Rob Dolan: Designing Sneakers And Designing Motorcycles Alike

< p > in the enjoyment of the wonderful feeling of hi-tech sneakers, many fans are dreaming of becoming a designer of shoes. How to design a pair of sneakers? What is the most important thing in design? Rob Dolan, senior design director of Nike running shoes, interviewed reporters. Listen to his experience. < /p >

< p > "I heard that you used to be a motorcycle designer. What do you think is the difference between designing a motorcycle and designing running shoes?" < /p >

< p > Dolan (hereinafter referred to as "D"): actually, in fact, the similarities between them will be more than we think.

I was responsible for product design in YAMAHA before, they are a company that pays attention to speed and competition. In a sense, what I do in Nike is also the same. We design running shoes to help athletes improve their performance in competitions.

Many of the work in design is related to the human body. For example, when you are sitting on the car, your body position, handle, seat design, everything is in order to meet the requirements of dynamics. This is very similar to the design of shoes, and is closely related to the user experience.

At the same time, there are many similarities between racing and traditional sports.

For example, the speed of super motorized pursuit, the grip and stability of tyres.

I have also designed four wheeled off-road vehicles, but the characteristics of tires and soles are very similar. Grip and stability are all aimed at achieving better performance.

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< p > reporter: "do you have higher technology content in designing motorcycles?" < /p >

< p > D: "is quite different at this point.

The design of a motorcycle needs to know a lot of engineering knowledge, and more to the mechanical performance.

Designing shoes requires a deeper understanding of human body. "

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< p > reporter: "what do you think good designers have in common?" < /p >

< p > D: "the best designer, first of all, is to have a lot of creativity.

Then, in many ideas, they know how to focus on a solution, and the best solution is always the simplest one.

Although the final result looks very simple, but how to simplify a lot of abstract and complex ideas, and express them in the simplest way, I think this is the most difficult.

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< p > reporter: "in China, many young people want to be the top designer of sports shoes.

Do you have any suggestions for them? "< /p >

"P > D:" as early as possible! I do see more and more young people like this industry.

I didn't touch industrial design before I was in college. Before that, I was only a young person who liked drawing. I had my own idea and drew my own painting. After I entered the design college, I discovered and chose the design.

Young people nowadays can get access to these information very early. Just like being an athlete, it will be better to start training from an early age.

If you know you like to do this, you should act immediately and concentrate. "

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< p > reporter: "in Nike, how did the design of running shoes come into being? How long did it take and what process did it go through?" < /p >

< p > D: "the process is like this, we will first consider from a commercial point of view, plan ahead of schedule for about three years, and form a goal.

There are bigger plans, such as Free, Lunarlon, Air and AirMax, which we know, we will continue to introduce shoes, but we know that we need to innovate, we need to solve new problems and bring about changes.

We will set up an innovation team to find out the general direction from all the ideas, then begin to expand these ideas, investigate in athletes, and then design the prototype of shoes.

These archetypes need to be verified and adjusted continuously to form products.

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< p > reporter: "which one do you like best for this year's new Nike Free?" < /p >

< p > D: "it's really hard to answer.

In terms of design, I like Free 3, and the overall design is excellent.

And if I choose it personally, I will like Free 4, which is just right. Flyknit's vamp and sole technology make the foot feel very good.

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