Du Haihang

From Chongqing China, I am an award-winning designer/developer based in Shanghai dedicated to interactive experience, screen art, creative coding and web design. I was always intrigued and inspired by various design disciplines, such as print, flash, web UI/UX, interface animation, real-time graphics, and generative art, etc. I have a serious passion, my work has been featured in lots of design books, magazines and recognitions. After working for several leading advertising agencies, I am now in partnership with ACTIVATION NODEPLUS, pushing the boundaries of digital design.

10 questions for Du Haihang:

• What did you do before becoming a designer?

  I studied an irrelevant Major during college but was intrigued by visually appealing stuff.

  I spent lots of time teaching myself various skills online. I started my first job as a graphic designer and amateur-ish photographer for a short while. Afterwards, I gradually got wrapped up in the digital world.

• Where do you turn for inspiration?

  Usually I just grab it when it hits - from movies, typefaces, graphics, music, retro things, colors, traveling or every tiny piece of real life.

• Which are your favorite studios, designers or agencies?

  North Kingdom, Hello Monday, Stinkdigital, Kinetic Singapore, Kokokaka, Tha.jp, Fi, Jam3, WatsonDG, Soleil Noir, Cartelle, Yugo Nakamura, Bartek, Simo Santavirta...to name but a few.

• Is your city a good place for designers?

  Right now Shanghai already competes on a pretty international scale in many ways. Although compared with some dream cities of Art and Design, Shanghai is not paradise for designers; I will still say “Yes” for its rapid growth.

• Which technologies are you excited about in 2015?

  I’m actually excited about every astonishing pixel on the screen. Technically I’m expecting more innovative, wearable technologies, breathtaking WebGL boundaries on mobile, and integrations of interactive design from mobile browsers to multiple devices/installations.

• Do you listen to music while you work? Describe your playlist.

  Absolutely. Currently “Coming to terms” – Arco, “Begin Again original soundtrack”, “12 memories” – Travis, and “An He Qiao Bei” – Song Dongye.

• Tell us your funniest anecdote related to your work.

  I walked home after work for nearly a year in 2013. A 35 minutes long walk, every night, even in the freezing cold winter as well. Well, it wasn’t actually that funny.

• What are you cultural influences? (Music, books, films, ideologies, etc.)

  It can be anything interesting, but mostly visual stuff like traditional film photography that I still have a passion for today.

• Have you got an academic background or are you self taught?

  I’m self-taught.

• What do you do in your free time?

  Stay with my family. Swim regularly, play soccer occasionally, socialise rarely.

• Where do you see the industry in 5 years?

  I’d love to see how mobile will rock the future digital world, but frankly, I don’t believe in forecasting - it’s an insanely fast moving industry.

• Are you working on any personal projects?

  Sure, my personal branding redesign and website are under reconstruction, in addition to day-to-day jobs and other side projects/experiments.

• If you could give one piece of advice to newbie designers, what would it be?

  Unlike other design, good digital design is a seamless combination of art & code, coding plays a pivotal role, don’t overlook or be afraid of it.