WELL Design Lab

2025 went by quickly, and it has been a meaningful and productive year for me with several important milestones.
First, I published two papers in top-tier CSSCI journals in China. These publications represent nearly eight years of continuous exploration and deepening of my doctoral research. I am truly pleased to have the opportunity to share my ongoing work through China’s leading academic platforms.

Second, the field of Environmental Design in China has been significantly challenged by the downturn of the architecture-related industries. Issues ranging from student recruitment to academic employment are reshaping the discipline. This year, I led my team through a series of teaching reforms, and we were honored to receive the Provincial First Prize in Teaching Reform, which further affirms the foresight and relevance of our direction.

Third, my students achieved remarkable results in national design competitions in China: two First Prizes and one Second Prize, along with several provincial and ministerial awards. These achievements are not easy to obtain, and they strengthen my confidence in guiding students to apply for top international design awards in the coming year.

Fourth, I had the privilege of visiting the School of Design at the University of Auckland. Beyond experiencing the beauty of the city, I was fortunate to meet several inspiring colleagues and friends. Our conversations about design were truly enjoyable—an experience that felt almost dreamlike.

Lastly, I knew and met some new people this year, and I am sincerely grateful for their recognition and support. I wish everyone good health and peace in the year ahead.

Despite the uncertainties in our world, I hope I can continue to stay true to our passion for design and keep moving forward. I look forward to producing more meaningful work and fostering greater international collaboration. If you are interested in potential collaborations—whether academic or industry-related—in intelligent health and medical design, or urban renewal and design, please feel free to reach out.

蛟龙去，灵蛇来。
巳巳如意，生生不息！
祝大家新春快乐 Happy Chinese New Year!
Wishing that the Year of the Snake brings happiness, health and prosperity to you and your family in 2025.

Happy New Year!

【Pocket Gym】
The 2022 Golden Pin Design Award was announced, and our team's design work Pocket Gym won the Golden Pin Design Award. This is the first time for our team to participate in the global Gold Pin Concept Design Award, and it is the third world-renowned design award that our team has won this year. (The other two are Red Dot Awards)
This year saw a record number of submissions—5,114 works from 29 countries/regions worldwide. After the First and Secondary Selections in July and August respectively, 43 submissions from China, Singapore, Japan, Russia, Germany, and Turkey stood out among fierce competition to win the coveted GPCDA Design Mark. The Golden Point Concept Design Award encourages designers to be innovative, and every year, through a professional jury composed of heavyweight designers and creators from home and abroad, new design ideas or solutions are discovered.

【2022 Medical x Design Collaboration Seminar】
Design is expected to expand from the conventional target of “objects” to the "things" to plan how to build a comfortable and safe life, and further to the “visions” to envision a better society. The design of products to reduce the burden on medical professionals and the design of easy-to-understand explanatory materials and services to improve patient satisfaction are expected to collaborate in various fields of healthcare. This seminar will introduce advanced approaches to collaboration in design (art and technology) and the human resource development program implemented at Kyushu University to foster collaboration between the two fields. We look forward to the participation of medical professionals, students, and researchers.

デザインは、これまでの「モノ」のかたちのデザインから、快適で安全な生活を築くやり方を計画する「コト」のデザイン、さらに、よりよい社会を構想する「ビジョン」のデザインへと拡張し、医療者の負担を軽減するプロダクトの設計、わかりやすい説明資料や サービスデザインによる患者満足度の向上など、医療に おける様々な分野で連携が期待されています。本セミナーはデザイン(アート & テクノロジー)の連携について先進的な取り組みを紹介し、また九州大学で実施している両分野を連携した人材育成プログラムを紹介します。医療関係者・学生・研究者の方のとのご参加をお待ちしております。

Prof. Zilong Li was invited to participate in the “Design x Medical” seminar held by Kyushu University, Japan. The scholars shared their research outcome and discussed the new scenario of future medical the new paradigm of design intervention in medical, and the new concept of smart health design education to build the future together.

The Best of the Best has finally arrived.

During the summer our research lab went into enterprises to exchange and share designs with designers on the topic of interaction design.

【セミナー】「医療とデザイン・アートの連携が切り拓く未来」開催 11/7(月）に「医療とデザインを融合した未来社会のための教育プログラムの開発」の一環として、Asia Week 2022 医療・健康クラスター、遠隔医療モジュール及びストラテジックメディカルモジュー

Our design teaching in this semester has finally started~YYDS!
The first teaching job is Unit Special Design. This time, my partner and I broke away from the traditional teaching method and adopted , a participatory design method that promotes “student-created content” and focused on student initiative through participation.

The course will be held on Monday mornings from starting this week until 7th November for third-year undergraduate students in the Department of Industrial Design. Through this design course, we plan to explore with students the knowledge of and -making in product design. We are so looking forward to the everyone’s output in the end.