Chen Lu: As a designer, how did I switch from a bank to a design school?

On July 26th, the China Product Design Conference held by Zhiqun, the special session of riding the wind and breaking the waves, ended perfectly. We invited Tao Ning, chief operating officer of innovation works, Liang Ning, product strategy expert, Chen Lu, senior director of Xiaomi Ecological Chain, Lai Yuan, general manager of Zhihu Market & Growth, Wang Xiaoyu, founder and CEO of Crewe, Yin Mei, vice president of Aeronautical Research Technology, and other female teachers to give keynote speeches and interviews on product design, career development and career suggestions. In the 7-hour agenda, the teachers frequently made golden sentences, leaving a lot of wonderful content.

This paper shared the speech record of Mr. Chen Lu, director of Xiaomi Ecological Chain, the video playback of Mr. Chen Lu's speech with other guests in this field, and the complete ppt, all of which were in Zhiqun Training Camp. Click to apply for training camp for free? Or pay attention to the official account of Zhiqun WeChat and reply to the background of "training camp" to apply for training camp for free?

Teacher Chen Lu, director of Xiaomi Ecological Chain, shared "How did I switch from a bank to a design school as a designer?" She talked about how she changed from a bank clerk in a traditional industry to a designer. Click to apply for training camp for free.

Let me show you an old photo. This is a photo of me working in 1998 bank. Because my high school is a vocational high school, I went to work in a bank after graduating from high school. I remember that I was only 17 and a half years old when I first went to the bank for internship, so I can't officially handle business for customers until 18 years old. ?

This photo is just after work. At that time, we were not wearing uniforms, but also wearing casual clothes. Later, after the bank reform, all employees were required to wear uniforms. So in this photo, I'm still wearing a T-shirt to do business for others. This photo was taken by a colleague of mine for me, and it was the only photo when I was working in a bank. I was eighteen at that time, and now I look at it with emotion.

Now I am a designer of Xiaomi Technology, and I have worked in Xiaomi for almost ten years, so today I will share with you how I went from a bank employee to a designer.

It's not my choice to ask me why I chose to work in a bank. As Liang Ning said, many times your life experiences are planned by your parents. Working in a bank is a plan given to me by my parents. Originally, after graduating from junior high school, you could go to ordinary high school and then take the college entrance examination. My parents think it is better for girls to work early, so I went to the bank after graduating from high school.

When I worked in a bank, it was actually quite interesting. Because of ignorance, I began to do business for others. Every day's job is to count money for other people's business, that is, to count money back and forth. Many people say they envy me for counting money every day. The problem is that counting money is not my money, but helping others count money.

It was not until a certain opportunity that I became interested in design. Once I went to see an exhibition, which was a poster exhibition. When I was in the bank, I also drew some posters for the savings office, probably hand-painted POP posters. That is to say, I went to see the exhibition, hoping to get some inspiration from it. There is a designer named Nikulaus Troxler in that exhibition. He is a Swiss graphic designer, and his posters are basically related to jazz. ?

Nikulaus Troxler Poster I met a group of people at the exhibition site. A teacher took a group of students, and then they were communicating, so I listened. The teacher will tell each student what this poster looks like and what it expresses. I followed them all the way for about an hour, which was particularly shocking. Suddenly, I realized that this is my interest, and my interest is design! I didn't know the word "design" at that time, so I felt that making these posters and making these colors was what I wanted to do and what I wanted to do. On the other hand, the work of the bank will be very boring at that time.

When I was in the bank, I went to class every day after work. At that time, I was still taking the college diploma after the adult college entrance examination. I was going to take this thing two years later. Every day, besides going to work, I get off work at 6: 30 to go to class and go home after class at 9: 30. I feel bored every day. ?

After seeing this exhibition hall at that time, I asked myself what my interests were and what I really loved. Then I thought about what I would do in the next ten years. Even if I go to work every day now, I will get a college diploma, and then I may become a junior clerk, a senior clerk and a person in charge according to my career plan. But is this really what I want? I feel that this is not what I really love! When I think that I will continue to follow this road in the next ten years, I feel that this is not my favorite. Later, I found a lot of information, especially Texler's posters, which I like very much now, because the colors and emotions expressed in his posters are what I really want to do.

