Mac Funamizu Designer Q&A

While you may not know Mac Funamizu by name you will probably know his work including the redot winning ‘Future of Internet Search: Mobile version’ concept. Although Mac is not a professionally trained product designer, he is already making waves in the design world, amongst both design fans and professional designers with his fun designs that inspire and mesmerise. In this interview Mac shared his story with us. I hope you enjoy this interview.

1. Mac, Welcome to Design Droplets. Thank you for taking the time to chat, could you please give a quick introduction on yourself. (about a paragraph).

Hello. Thank you very much for inviting me. I’m honored to be here. I’m Mac Funamizu. I started my career as an English teacher and translator. Back then, I had the chance to discover how important face-to-face communication is. I found it vital to convey the most important information in an efficient manner because people can only pay attention for a limited period of time, especially kids. To get people to understand, you have to improve your presentation skills: what words should be used at what point, in what way, at what speed, how loudly/softly, what should be drawn on a white board, etc. etc. Thanks to all that experience, my communication skills had been improved greatly. I’ve liked English since I was a kid and at university I majored English so I enjoyed seeing my students improve their English. I’d always wished I could help people with the communication skills I acquired, so I was really happy.

One day the school where I was teaching had to make a website and I happened to be in charge of it just because I knew a little about computers. I had no idea what to do, so I bought books and learned after work. Finally I made one with very simple HTML and CSS, which everyone said they loved very much. Then I realized that I could help people that way, too. Communication is not only done by talking face-to-face, but by designing something! Then again I picked up book after book at bookstores and read about web design, typography, color scheme, grid systems, CSS, motion design and studied graphic design applications. After I renewed the school’s website a few times and made some other sites, I decided to do this for a living, so I changed my career to design and became a designer in 2005.

Since then design has become everything to me, which is pretty rare as it is unusual for me to stick to one thing. I usually start and quit things very often.

2. You started off your professional career as a teacher and interpreter, what made you want to become a designer?

Oops, I’ve already mentioned it above.

3. You are an avid creator of concept gadgets, can you tell us about where you get your inspiration?

Whenever I feel that something is inconvenient, I try to figure out a way to solve the problem and jot it down on my sketchbook (Moleskine).

When I don’t have any good ideas on the spot, pretty often I hit upon a wonderful idea sometime later. The secret of this is that you have to work really hard, at least once, to rack your brain for an idea. That way your brain remembers it somehow and keeps working even when you’re doing other things, just like your computer downloading something in the background while working on a Word document. Most of the time I come up with a new idea on a crowded train on my way to work. Another thing I’ve started to find is that the more you’re experienced in designing, the less you work on a computer. The desktop is where I finish work (and get inspired seeing other designers’ works).

Another thing I try to do is to think, play, draw and do things like a child. Kids are geniuses when it comes to having fun even when they’re dealing with something serious. Whatever I do, I try to enjoy myself or to find a way to enjoy myself as much as I can.

4. Can you share the process you go through to create your gadget concepts?

What would you like for example? The looking glass? I don’t remember exactly, but I thought of it was when I was walking in a crowded station (Shinjuku station) and trying to find the signage of a building or something. If you have never been there, you might have no idea but Shinjuku station is always hectic with lots of lots of people and signals. I was then wondering if there was a good way to find just the right information I needed. What if I look through a glass that whites out all unnecessary information and tells me where the sign with the word I input in the device. I thought it would be very helpful. At the same time it would be able to show you the information you find on a map right in front of your eyes. You just touch the object you see through the glass and it recognizes what you’re pointing at with the installed cameras and GPS. And I thought of many other ways to use this device later.

Another way, as I mentioned above, is to have fun. Well-thought out products will be and have already been created by other great designers. On the other hand I didn’t have proper design education (although I want to some time), so I believe the only way I can survive is to make something more fun than any other designer. I always try to make something as 10 times as fun as an ordinary item.

5. In 2009 you won a red dot award for your ‘Future of Internet Search: Mobile version’ concept, this largely happened through the
concept being picked up by the online design community. What tips can you share on how designers can effectively use the web to promote
themselves?

I wrote about this concept on my blog, but the reason I started sharing my designs is to brush up my design skills. Getting my designs exposed to the world, I wanted to know what people think about them. I’m doing it just for fun and am not trying to earn any money out of it. By showing what you’ve got, your skills must be improved if you keep doing it for some time.

To promote myself, I used social networking services like Flickr, Behance Network, Facebook, MySpace, YouTube, Twitter and a lot of other services (for free). Whenever I find a designer who has great works, I comment on them and try to get in touch with them, asking for advice.

6. Many of your concepts are fun, how important is it to have fun when coming up with design concepts?

Fun design is my raison d’etre. Making something fun and useful at the same time is the biggest strength. I have no design education so there’s no use no matter how much I envy young, talented designers who went to good schools, in trying to irectly compete with them. So I thought about what cannot be done by those educated people and found that by making something that people love, I could make very unique stuff that nobody else can think of. For this, I always think back my teacher experience to come up with what fun thing people would be interested in.

7. You produce some beautifully simple renderings to show off your concepts, what pieces of hardware and software do you use to create your concepts?

Hardware: I use 20 inch iMac, 12 inch Macbook Pro and a Moleskine. Software: I use Photoshop, Illustrator, Google Sketchup and Shade. Most of my design is done in my sketchbook and I use my Mac just for render the sketches into 3D objects on screen.

8. While you produce plenty of sketches and 3d renderings do you ever make physical prototypes to test your ideas? If yes, what do you use to make your prototypes?

For about a year since I started blogging, I didn’t make any prototypes, but gradually I found it necessary and started using paper, clay, cardboard and leather.

9. What are your thoughts on the current state of design in Japan?

I’m not in a position to talk about the state of design in this country, but personally I like it very much. Especially simple and beautiful designs I see these days. I don’t know why, but what gets my attention while I’m browsing websites is designs that are done by Japanese designers in many cases.

10. Mac, thanks for taking the time to talk with us here at Design Droplets. Do you have any final thoughts or advice for Design Droplets readers?

I’m now working very hard to learn to be a decent product designer and I am looking for a job. So if there’s someone who is interested, please contact me! Thank you very much. It was very nice talking.