MIUI Design Team — Vitamin C Goes Smart

The MIUI Design Team, which is responsible for the UX design of Xiaomi’s entire product range, is always on the lookout for new forms of visual expression. The more than 80 design specialists are not only focused on delivering intuitive and simple usability but also on creating a distinctive aesthetic. This award winning project, for instance, is based on a series of dynamic background images that were created in an unusual crystallisation process of vitamin C, citric acid and other substances. The results were captured with the help of photomicrography.

MIUI Design Team interviewed by Red Dot

Red Dot: How did you get the idea to experiment with crystallisation processes?
MIUI Design Team: Scientific images have always been the kind of content we want to present to our users. These images are beautiful and very inspiring and the process of crystallisation is one way of creating them. Advances in digital micrographics have only recently allowed us to capture images that meet our requirements, which made it possible for us to present them on our users’ smart devices.

In your opinion, should there be much more experimentation in graphic design in general to stimulate new ways of seeing?
Sometimes it actually is new ways of thinking that stimulate new ways of seeing. Whether it is microphotography, generative art, AI, or even computer algorithms, new technologies and methods can afford us a wealth of inspiration for visual expression. The real hard work is to discover and create beauty from such new perspectives, which requires a lot of experimentation.