“We realized: waste tells stories. Not just about the environment, but about us—our desires, habits, and the civilization we’ve built around them.” In HUMANMADE, a thought-provoking print design project by five students - Huang,Kai-Feng / Yang,Kai-Wen / Lu,Yi-Zhen / Lai,Yu-Ching / Yang, Hui-Ching, from Ming Chi University of Technology, timeless children’s stories become metaphors for modern waste and desire. Awarded the Platinum Prize in the 2025 Summer Season of the Future Art & Design Award UK, this visually arresting and conceptually bold work challenges how we understand consumption, identity, and the cycle of human longing.
By reimagining classic narratives, the team highlights how age-old human desires still drive our behavior today—only now, those desires are packaged, advertised, and mass-produced. In a world where we no longer buy what we need, but need what we are told to desire, HUMANMADE holds up a mirror to modern society’s tangled relationship with identity, waste, and consumerism. Faced with institutional resistance for being “too conceptual,” the team persisted, believing that design could—and should—do more than decorate. They infused sociology, behavioral science, and personal conviction into the work, ultimately creating something that sparked emotional responses from viewers and earned international recognition. From visual experimentation to theoretical depth, HUMANMADE embodies the courage to question, the craft to articulate, and the clarity to connect.
“From ‘I desire it because I need it’ to ‘I need it because I desire it’—and now, ‘I must have it to prove I exist.’ This is the cycle we live in.” Congratulations again to the HUMANMADE team for earning the Platinum Prize in Print Design. We look forward to seeing what boundaries you’ll break next.
Full Interview
1. Could you let us know a bit more about yourself and what inspired you to pursue a career in design?
We are HUMANMADE, a team of five design students from Taiwan. We have different backgrounds and perspectives, so our reasons for choosing a creative path vary. However, one thing we all share is a deep passion for design. We all got excited whenever a great piece was created. It is the pursuit of this visual excitement that continues to drive us and keep our passion alive.
2. What was the initial inspiration behind this project? Was there a specific idea, moment, or question that sparked its development?
The initial inspiration for this project came from “waste”. We discovered that waste connects to humanity on many levels and can even represent the development of a generation’s civilization. This made us think about the relationship between waste and humans from different angles, including psychology, behavioral science, and sociology. Eventually, we found that no matter how much things change, human desire remains unchangeable.But since this topic is pretty complex, especially when we try to explain it to the public, we needed a way to communicate it more clearly. That’s why we decided to incorporate fairy tale stories to make it easier to understand. Then we were surprised to find that fairy tales still reflect today’s world. People have had the same desires for hundreds of years, and those desires keep turning into needs that create a cycle. And that’s how the poster of HUMANMADE was created.
3. What was the most exciting or challenging part of creating the work?
This project was full of challenges. From an outside perspective, the biggest challenge was... surviving in Taiwan. Our project was considered unconventional in Taiwan’s education system, so we faced some opposition. Many thought design projects should focus more on employability rather than just communication or conceptual exploration. For the five of us to insist on experimenting and to complete it was a challenge. Our biggest internal challenge was finding something all five of us liked and agreed on. Things were uncertain in the beginning since everyone had different expectations. But the time we spent experimenting was not wasted. It helped us clarify what we all wanted. Falling was not scary. What mattered was whether we were brave enough to take risks. The most exciting moment, of course, was the exhibition. The reactions we received are truly genuine. We exhibited this work twice in Taiwan and were lucky to meet many people who connected with it and shared their thoughts. In that moment, we knew we had succeeded.
4. In your view, how has the cycle of desire and demand evolved from the past to the present?
In the beginning, human needs came from basic survival instincts like finding food and reproducing. Desire, on the other hand, was tied to things like social status, religion, or power, and was something only a few people had access to. But after the Industrial Revolution, as society modernized and survival became easier, mass production and advertising took over. The roles of need and desire are reversed. Desire was no longer based on need. It became the starting point.These “false needs” pull people into the system of production and consumption. Consumers are shaped to be dissatisfied, which fuels the operation of capitalism. Instead of waiting for real needs to appear naturally, we’re creating an illusion of what we're supposed to have. To push this idea, social media, algorithms, and personalized recommendations make us believe we're making our own choices. So our desires are being carefully manipulated in reality. We start to think that owning certain products or living a certain lifestyle will bring us fulfillment. But in the end, we fall into this endless cycle of desire.From the past until now, this cycle has shifted from “I need something, so I desire it” to “I desire something, so I need it,” and has even become “I have to possess it to prove my existence.” This process doesn't just result in overconsumption and waste. It also worsens social inequality and mental health issues, and has become one of the side effects of modern civilization.
5. How was your experience taking part in the Future Art & Design Award UK?
We're really honored to have taken part in the Future Art & Design Award UK and to have received the Platinum Award. It means a lot that more people got to see our work. Huge thanks to the judges for the encouraging feedback. It was super touching and keeps us motivated. Hope we’ll meet again soon!
