars exploration timeline from 2027 to 2060 in which the rapid development of Martian resources controlled by various countries mirrors the race to the moon between the United States and the Soviet Union during the Cold War. In order to avoid further conflict and promote peaceful progress, the first Martian Olympics will be held simultaneously with the 44th Earth Olympics and used to promote and re-establish ideals of peace and solidarity.

New sports will be initiated for the Martian Olympics suited to and facilitated by Mars' specific low-gravity environment. The first of these unique Martian sports will be the 60 meters run on water. For this event specially designed running shoes will be developed utilizing biotechnology inspired by the Basilisk lizard.

This project was done as part of the Design Future Pathway.

Concept — In my speculative Martian timeline the years between 2045 and 2048 are deeply unsettling and unstable. The first Martian Olympics is used to promote and re-establish ideals of peace and solidarity. Secondly, Olympics shows the very basic human behaviour which we have been used since the first homo sapiens appeared on Earth. After centuries of evolution, when we human can do this very basic activities on another planet, I believe that Olympic Games will be the symbol of humanity who becomes an interstellar species.

Mars Olympics 2060 graphic design

timeline — https://www.dzhu.work/2060-mars-olympics

UNSETTLING MOMENT
Based on existing Mars exploration research and the projected plans of national space agencies, I have imagined a Mars exploration timeline from 2027 to 2060. In this timeline the rapid development of Martian resources controlled by various countries mirrors the race to the moon between the United States and the Soviet Union during the Cold War.

FOUR FACTORS OF THE UNSETTLING
All the unsettling events highlighted during 2045 to 2048 can be concluded by these four factors which are distrust, national competition, human desire and money. They also mirror the current situation of all the conflicts happened on Earth today.

For detailed timeline speculation, please visit the address below.

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How Does it work on the surface of water — Nowadays, Olympic Games is also an entertainment event for the public. There's a distance between player's feet and the shoes. When they start the competition, they exactly look like on the surface of the water instead of sinking into it.

Advertisement for Mars Olympics 2060

In Collaboration with:

OPPO

A collaboration between Royal College of Art and OPPO on How to humanize technology

Future Design Olympic Games Olympics product design space exploration space travel Speculative Design Sports Sportswear universe

HEAR 2

This project is teamed up with world leading technology brand OPPO, to explore the possibilities of personal technology through forward-looking product design.

OPPO anticipates 5G will transform the potential for people’s lives and that these design proposals will reveal possible solutions for intelligent life in the coming 3 to 5 years. The overall goal is the creation of products to help navigate a smart future, which are seamlessly connected, enhanced by the deep integration of technology and design, and that embrace humanity.

HEAR aims to avoid stigma and recreate a sense of ritual during psychotherapy treatments. The system can print medical advice while the doctor is writing it, as well as read patients’ expressions using facial recognition. Textures integrated into the product help patients to have a pleasant experience during the treatment. Through the app, patients can choose whether to use video treatment or not.