Value of Design report released 设计的价值报告结果揭晓

value of design

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A nationwide study into design’s economic contribution to New Zealand’s economy was released today. The ground-breaking research shows that during the last year alone design contributed $10.1b to New Zealand’s GDP (approximately 4.2 per cent).

一项就设计对新西兰经济发展所做贡献的全国性研究结果于今日揭晓。突破性研究表明,仅过去一年,设计就已为新西兰的国内生产总值做出了101亿美的贡献(约占总产值的4.2%)。

The results of the Value of Design report, which was started in 2013, launched on 26 July in Wellington by Hon. Steven Joyce Minister of Finance.

设计价值报告的结果,是在 2013开始,于7月26日由财政部部长Steven Joyce

在惠灵顿启动。

The study was undertaken by PwC and commissioned by a national design consortium DesignCo, which comprises Massey University’s College of Creative Arts, the Designers Institute of New ZealandOtago Polytechnic School of Design, NZTE (Better By Design programme), AUT School of Art and Design, the Auckland Co-design LabCallaghan Innovation and Victoria’s University’s School of Design.

研究是由普华永道开展并受到国家设计协会designco的委托,其中包括 梅西大学创意艺术学院、新西兰设计师协会、 奥塔哥理工学院、新西兰贸易发展局(设计让计划更美好)、AUT艺术设计学院、奥克兰协同设计实验室、卡拉汉创新和维多利亚设计学院。

Professor Claire Robinson, convenor of DesignCo, said at the launch of the research today: “There is a strong correlation between national prosperity, economic growth and a thriving design sector. International evidence confirms that design leads to more competitive firms making and selling higher value products and services.

在今天研究发布会的现场,会议召集人Claire Robinson教授说:“国家繁荣、经济增长和蓬勃发展的设计部门之间有强烈的相关性。国际实例证实,设计会使企业更具有竞争力,同时制造和销售更高价值的产品和服务 。”

“The research reveals that if design were treated as an individual industry its contribution to the New Zealand economy would be larger than agriculture and on a par with retail trade ($10.6b), and food, beverage and tobacco product manufacturing. The sector also provides approximately 94,200 FTE design positions in New Zealand, roughly 4.4 per cent of employment,” Professor Robinson said.

鲁滨孙教授称:“研究表明,如果设计被视为一个产业,那么它对新西兰经济的贡献将超过农业和零售贸易面值($ 106亿),以及食品、饮料和烟草产品的制造。该部门在新西兰还提供约94200 FTE设计职位,大约4.4 %的就业,”

The study indicates a broadening use of design as an effective process – in exporting firms, technology, health, conservation, the public sector and within cities.

研究表明,在出口企业、科技、健康、节能、公共部分及城市内部扩大设计的使用范围是有效的。

Ludo Campbell-Reid, general manager of the Auckland Design Office and Design Champion for Auckland said: “There is a global movement that is centred on cities that are transforming themselves through people centred urban design. Think Melbourne, Vancouver, London, Barcelona, Bilbao, Portland, Seattle, Helsinki and Copenhagen. Each of these cities has pursued a deliberate programme of economic revitalization and urban renewal based around design led thinking. Great design is all about the value add: good for the environment, good for business, good for attracting talent and critical for social cohesiveness”.

奥克兰设计公司总经理兼奥克兰设计冠军Ludo Campbell Reid表示:“这是一个集中在城市的全球性的运动,通过以人为本的城市规划设计来改变自己的城市。就墨尔本、温哥华、伦敦、巴塞罗那、毕尔巴鄂、波特兰、西雅图、赫尔辛基和哥本哈根而言,每一个城市都围绕着以设计为主导的思想,进行经济振兴和制定深思熟虑的城市复兴的方案。伟大的设计就是它所带来的附加价值:有益于环境的维护,有助于业务的发展,有吸引人才的优势,是增强社会凝聚力的关键”。

In the private sector, the study highlights through case studies design’s significant impact on firms such as Gallagher Industries in New Zealand’s agricultural sector, Xero, Fisher & Paykel, Air New Zealand, Imake, Allbirds shoes and Goodnature. In each, design has played a significant role in their success.

