-- Yang Xiangdong Tang Chongxian Liang Yucheng
In the last few years of this century, on the lively Chinese industrial design exchange stage, besides the nationals holding various design seminars, academic exchanges, and competitions, they also added new landscapes: Some of the fastest foreign design companies and designers They visited China and made their debut. Please see the following facts:
From March 18th to 19th, 1998, Beijing held the "Western Conference on Industrial Design". Craig Vogel, Chairman of the American Industrial Design Association, and Boberts, Executive Director of the American Industrial Design Association Shwartz), American President of the Frog Design Daiuel Hardeen and Blaxton, Director of the Design Department of Motorola, made a special trip to China to introduce China's industrial design development status and the company's design process and design achievements. .
From October 30th to November 1st, 1998, Beijing held a high-level seminar on Sino-Japanese design, Japan International Design Exchange Association and several Japanese design companies, and conducted exchange seminars for large and medium-sized Chinese companies. They listened to Chinese companies' introduction to their own industrial design developments, understood the needs of various companies for design, and introduced the development of Japanese industrial design and the role of design in the promotion of enterprises, and demonstrated Japan's outstanding industrial design (G-mark) products. In the seminar, the promotion of Japanese design capabilities is an important issue. It is worth noting that this seminar is funded by Japan and is held once a year. This year will continue to be held in Shanghai and Guangzhou, and is also sponsored by the Japanese side.
On March 25, 1999, Corina Corporation of the United Kingdom held an industrial design exchange conference for local export-oriented companies in Zhuhai City to introduce the industrial design of the United Kingdom and Europe, and clearly stated that the company accepted the commission for product design and declared it The designers owned and contacted all over Europe can complete the product design task for any country in Europe.
On May 5, 1999, Guangzhou held the "First Industrial Design Exhibition". Several design companies including FITCH, EDGE, HLB, and 5D in the United States introduced their respective design ideas, design procedures, and various successful design works. The conference was attended by more than 100 representatives from nearly 100 famous companies across the country. A major feature of this exhibition is that domestic industrial design companies are not invited to participate, and some design companies have repeatedly refused to win.
From May 7th to October 10th, 1999, Shanghai held an international art and design expo. Some domestic design companies and foreign design companies participated in the exhibition. Famous designer Kranj also participated in this expo with his works. Although this event is of a cultural exchange nature, the participating companies also have the purpose of developing the domestic design market and striving for the design of the company's entrusted tasks.
According to reports, led by domestic and foreign agencies or personnel, directly to some of the influential home appliance companies in the country to open the door alone, looking for design commissioned foreign design companies also have a number.
It is reported that after the famous Japanese GK Design Company established Hai Gao Industrial Design Co., Ltd. in cooperation with Haier Co., Ltd. in 1993, it is further considering establishing wholly-owned design companies in Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou.
In addition, we have also noticed that in recent years, Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and other places have had a number of industrial design companies from Hong Kong, Taiwan and abroad listed. There are also some foreign design companies that are exploring the status of the domestic market and seeking contracts with domestic companies to jointly develop the design market.
The above facts clearly show that China's industrial design market is being favored by international industrial design companies. They are striving for the attention and trust of enterprises with great enthusiasm. If we talked about past design exchanges with foreign countries focused on academic issues, then today's exchanges have a strong commercial atmosphere. As China is about to join the WTO and fully participate in the international economic system, foreign industrial designers and design companies are trying to open the door of China's industrial design industry and obtain China's design market.
Not long ago, a "forehead" of a foreign design company arrived in Guangzhou. They bluntly declared: "We have already seen China's future design market. Our intention to come to China has been set. We have first-class design capabilities and sufficient funds. Technology and management experience, but need is China's customers and collaborators.
1. A fledgling Chinese industrial design industry
When we were amazed to discover the trend of "invasion by the great powers", we had to look back at ourselves - the development and current situation of China's industrial design.