At that time, my greatest expectation for myself was to enjoy the happiness brought by design every day, not the present job. With this goal in mind, I began to think about how to become a designer as a bank employee. Fortunately, there was a college entrance examination training class next to my home, so I went to talk to the teacher of the training class. I said that if I want to take the college entrance examination, I also want to be a designer. What should I do? ?

Then I remember that Mr. Li in the training class was very nice. He told me, "First of all, there are actually many ways to become a designer. If you are a bank employee, you can go to work in the company directly, and then learn design skills from practice to become a designer. You also need to pass a complete art education. If you want to become a designer through art education, you must go to college through the college entrance examination, and then graduate from college to find a job and become a designer. " In fact, it seems that there is nothing wrong with these two roads. I have met many great designers in my life. They didn't go to the art university. They are very talented. But on the other hand, do I have a gift? number

I'm not a natural designer, so if I'm not talented enough, I'll make up for it with diligence, so I decided to go to the college entrance examination and I'll give it a try. Later, I set a goal for myself, that is, to be admitted to a design university. There are two aspects in the college entrance examination of design universities, one is cultural course, and the other is professional course. I remember it was the summer of 1999, and I was preparing for the college entrance examination in 2000, so our preparation time was very short, almost less than eight months. I will resign in August and September because I have to prepare for cultural courses and professional courses. In fact, I have tried to prepare for the exam while working, but the effect is not good. Later, after communicating with my family, I decided to quit my job in the bank and concentrate on preparing for the exam. Cultural courses are ok, but professional courses are more difficult. At that time, I was drawing colors and sketches every day, and then there was the exam. Fortunately, I got in!

I am very happy after being admitted. I still remember getting the admission notice that day. I really feel that I can enter an ideal world. So when I was in college, I cherished every class. Many students may have some slack after being admitted to college, such as playing games. But I am very serious in every class, because it is a hard-won learning opportunity.

So if everyone else gets 5 points, I can score 8 points 10, and I can score 15. When I was in college, I would stay up late to do my homework. It is rare to hear college students say that they stay up late to do their homework. Then many courses, if the teacher only handed in one homework, I might hand in 1~2 I like, because design is really my interest, so I think I did well in college. ?

Why do you want to study abroad? Because when we were in college, there was a new teacher, and he usually communicated with us about things, such as when the domestic art education method was different from that of foreign countries. At that time, it was 2002, and the art education in China was just emerging, so many times it was still traditional oil painting, printmaking and sculpture. This is a domestic teaching method.

Then some new methods of design education may appear. Then I feel that foreign teaching methods, or what foreign students do, are different from ours. At that time, I had the idea of going to the United States, so I thought: Can you set another goal for yourself and try to continue studying art abroad? When I set this goal, I went to many art education exhibitions at that time and wanted to know what to do if you want to study abroad. Today's children are very happy, because there are many educational institutions that are helping their children apply for foreign universities, which we didn't have at that time. ?

At that time, I could only go to that kind of educational exhibition and have in-depth exchanges with teachers from foreign universities. I also prepared some homework for myself in class at that time, because you want to communicate with others with things, and others will give you some very direct and clear suggestions. ?

I met Mr. St. Martin of the London Art Institute and the teachers of the Art Center, that is, the teachers in art center college of design, USA, and they gave me a lot of good work suggestions. I probably understood what I was going to do. The first is college grades, the second is English, and the third is a collection of works. College grades are not a problem, because I have been working hard. Then English is a very big problem.

At that time, English was not paid as much attention in our education as children are now, so my English was not particularly good at that time, so I spent a lot of time learning English. This is very important if you want to apply for a foreign university portfolio. I like all my courses very much, so I regard each course as making my own portfolio. Because I didn't do the special topic of applying for a university, I applied with my usual homework. ?

These are some works at that time. It's been too long, and I can't find them. Only some photos at that time. Just some sketches, some design processes, design results, some of my own ideas and how this work was made. Fortunately, I received offer from five universities, including the University of Rochester, virginia commonwealth university, St Martin's University of the Arts in London, the Royal Academy of Fine Arts and the Art Center.

