Interview with Xin Feng from United States

I wanted to be a creative/ designer in my childhood. I simply enjoy exploring and creating new things. My education back in design school has shaped my design focus on human and constant exposure to creative design from peers and industry experience is the driving force for me to continue on this path.

For me, creativity means an original way of thinking, a novel idea and an “unexpected” mode of interaction. Instead of being a reproduction of currently explored realms, a creative work makes itself heard through its imagination, ingenuity and vision.

I believe that a “creative” idea/design is composed of a clear and novel design logic, a rich and meaningful human experience and also feasible implementation.

From my experience, my creative/ design process is deeply rooted in everyday life. A design work usually starts with some speculations on existing user experiences (how we interact with the surroundings). Through further exploration and brainstorming, I come up with some ideas for specific audiences and then I craft the design with multimedia/technology.

Last but not the least, I will make sure the design is delivered as expected to the audience through some design iterations.

Brainstorming is my favorite part of the process because I am able to think out of the box with no boundaries. It’s very crucial for the subsequent process as it opens up new possibilities.

My creative style always starts from "un-groundedness" but gradually ground it to real human interaction with tangible interface. The main characteristics for my creative style or what I care the most are creative design ideas and novel human interaction paradigms.

Born and raised in China, I was exposed to a lot of traditional Chinese culture and arts during my childhood. The energy and rhythm embedded in Chinese calligraphy and painting made me realize the connection between human and the surrounding environment. This thinking has curated a sense of curiosity and interest in my everyday life and played an important role in my creation process.

It’s a valuable affirmation for our creative work and we are honored to be selected as part of this award distinction, especially as independent designers. A shout-out to my amazing teammate, Tiange! We will continue exploring and delivering creative work.

SinkInSync presents the design and prototype of a VR-based cross-person EEG neurofeedback platform. This generative VR platform uses one user’s brainwave data to procedurally render 3D scenes and passively displays visual cues that are synchronized with the real-time brainwave frequency to another user.

We found this project very interesting and ground-breaking as we aim to explore the potential of VR as an avenue for augmenting cognitive and emotional social connectedness via externally-induced brainwave synchronization between pairs of individuals. The technologies in fostering interpersonal connections without using the common tool of speech is our main focus in the project. How biometric data could add to the channels of communication and help improve accessibility is a relatively untouched area and we believe our project could be inspiring for the creative industry.

The biggest challenge with this project is the 3D scene design phase. How to embed neuro signals in a visual, artistic way without impairing the frequency functionality of the brainwave is pretty challenging.

Winning a professional award means a lot to my career as an independent creative technologist. It provided motivation for me to continue exploring creative design with emerging technology like AI etc. and focus more on inspiring interaction paradigms!

ha moment, dynamism, imagination!

For me, the evolution of the creative industry is always closely tied with the development of technology and biology. Nowadays, we are witnessing an explosion of AI technology and creativity seems to be constantly redefined by technology, so I would see the creative industry and technology closely interlinked and complementary in the coming years.

Check out the fabulous work of others on the website, discover what intrigues you most and figure out your own creative process. Keep iterating and make sure the design is well delivered to the audience.

Checking out resources like new technology, newly published articles and creative work from awards would be helpful.

Go with your gut feeling!

I am always inspired by the talented people in school and from the industry. I like visiting exhibitions, browsing creative design work online, reading articles to get exposed to the inspiring design prompts and new technologies.

I believe interest and passion are the key to success. Always keep the passion for exploring new things and don't hesitate to get your hands dirty!