China's industrial design and design companies have developed in Guangdong in the late 1980s. Relatively speaking, the industrial design of Guangdong Province not only developed earlier, but also benefited from a good local economic environment. The scale and level of industrial design companies are at the forefront in the country.
In the early 1980s, some university teachers in Beijing, Wuxi and Shanghai were sent to Germany and Japan to study industrial design and brought back new modern industrial design theory. Together with domestic scholars, they used great enthusiasm to publicize industrial design through frequent academic lectures and writings, which enabled the widespread dissemination of the emerging edge disciplines of industrial design and, to some extent, the attention of government departments and industries. To make design education embarked on the road to development.
However, due to the influence of long-term planned economy, China’s industries had not yet reached the stage of promoting industrial development as a means to promote development. In addition, the popularization of the design lacked domestic fresh examples to confirm the role of industrial design. Therefore, in a certain period of time, the design Failed to enter a pragmatic state.
In 1987, Wanbao Electric Group, the first company to emerge in the domestic refrigerator market, was aware of the role of design under the leverage of the "market economy" and was the first to establish "Guangzhou Wanbao Industrial Design and Research Institute" in cooperation with Guangzhou University. In the first few years, the institute specially designed products for Wanbao Electric Co., Ltd., and gradually developed into a comprehensive design entity that provides various kinds of product design, graphic design, and indoor and outdoor environment design to the society.
In 1988, in Guangzhou, "Southern Industrial Design Office" was founded with the teachers of the Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts as the main backbone, and "Sui Design Company", which was developed from Shanghai and Suzhou and Hangzhou, was born in Shenzhen. These two companies are the earliest industrial design institutions for the society in China. They rely on the rapidly emerging township enterprises and private enterprises in the Pearl River Delta region to design a large number of home appliances and clocks and lamps that have entered the domestic and foreign markets, creating a Chinese industry. The achievements of the design industry have achieved a breakthrough of zero, and have also laid a talent base for the development of the design industry in the region.
Southern Design was split into a number of design companies in 1994. With the establishment of several other private industrial design companies and university-based design companies, the number of design companies of different economic types in the region was expanded. There is also a corresponding increase in the design capability, level, business area, and service scope. Some design companies with better operating conditions already have certain advantages. Some companies, while carrying out design services, are focusing on product self-development and achieving good results.
Another design force in Guangdong is in the enterprise. Due to the development of enterprises and the need of market competition, some large-scale household electrical appliance manufacturers have realized the importance of industrial design. They have specifically set up industrial design departments, and some companies, such as Midea, have given in industrial design. A considerable amount of economic investment, recruitment of design talents, and the establishment of a superior design center. The internal design departments of these companies have become an important force in product innovation. Some design departments also accept various design tasks in society while completing the internal design tasks.
According to incomplete statistics, there are about more than 30 industrial design companies in Guangdong Province that are oriented towards the society and work on product design, including about 20 in Guangzhou and about 8 in Shenzhen.
On a national scale, product design companies outside Guangdong are mainly located in coastal cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Wuxi, Tianjin, and Nanjing. Preliminary statistics show that the total number is less than 40. (Does not include advertising design, a small number of companies involved in product design)
As a comparison, we have seen about 200 product design companies in Taiwan. During the rapid economic growth in Japan, there were more than 1,000 product design companies. There are now more than 200 companies. There are currently dozens of product design companies in Hong Kong. Home; some large companies in the United States, Japan and other countries have also opened a number of branch offices abroad.
The small number of domestic product design companies not only contrasts sharply with the number of foreign developed country and regional design companies, but also contrasts sharply with the number of domestic tens of thousands of advertising and graphic design and packaging and decorating companies.
With regard to the average annual turnover of domestic product design companies for the past three years, statistics show that there are very few RMB 2.5 million yuan. Many design companies are often guilty of livelihood in the current sluggish market. Despite the fact that they are looking for orders everywhere, they are still struggling. In foreign countries, only small and medium-sized design companies are used as examples.