Of these five offer, four are graduate students, because according to my achievements at that time and my study experience in China, I can apply for graduate students. Then the art center is the only school that applied for an art undergraduate course. Why? This story is very interesting, which may also give you a reference. I talked to the teachers in the art center at that time, and then read some of their materials. When I learned about this school, he basically treated it as a project. You made a project and then studied in it.

The rest of the graduate students, you are doing a project and some research things. At that time, there was a reading list, which he gave me after I got the offer from the Royal Academy of Fine Arts. I hope you can read all the books before you enter school, at least know something about them, but I can't. Why? I read the list of books, let alone read it. At that time, I couldn't find any books in China, there were about twenty or thirty books.

So later, I felt that what I lacked was basic design education, so why choose the art center? Because I don't think I'm a research type, and then I like to do real design projects. Graduate students are very attractive to me, but whether he can really improve my ability, I can know from that book list that my ability is far from the level of graduate admission. Although my work may have been achieved, my thinking ability, my basic knowledge and the depth of my theoretical research can't be achieved, so I decided to go to the art center in the future.

Yes, graduate students are very good, but what I know about myself is that I prefer to do real projects. I really want to make a plan for myself and lay a good foundation as a designer. Then I went to the Art Center College of Design Art Center. In fact, I have a very big goal to graduate with excellent results. The first semester when I first arrived in the United States was very difficult, because my English was barely strong, and then the way of attending classes was different from before. Then I feel that I can't participate in those courses and discussions with my classmates, so the first semester is really difficult for me. ?

Then at the end of the first semester, I asked myself, what have I learned this semester? What can I get from studying abroad? There was a very big bottleneck at that time. I would like to ask if my past experience of studying and working in China will help me after studying abroad. The answer is completely negative. Because after I graduated from college, I worked for a year before studying abroad.

So to put it bluntly, you are already a worker, you are already a social person, and you go back to school. Then this time I analyzed what my problem was at that time. I think the problem lies in: the first is the way of class, and the second is the way of thinking. Especially the way of thinking, their way of thinking is different from our designed way of thinking and our traditional habits. I have never been trained in the ability to control the whole project before. I just need to do it when we are at school, including at work, and I don't need to think about it.

In foreign courses, you want to show what you want to do, which is my weakness. What are my strengths? My creative ability or execution ability is not worse than theirs, and the lower score lies in the problem of thinking ability and communication ability I just mentioned. So then I thought, can I set a goal for myself? I want to graduate with honors, otherwise I will feel sorry for my experience. In fact, it is still very difficult for me to study abroad, because everyone knows that foreign art colleges, including the current fees, are quite high. At that time, I was grateful to my parents. At that time, they were able to raise money for me. I don't know how many semesters we have Maybe one semester is two semesters and three semesters. I just hope that I can study more semesters and don't waste my time here, so I set this goal for myself.

Let me show you a photo. This is a photo of us in the computer room. This photo was taken in the computer lab. Students can study here after class, which I have occupied for a long time. Because there was no money to buy our computer at that time, the computer was well configured, so I stayed there for a long time and often worked there all night. There are many sofas in the school. You can rest there by yourself. It's about two or three in the morning. Later, after a period of adaptation, including continuous efforts, the results improved.

This photo of heroic injury in the course is very memorable. Before I called the final demonstration of environmental information design, I cut a board and cut my hand. Then I didn't attend my own presentation, because it was a group assignment, and I was sent to the emergency room. Then this photo was taken in the emergency room, so it's a pity that I didn't attend the last class, and then I left myself a wound. Back at school, everyone asked me if you lost your thumb and cut it off. I said no, it's just that the fingertips were cut a little bit and the fingertips were wrapped in exaggeration. Then I went through various experiences at school, and after several semesters of slow adaptation, I also met many excellent teachers at school.

Then these teachers can give me some help in thinking, including the way you work, your thinking ability, and even the way you behave. One thing I still remember is that we often ask teachers how far we should go in this course. Then the teacher's answer is, what degree you want to achieve depends on yourself, and you can achieve whatever degree you want. So even in my present job, maybe my product only requires me to design something for him, but I will think that what I want to design is better than you think, because this is the level I hope this thing will reach and it is a spur to myself. ?

Then I also met excellent teachers. Unfortunately, two of them have passed away. So I also learned a lot from these teachers. One of my teachers often tells us that he will spend four or five hours changing the curve of a font. He said nobody asked him, but he was responsible for himself. So your ability and quality of work are completely defined by yourself. ?

