Tea Party with Flyme Theme Contest Designers

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2017-11-24 17:09

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Hi guys! It's Friday! Do you have a weekend full of plans? Our theme contest is still going on! Only 10 days to go! If you haven't participate in the contest, click here and check out the contest thread! We have great prizes for both designers and forum users!

2 weeks ago we had a Flyme designer quick quiz interview, and forum members loved it! Today we had a little chat with the designers who have won the Flyme Themes Design Contest in China. Read on! Maybe their stories will bring you some inspiration!

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Q: Are you a full-time designer? If not, what's your profession?
Yuting:Yes, I'm a designer.
Wang Yang: Currently I’m a student, and my major is not about painting or designing. Drawing is my hobby.
Chuxuan: Yes, but not a visual designer, I'm a user interface & experience designer.
Wen Xing: Yes.
Changjing: Yes,I'm a website visual designer.

Q: Could you give us a brief introduction about your contestant theme?
Yuting: The inspiration for my theme Moon-Sneaking Bunny is a song called Firefly. One hot summer evening my puppy caught a firefly and played with it, I was surprised because I haven't seen fireflies since I was very little. Then I opened Music app and the song it was playing happened to be  'Firefly' sang by TFBoys. The lyrics and melody was so light and beautiful, which reminded me a lot of my childhood. I saw the moon up in the sky, like a compass and made the travelers feel accompanied. So I got my inspiration. I used the word 'sneak' for more fun, like the rabbit was sneaking around to take the moon home with it.
Wang Yang:My theme Forthe Rest of My Life is inspired by the famous movie Léon, which touched medeeply. While some people like to express their feeling with writing or singing, I prefer painting. And I hope I can relate to more people through my work.
Chuxuan: My theme Meeting Kitty is a theme featured cats. I love cats, and want to present cats' most adorable features to everyone.
Wen Xing: My theme I Like You was inspired by Chinese characters. I know when we design themes we draw things most of the time; however, I found a lot ofusers are interested in themes featured Chinese characters, so I wanted to give it a try.
Changjing: My theme Make A Wish was designed in a kind of all-time low phase in my life. I like cats, but I suck at painting, so I can't go with hand-painted style.Then one day I saw a cat sitting in front of a window, I was inspired to draw a cat sitting on the moon dangling its tail leisurely. I think this is what I expect for myself, to restore some quietness and leisure in my life. And the lock screen is a gif in which the cat's tail is dangling. It was difficult but I made it after numerous adjustments.

Q: Who is your favorite designer? What's his/her special feature?
Yuting: I like Shigeo Fukuda's work. His designs are simple, funny yet very intense.
Chuxuan: I often browse through excellent designers’ work on Dribbble, Twitter and other website. I love designs with exquisite details, which made the viewers feel the devotion and emotion of the designers.
Changjing: I don’t have certain designers that I like, but I love browsing through original sketches of CG and hand-painted illustrations.

Q: As a senior contestant in Flyme Theme Contest, what do you think is the most important when participating?
Yuting: I think it’s very important to keep it casual. Stick to your daily routines, have regular meals, sleep well, spend time with your pet, and etc. Don't draw sketches all night just to finish something. Sometimes inspiration comes to you in a very sudden moment, and having inspiration is crucial.
Wang Yang:I think empathy is very important if you want to stand out from the rest of the contestants. Users need to relate to your work, appreciate the feelings you've put into it.
Chuxuan: Details, that's what makes your work standing out from others.
Wen Xing: A very clear idea is very important. Before you start, figure out what exactlyyou want to put into the theme: style, outlines, details in every page, do youwant material design, hand-painted style, fresh, cute or other style, and etc.
Changjing: Know your audience, and create something new on top of that. When we have a design we want it to be accepted and liked by the majority of the audience,therefore we need to summarize what's their needs, what would gain their appreciation. And then make some changes based on your observation, because no one wants cliché.

Q: Which theme category do you prefer?
Yuting:I'm good at hand-painted style, so I like it the most. Also I prefer themes that can related to me. For example good food, cute animals, lovely couples, things that can touch me.
Wang Yang: I also like hand-painted style better, because it's a way of being original. Things sketched by the designer himself will bear more emotions. So I really hope more and more designers try to be original and input more thinking into their work.
Chuxuan: hand-painted style, cause it's easy and straightforward --- just paint the things you see or think.

Q: When you're running out of inspiration, what would you do?
Yuting: I would browse through my Weibo (similar to Twitter) feeds, watch some TV series or open Taobao for some online shopping.
WangYang: Watch movies, TVs, comics and do some exercise in the gym. Walking around might give you inspiration too. When you're stuck, better not to think it too hard. Take some rest, and amazing ideas might come.
Chu xuan: Learn from others. Not 'copy', but a good designer needs to know how to learn from other people's strengths.
Wen Xing: I browse through news. Sometimes the news and its illustrations give me ideas.
Changjing: I would browse through other people's painting. Every painting can bring some ideas to me. And if I'm really stuck, I would pause for a while, draw something I like to change my mood.

Q: Do you see the possibility in yourselves to design a theme for users outside China?
Yuting: If I have the chance I definitely would love to try that. To be cautious, I might start with those themes that had good feedbacks among Chinese users, to adapt them for global users.
Wang Yang: Yes. I understand people from different regions will have different preferences, but I think emotions are universal.
Chuxuan: Yes. But I'm not sure what global users like, so if I have the chance to design something for them, I will combine their preferences with my own to create something we both like.
Wen Xing: Definitely! When the platform is available I would love to try.
Changjing: Yes, when a brand goes global, support in themes design becomes a necessity, so I will research more on the group and then design something different. In my impression the global users' preferences are quite different from Chinese users, so maybe I'll add some elements such as technology, sci-fi, heroic story, and etc.

Q: If you can recommend us a movie you recently watched, which one would it be, and why?
Wang Yang: I want to recommend a movie that I watched long time ago: Forest Gump. Reason? This movie tells us not all of us are genius. Most people are ordinary people; however, with kindness and endeavor, ordinary people can achieve extraordinary deeds.
WenXing: Shaun of the Dead. You’ll know why I recommend it once you watch it
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