该研究通过案例研究强调了在私营部门设计的重要性,设计对新西兰农业中的加拉赫工业、Xero的企业产生的重大影响,斐雪派克,新西兰航空,Imake, Allbirds shoes及 Goodnature 设计对每一个公司的成功都起到了显著作用。

In the public sector, the study indicates a greater use of design’s methodologies and insights, with more and more public sector organisations, including IRD, MBIE and MPI establishing service design teams to improve government services to citizens.

在公共部门,研究表明,随着越来越多的公共部门机构,包括税务局、边界积分方程法和MPI建立服务的设计团队能够提高政府对人民的服务效率。

In the same vein, MBIE and the Auckland Council have jointly established theAuckland Co-design Lab, a joint initiative based in south Auckland, which provides a neutral space to co-design cross-sector collaborative approaches, in order to create radical, system-level solutions to seemingly intractable social and economic problems.

同时,边界积分方程法和奥克兰政府共同建立了奥克兰协同设计实验室,坐落在南奥克兰,为共同设计跨部门的协作方法提供了一个中立的空间,为了解决看似棘手的社会和经济问题创造系统的解决方案。

The study also argues that urban design has a critical role in ensuring a city is a place where people want to live and visit.

研究还认为,城市规划设计在确保城市的宜居及游览方面起到了至关重要的作用。

Among DesignCo’s recommendations for future actions are:

  • Treasury to develop a national design strategy in collaboration with the New Zealand design sector.
  • Establish and fund a body similar to the UK Design Councilresponsible for the strategic coordination of design in New Zealand, bringing together the design industry, research and education.
  • Establish a programme of business support for the use of design by SMEs, similar to the NZTE Better by Design programme.
  • Increase targeted funding support for design-led service transformation in the public sector.
  • Widen the current conceptualizationof STEM to include creative arts subjects such as design and creative media production, and increase the EFTS funding for these subject areas.
  • Establish a dedicated research fund for design researchers to access, and infrastructure to support the allocation of funds (separate from science, health or arts funding).

Professor Robinson said: “DesignCo partners will continue to connect with the constituent parts of the New Zealand design eco-system in a systematic and regular manner, telling the story of New Zealand’s design excellence, rectifying the paucity of information about the design sector and gathering statistical data on the value and impact of design in New Zealand.

“We are convinced that the government are an essential partner in ensuring design’s potential in New Zealand is fully realised. We look forward to working with them to implement the recommendations,” she said.

Design.co对未来行动的建议如下 :

  • 财政部门与新西兰设计部门合作制定一个国家设计策略。
  • 建立类似英国设计委员会的基金机构,负责设计新西兰的战略协调,把设计行业、教育行业及研究部分汇集起来。
  • 建立为中小企业设计的业务支持计划,类似于我局的“设计让方案更美好”的计划。
  • 在公共部门增加有针对性的资金支持,设计主导的服务转型。
  • 扩大目前的STEM的概念化,包括创意艺术学科如创意媒体设计生产,并增加这些学科的地区EFTS资金。
  • 建立设计师专用的设计研究基金,以及使用这些基金的相关行政配套

(与科学、健康、艺术 资金分开)

  • 鲁滨孙教授说:“designco合作伙伴将继续以系统的、正规的方式与新西兰的设计生态系统联系起来,讲述新西兰优秀的设计故事,纠正设计部门信息缺乏的弊端,收集关于新西兰设计价值及影响的统计数据。

鲁滨孙教授补充道 :“我们深信,政府是确保新西兰设计潜力充分实现的重要合作伙伴。我们期待着与他们一起执行这些提议,”

MTR Express – a unique design journey from start to goal

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The new train operator, MTR Express, started to operate the Swedish main train route Stockholm – Gothenburg in the beginning of March 2015. It only took less than three months for the new red MTR Express train to reach over 93% customer satisfaction in the customer surveys.

