九号创新：坐在办公室里，灵感是不会来敲门的。你得先把自己从那个“设计师”的身份里抽离出来，成为一个对这座城市好奇的游荡者。本篇为深圳工业产品设计有感而发。
@NINEIDEA九号创新 www.nineidea.com
我很多最好的想法，诞生于一些毫无目的的时刻。比如午后在老街巷子里乱转，看修理铺老师傅怎么把报废小电扇的电机拆下来，装到别的东西上。那种基于匮乏和实用的创造力，有种直击本质的漂亮。或者半夜在科技园附近，看刚下班的年轻人，怎么把背包、头盔、充电宝以一种高效又临时的方式“挂”在共享单车上——那是活生生的人机工学场景，没有哪个教科书能教。
看得多了，眼里就有了“材料”。深圳的空气里都飘着“制造”的微粒。我会特意去逛那些卖工业标准件和二手设备的市场，不为了买什么，就为了看。看那些轴承、丝杆、铝型材，它们冷冰冰地堆在那里，但你能感觉到它们所代表的秩序、精度和可能性。触摸那些被淘汰的旧设备外壳，上面的磨损痕迹会告诉你，哪里是人与物真正发生关系的“高频区”。
当你被这些真实的、未经修饰的“物”与“场景”浸泡透了，回到屏幕前，你的搜索和浏览才会变得敏锐而有方向。你不会再漫无目的地看那些渲染精美的设计图库，你会带着具体的问题去搜寻：某种表面处理的极限能做到什么程度？一个巧妙的卡扣结构究竟有几种实现方式？这个时候，线上那些硬核的技术论坛、材料科学论文、专利图纸，才会变成有意义的“答案”，而不是过眼即忘的“信息”。
至于所谓品味，那是在这个过程里慢慢腌入味的。你看过了足够多生猛的、粗糙的、为了功能不惜一切的原型，你才会懂得欣赏哪些“简洁”是真正千锤百炼后的结果，哪些只是苍白无力的偷懒。你会开始从物体的结构、装配逻辑、生产痕迹里去寻找美感，而不是仅仅追逐一张光滑的“表皮”。
说到底，在深圳做产品设计，你的灵感源头不是某个冷冰冰的库，而是这座城市的体温和脉搏。它躁动、务实，充满了嫁接与混搭的活力。把自己扔进去，感受它，你的设计自然会带上这种独特的基因：不漂浮，有根骨，在精确的计算之外，还有那么一点解决真实问题的聪明劲儿。
Reflections on Shenzhen Industrial Product Design
NINEIDEA: When you sit in the office, inspiration will not knock at the door. You have to first detach yourself from the identity of that ‘designer’ and become a curious wanderer about this city. This article is inspired by the design of industrial products in Shenzhen.
Many of my best ideas were born in aimless moments. For example, wandering around in the old streets and alleys in the afternoon, watching the experienced repairman dismantle the motor of the scrapped small electric fan and install it on something else. That kind of creativity based on scarcity and practicality has a beauty that hits the essence. Or in the middle of the night near the technology park, watching young people who have just finished work “hang” backpacks, helmets, and power banks on shared bikes in an efficient and temporary way – that is a vivid scene of ergonomics that no textbook can teach.
After watching too much, there is’ material ‘in the eyes. The air in Shenzhen is filled with “manufactured” particles. I will specifically visit markets that sell industrial standard parts and second-hand equipment, not just to buy anything, but to see. Looking at those bearings, screws, and aluminum profiles, they are stacked there coldly, but you can feel the order, precision, and possibility they represent. Touching the worn marks on the shells of outdated devices will tell you where the “high-frequency zone” where people and objects truly interact is.
When you are immersed in these real, unadorned “objects” and “scenes” and return to the screen, your search and browsing become sharp and directional. You will no longer aimlessly look at those beautifully rendered design libraries, you will search with specific questions: what is the limit of a certain surface treatment that can be achieved? How many ways can a clever buckle structure be implemented? At this point, online hardcore technology forums, materials science papers, and patent drawings will become meaningful “answers” rather than forgotten “information” at a glance.
As for the so-called taste, it is slowly savored during this process. You will only appreciate which “simplicity” is the result of true refinement and which is just a feeble laziness after seeing enough vigorous, rough, and functional prototypes. You will start to seek beauty from the structure, assembly logic, and production traces of objects, rather than just chasing a smooth “skin”.
At the end of the day, when it comes to product design in Shenzhen, your source of inspiration is not a cold warehouse, but the temperature and pulse of the city. It is restless, pragmatic, and full of vitality of grafting and mixing. Throw yourself in and feel it, and your design will naturally carry this unique gene: it doesn’t float, it has a backbone, in addition to precise calculations, it also has a bit of intelligence in solving real problems.
