The Ink Of Life: A Poetic Transformation in Pencil Design

Hongchuan Zhao's Award-Winning Fading Pencils Stir Imagination and Emotion

The 'Ink Of Life' project began in June 2018 at the Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts and was completed in September of the same year. The design was inspired by the observation that the consumption of pencils often sparks imagination and transformation. Zhao aimed to create a beautiful disappearance to present the poetic imagination of consumption, allowing users to appreciate the beautiful shape change and the beautiful imagination of pencil use.

What makes this design stand out is its unique property of fading from black to white as it is used. This gradual fading, akin to the receding "ink of life" of the pencil, presents a beautiful disappearance. It is a natural and poetic transformation that suggests the consumption of good things will turn into the same good things. The dark part, always at the writing end, serves as an indicator, attracting immediate attention.

The pencil is produced by coloring the surface and adding a coat of varnish. The design interacts with the user by offering a beautiful disappearance process that brings joy and anticipation for the work produced by the pencil. The design was tagged as a pencil, emotional design, and function.

Zhao's design process involved observing and thinking about the way people use products in their life, and trying to find the behavior or emotional transition between people subconsciously. The designer believes that products designed in accordance with people's subconscious can not only meet people's use habits, but also make people feel that such novel experience can resonate.

The most challenging part of the design process was exploring the extent of the gradient. From black to white is not a uniform distribution of black and white. To present this uniform beauty, the last black part is the least, followed by the white part, and the middle gray part is the most. Despite these challenges, Zhao's 'The Ink Of Life' stands as a testament to the power of design to transform everyday objects into sources of inspiration and engagement.

The 'Ink Of Life' design was awarded Silver in A' Art and Stationery Supplies Design Award in 2019. The Silver A' Design Award is rewarded to top-of-the-line, creative, and professionally remarkable designs that illustrate outstanding expertise and innovation. These designs, admired for their strong technical characteristics and splendid artistic skill, showcase a remarkable level of excellence and introduce positive feelings, amazement, and wonder.