2015年3月初,瑞典从斯德哥尔摩到哥德堡的主要火车线路开始由新的火车运营商MTR Express经营。根据客户意见调查,在短短不足三个月的时间里, 顾客对新的红色MTR Express 火车的满意度已经超过93%。

Our goal with the project was to create a seamless travelling experience – from the first booking of the journey to the final arrival at the destination.

对于这个项目,我们的目标是创造一种旅行体验,实现从最初预订旅程到最终抵达目的地的无缝衔接。

The project started two years earlier with a white sketch paper that we needed to fill with an extensive and demanding design scope, creating the new MTR Express brand including service, graphic, interior and industrial design – all ready for introduction on the market in March 2015.

项目在两年前启动时只有一张白纸,我们需要填上一个广泛而严苛的设计范围,创建新的MTR Express品牌,其中包括服务、平面设计、内饰设计和工业设计——一切要在2015年3月准备就绪,推出市场。

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Parallel to the design project Lundberg Design was also involved in creating the new web based booking system – the first touch point between MTR Express and the customer. The idea was harmonize the booking system with the actual planning and design of the train. Simplicity and reliability are key words for the seamless design of the whole system.

在设计项目进行的同时,Lundberg Design事务所也参与创建新的网上预订系统——这是MTR Express和顾客之间的第一个接触点。其意图是要把预订系统和列车的实际规划设计协调统一。整个系统的无缝设计关键在于“简易性”与“可靠度”。

The red exterior with its dark grey and silver flow design gives the train a unique and strong visual identity, not to be mixed with other brands on the Scandinavian market. The exterior flow design is inspired by the natural flow of the smoke that is used when doing the wind tunnel testing of the train.

红色的外观,深灰色和银色的波纹,给予列车独特而强烈的视觉辨识度,让人不会将其与斯堪的塞维亚市场上的其他品牌混淆。外部波纹设计的灵感源自列车风洞试验时使用的烟雾的自然流动。

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The graphics language is based on a carefully selected typeface with a visually clear design providing the MTR Express brand with a unique and strong identity.

精心挑选的字体和清爽的视觉设计构成整个设计图形语言的基础,为MTR Express品牌提供独特而强烈的个性。

Impressive on the outside and even more so on the inside. The elegance of the entrance and vestibule is the first indicator of what awaits within.

列车外观亮眼,内饰设计更是令人印象深刻。车厢典雅的入口和连接通廊预示了出色的内在。

The interior of the MTR Express has been designed to meet the highest demands in terms of spaciousness, design and style. The passengers who occupy the luxurious seats enjoy a generous amount of space and comfort. The seats are made of high-quality fabric and leather and perfectly match the interior. The interior treats all passengers to stylish selected products, materials, lovingly crafted with plenty of attention to detail. A close collaboration with ateljé Lyktan, Breitling and Nespresso ensures a supreme level of travelling pleasure.

就宽敞度、设计感和时尚感而言,MTR Express 的内部设计都能满足最苛刻的要求。乘客坐在豪华座椅上,空间非常宽敞舒适。座椅采用高品质的织物和皮革,与内部风格完美搭配。车厢内部精心挑选的时尚产品和物料,以匠心独运的工艺精雕细琢,为所有乘客带来一场设计盛宴。与ateljé Lyktan、Breitling及 Nespresso紧密合作,确保乘客能够体验到最大的旅行乐趣。

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Change your thinking …change the world 改变你的思维,改变世界

thinking design

Managers are finding breadth outscores depth in design and engineering knowledge requirements. Employers complain that it is difficult to get the breadth of skills required for industrial problem solving. Adaptability (keeping up with changes and where practical being ahead of them, innovation) and practical skills rank high with today’s employers.