Then this is one of my works in college. As you can see, most of what I do is packaging, and three of them are packaging operations.

Then there is another interesting thing. At that time, our school had a problem of choosing a direction. What is the choice of direction? Our school will provide different professional directions, that is, you can choose.

Then the hottest thing at that time was interactive design, and now it is UI design and motion graphics. Many of my classmates will choose this direction. Then, if you look at the employment prospects of future graduates and your future income, these two directions are the most potential, that is, if you want to get a high salary, it is good to choose this direction. On the other hand, for example, printing plane packaging is more traditional, and its employment direction is the traditional direction.

I want to choose this because I find that I am most interested in making packaging when I am in class. My favorite place to stay is called the model shop, which is the tool room. Then I cut and cut in the tool room, and then I make those three-dimensional things. This is my interest.

So between salary and interest, I chose interest again this time, so my works, including the future employment direction, are basically like this. Looking back now, I really laid a very good foundation for my future career direction. Next, I will share a failed case, which is my GPA. In fact, I set myself the goal of getting excellent grades. It was also realized in the next few semesters. Basically, every semester is an A, but one semester, I got a C-

The homework for this course is awkward to say. We usually have one semester 12 weeks. On 1 1 week, I met a classmate at school. He said, "Have you finished your homework tomorrow?" May I have a look? " I said, "No way! Isn't your homework due next week? " He asked me, "Didn't you get the teacher's email?" Hand in your homework tomorrow! "I was stupid at that time, because I had to do the homework for that class on the weekend. The task was arranged at the last minute. As a result, only one semi-finished product was handed in the next day, and then the teacher said angrily, "You didn't do this homework. "Later, I held the teacher's thigh and hoped that the teacher could pass this assignment. The teacher said to me, "I'll give you a C- so that you can learn a lesson.". Be sure to do your own time management and project management in the future. "

So, this class touched me a lot at that time. No matter how good your idea is, no matter how good your homework is, it is useless if you can't finish your homework and deliver the products on time. So now, I think the biggest point in my design, and I have repeatedly stressed to my designers that we must do a good job in time management of our own projects. ?

Designers often ask me, "When do you want me to show you a result of this work, and when can I get it at the latest?" A good designer won't ask me this question, he will give me a very good result as soon as possible. On the contrary, sometimes some designers are lazy or slow to hand in their works, and sometimes they will hand them in before the deadline. And through long-term observation, you will find that the final growth of these two types of designers will be completely different, so time management is very important. ?

Then in the end, I probably achieved my goal, with an average GPA of 3.67. I graduated with honors. Then I will definitely look for a job after graduation. I don't have to say that I must do the design. Then my own goals at this time, including many choices at that time, my goal is that I will always do the work design I like.

Later, I was lucky enough to join Xiaomi, and I have been doing it since the first generation of packaging. I do some eco-chain products, and then these are some products we have done recently, all of which are packaging design.

Because I have been doing packaging related work in Xiaomi, and there are also some planes related to brands, but most of my work is packaging. Then in Xiaomi, I was very lucky to work with a very good team, and then I have been making touching products. Until today, I have done my favorite job-design, which makes me feel very lucky.

So I look back at the banner set by 1999. Up to now, I have basically achieved my ideal goal: I will be admitted to the School of Design, study abroad, graduate with excellent results, and continue to do my favorite work. So if I want to share it with you, I must find a goal for myself. You set limits for yourself during this period, such as 1 year, 2 years, 3 years and 5 years. What kind of goals should I achieve? Then around this goal, set different small goals for it, and disassemble the goals into small goals that can be achieved. For example, if I want to go to college, I have to resign first and concentrate on college.

The second is that I'm going to review my culture class. The third is that I will pass the art exam and then go to college. To study abroad, I have to prepare my portfolio, then I can pass GPA and English, and then I have to work harder if I want to graduate from a foreign university with very good grades during my study abroad. So up to now, I have habitually broken down big goals into small ones. Let's talk about opportunities and choices. Actually, I think this is also very important. ?

Many people don't understand my choice. Why did I resign from the bank in those years? Many people think that banks work so well. Why did you quit?

