SUSTech School of Design-JMGO Joint Workshop

In the afternoon on December 15^th, 2021, the course of DS204 Interaction System Design, instructed by Prof. LUO Tao of the School of Design, and in collaboration with JMGO, a projection company, took place in the activity space provided by the Talent Service Center of Nanshan District.

This innovative collaborative studio course totaled a participation of 21 students together with 18 friends from JMGO invited by Prof. Luo. All the attendants were divided into 6 groups with 3-4 students and 3 JMGO designers or product managers per group, which enabled students to have as many opportunities as possible to talk and interact with industrial insiders. The project was to analyze the basic needs and behaviors of users and propose creative solutions based on Arduino and Origami Studio according to the selected user portraits. There were six user portraits including Fashionable Young Men, Shenzhen IT Worker Bees, New Media Entrepreneurs, Pet Keepers, Young Art Lovers, and High-value Solo Dwellers. Each group of students was assigned to analyze one user portrait and come up with interactive ideas based on the “companion mode” of JMGO by revolving around keywords such as “companion”, “immersion” and “atmosphere creation”.

Exceptional creativity and imagination of students were fully shown in the course of more than three hours, winning great feedback from the invited guests of JMGO including WANG Xiaoyi, Chief Product Officer, PANG Xiaozhi, Vice President of Internet Business Center, HU Dan, Senior Director of Industry Design Department, HE Yuan, Hardware Product Director, ZENG Na, Software Product Director, and CAO Zhiling, Director of User Experience and Design Department. This feedback enabled students to understand the design considerations in enterprise practices. At the end, two best projects were selected from the total six projects and the corresponding students and designers received the gifts prepared by the School and JMGO.

Some feedback from the School and JMGO:

WANG Xiaoyi, Chief Product Officer

“Students from SUSTech presented their outstanding creativity and imagination in the studio course, bringing a lot of new perspectives about product design to our colleagues and I look forward to more communications and collaborations in different aspects.”

ZENG Na, Software Product Director

“The collaborative event also brought some new thinking and perspectives with the emergence of many warm-hearted and trendy ideas and product design. The communication between young students and our colleagues shows something in common that there can be shared care for and interests and thoughts of one’s environment, context, and internal aspiration, regardless of their experience and mastery of design languages.”

Student A, School of Design

“Super honored to have the chance to spend such a fruitful afternoon with the gurus from JMGO :) From being busy rushing from one to another to gradually figuring out the direction, and finally 20 minutes for the lo-fi prototype. But the effect is quite good. Thanks to my teammates and experts for carrying me! I also won very good gifts (a ticket of the exhibition I long for & the school-customized umbrella).”

Student B, School of Design

“It is quite gratifying to be recognized in adversity and see that the plan has been improved step by step with the integration of others’ inspirations.”

Student C, School of Design

“Friends from JMGO are willing to listen to our opinions and let us have a try despite that we are green hands. They could put aside their more practical and innovative ideas and listen to us. This kind of inclusiveness is thought-provoking and worth learning. We should realize that in teamwork, a consensus on the way out should outweigh respective ideas.”

Student D, School of Design

“Friends from JMGO provided a lot of help for us and trusted us to deliver the final presentation. They have great confidence in us despite that we are not as experienced as they are. Through this, we learn how to better cooperate.”