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3 min read
Welcome back to Shop Talk, a podcast by Autodesk Fusion where we hang out with designers and makers live from their workshop. We’re excited to give our listeners candid conversations with talented folks who pour their hearts and soul into their craft. Get ready to chat with designer Scott Yu-Jan as he reveals how he comes up with unique ideas and his storytelling process.
You probably recognize Scott Yu-Jan from his incredibly crafted YouTube videos, where his cinematography is just as impressive as the crafts themselves. With his keen eye for artistic value, Scott tends to approach problem-solving differently than the average maker. Check out how he shows off his designs in unique narratives.
I hate talking about [idea generation] because it’s so tricky. Ideas can come to you literally out of nowhere.
One of the biggest things I do is try to be bored more often. With all the distractions in our daily lives, like I can scroll doomscroll for hours, no idea is coming to you while you’re processing so much data. I try to find moments to bore myself. I’ll shower with no music on. Or, I might run an errand while leaving my phone at home. Leaving your brain bored will help it come up with new ideas. I also enjoy talking to people. I found that my latest project was mostly me heavily collaborating and talking to other makers. The conversations I have with these designers and artists are so rich.
I have, like many makers, a giant list and notebooks filled to the brim with ideas. I try to prioritize them based on what I’m most passionate about at the moment. What is something I need to put into existence now? Because I’m doing this part-time; if I’m not passionate about a project it’s not going to happen. I’m simply going to procrastinate. I have to select the ideas that I want to do. If I were to pursue an idea, would I be willing to stay up late to make this happen?
Once I pick those kinds of ideas there are two parts to this process now: making that thing and figuring out storytelling. That means how I’m editing and presenting the idea in a video. I approach every project through this process. Making is always way easier because I come from a background of making stuff. I can do it with my eyes closed. But figuring out the story? That’s the hard part. I keep it in the back of my mind as I’m making something. What are the learning outcomes of this project that are worth sharing? What’s too technical to include in the video?
Storytelling is what I struggle with the most. And I think all of us makers who are trying to be content creators find that sharing with their audience is super challenging. You can’t be way too technical, but you can’t not be technical enough. It’s easy for a video to turn into a boring mess. I’m constantly iterating on and trying to get better as I go. I ask other people for their input. Sometimes, I’ll hit up my brother and show him my progress to gauge his interest. If he says, “I don’t get it,” then it’s not going in the video. I’ll tell my mom I’m about my idea and judge her response.
So, that’s how I test out narratives, just seeing what sticks with people. What are people interested in? Just as an example, one of my latest videos is about an iPhone dock I designed. I was talking about Dieter Rams to quite a few people, noting that this guy inspired a lot of Apple products. Everyone always says, “Whoa, really?” There’s intrigue. I knew I had to include that fact in the video.
Initially, I didn’t want to include that in the video. I didn’t want to go super in-depth on the history of Apple design or Dieter Rams, even though he’s super important. I was worried that that was a huge tangent from me making an iPhone dock. It’s a very tricky process. I’m still figuring it out, but that’s kind of what I’m doing so far. I’m figuring out how to craft a compelling narrative.
Watch more episodes of Shop Talk on our YouTube Channel.
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