First of all, I don't think that's my interest. Between my interest and my income, I will always choose my interest, because I believe that interest is the best motivation, which will make you go further and make you feel tired when doing it. In fact, it is very hard to study design and be a designer, because the work you do every day is actually fighting with yourself, and then under such difficult conditions, if it is not your favorite job,

The second choice is after graduation. I work in a private advertising company, and my job is stable. Then many people say that you already have a good job. Why did you study abroad and come back from studying abroad? You still work like this. Of course, I think this is different. At that time, I chose to study abroad and resigned from the advertising company for the second time.

The third choice is whether to stay in the United States or return to China after I graduate from abroad. Many people think that I chose America because it is difficult for you to go out. In fact, if you look at the whole environment at that time, you will find that China developed very well in 1998 and 1999, so there are more and faster development opportunities in China, so I will choose to return to China. There is another option. When I returned to China, I had a very stable job in Shanghai, which was also foreign capital. Then Mr. Liu De invited me to start a business in Beijing, and I have never heard of Xiaomi. He asked me if you would like to come. I said I didn't know what you were doing, but I thought it was a very good opportunity, so I went to Xiaomi.

So now it seems that every time I make a choice, I don't see what it can bring you, but what you want. There are too many temptations. Every time you make a choice, think about what your initial intention is, what kind of person you want to be, and what kind of designer you want to be. What exactly do you want from your works and works? When you understand this and keep your heart open, you will make different choices.

The last thing I want to share with you is that no matter which choice you make, just follow the path you choose. You may feel regret: why did I choose another one? Maybe if I choose that road, my life will be different. But regret is useless. If I choose this road, I will go on unswervingly. I like Xiaomi's slogan very much: always believe that good things are about to happen. No matter what choice you make, no matter what opportunities you have, always believe that good things will happen, and always prepare yourself in the best state to meet future challenges. Thank you. This is what I want to share with you today.

The above is a record of Mr. Chen Lu's speech on Xiaomi Ecological Chain. If you want to watch the replay completely, you can join the Zhiqun training camp for free immediately.

Continue to learn or pay attention to the official WeChat account, a "knowledge group", and pay attention to the content sharing of other guests in this field.

Teacher Chen Lu shared the whole process of her transformation from a bank clerk to an excellent designer. Seeing Chen Lu's sharing can make you feel her persistence and love for design. All those who care about Zhihu Group and want to keep learning and growing, you have made a choice, so please follow your own path and firmly believe that something beautiful will happen soon.

The China Product Design Conference will jointly invite nearly 100 guests from dozens of well-known enterprises, universities, authoritative organizations and organizations such as Ali, Tencent, Didi Chuxing, Huawei, Xiaomi, JD.COM, Aauto Quicker and Zhihu to discuss related topics such as products, design, market and technology, so as to serve the new infrastructure and the further development of China's Internet and technology industries.

China Product Design Conference was hosted by Zhiqun and co-sponsored by Zhihu, Didi, Nail, China User Experience Alliance and Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications.

As an industrial community organization that connects more than 2 million product managers, designers and technicians in many fields and is committed to becoming the education platform of China's Whampoa Military Academy in the information age, Zhiqun has been constantly promoting the sharing and exchange of knowledge in various professional fields on the Internet.

For students who want to work and grow in the Internet industry in the future, whether you are a fresh graduate who is about to leave school, a junior who is ready to understand the industry and prepare for the future, a student who is in a traditional industry and wants to switch to the Internet industry, or a newcomer who has entered the industry but has encountered bottlenecks in development, you can find your own direction and methods in Zhiqun.

Many newcomers (including those who have transformed from traditional industries) will be confused when choosing jobs because they don't understand the industry, such as the development prospects of the industry, the company's workflow and employment standards, analyzing their own advantages, how to systematically learn to match the company's employment needs, and how to grow in the future. In the face of students with the above problems, we specially set up a "product design training camp", which has 22 classes in 5 days and learns through live broadcast, recording and community.

Zhiqun's paid training camp now has limited free registration opportunities, including the working methodology of companies such as Ali Tencent and the system of teaching personal development and growth:

(1) Training camp for improving workplace competence? : Looking for internship, job hunting and career promotion, personal orientation, structured thinking, data thinking, communication and collaboration skills, personal project management, time management and knowledge system construction.

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