管理者们日益感到对于设计及工程知识的广度要求超过了深度要求。雇主们抱怨难以获得解决工业问题所需要的广泛技能。适应性(即跟上变化并找到其未来实用性所在,创新)和实用技能在当今雇主眼中非常重要。

Employees with a depth in their design and engineering discipline, plus breadth in related studies are the key to innovation in the work place Managers who enable the employees to be innovative are the future of successful manufacturing.

具备深度设计和工程知识而又对关联学科有广泛了解的雇员是职场中创新的关键;而能够激发员工创意的管理者则是成功的制造业的未来。

Design Led Product Development (DLPD) is the study that most closely aligns with the employer requirements and a rapidly changing economy and consumer world. Its coverage of design, engineering, marketing and business management areas, which are required by employers, makes this study option unique.

以设计为导向的产品开发(DLPD)是与雇主要求和瞬息万变的经济和消费世界结合最紧密的学科。它涵盖了雇主所要求的设计、工程、市场营销和商业管理方面技能,使其成为一个独特的学科方向。

Another reason is because graduates are encouraged to think holistically about problems and to identify opportunities. They learn to define a problem, look for alternative possibilities, select the most appropriate way forwards, design, develop and test it. They also consider the multiple factors associated with the product’s context and user interactions.

另一个原因则是,当今大学生受到鼓励去全面地考虑问题、发现机遇。他们学习去界定问题、寻找其它可能性、选取最适合的前进方向、设计、开发和实施测试。他们也会考虑与产品的语境及用户交互有关联的多重因素。

DLPD designers and engineers are specialists in simplifying complexity, resolving ambiguity and being creative within defined boundaries. They learn to translate the languages spoken by the various disciplines that are involved in inter‐functional development projects. Very often specialists in other disciplines cannot understand or appreciate one another’s perspectives. DLPD designers are able to improve collaborations across R&D, manufacturing, shop floor and sales and marketing staff, remove ambiguities and lead inter-functional projects. They also appreciate business and organizational matters of scheduling and finance and the social and environmental implications of products andservices.

DLPD设计师和工程师是简化复杂事物、解决歧义并在界线分明的领域中创新的专门人才。他们学会理解跨功能开发项目涉及到的各个学科所使用的不同语言。其他学科的专家经常无法理解或领会另一学科的视角。DLPD设计师则能够改善研发、生产、工人与市场销售人员之间的协作,消除歧义,领导跨功能项目。他们也重视计划调度和财务等商业及组织事宜,以及产品和服务的社会和环境意义。

“In the automotive industry, there are not enough broad gauge engineers and designers with multiple skill sets,” says recruiting firm Barton Group in Michigan, USA.

美国密歇根州的猎头公司巴顿集团就声称:“汽车行业内缺乏足够的具备多种技能的工程师和设计师。”

Recently there has been a rise in preference for generalists over specialists in industry. In their experience, employers want design and engineering graduates who have a flexible approach to problem solving, have experience in meeting deadlines and appreciate the need to design and make meaningful, profitable products. Specialists are less preferred due to their narrow outlook and, often, lack of creativity. Successful product developers are able to keep abreast of the latest innovations in their field and be able to connect across disciplines.

近来出现一种趋势,工业界更偏爱通才而非专才。以雇主们的经验,他们所想要的设计和工程专业毕业生是这样一种人才:他们能够灵活解决问题,拥有如期完成任务的经验,而且明白设计和制造出有意义、能盈利的产品的必要性。专才则因为眼界较窄且常常缺乏创意而不太受到青睐。成功的产品开发员能够与所在领域中的最新创意并驾齐驱,并且跨学科连通。

The demands of today’s industrial world and global problem solving requires this breadth of skills.

当今工业界的需求和全球性问题的解决都需要这种广泛的技能。

  • Product Development Studies for Professionals involved in innovative product change and value added manufacturing.
    面向产品创新变革和增值型制造业参与者的产品开发研究课程

This is the only programme of its type in China/Australasia. Its uniqueness is founded on the opportunity for participants to focus on specific areas of product development including product innovation management, practical finance and product design. Other courses do not have the range of design, management and engineering papers to choose from.

这是中国/澳大利亚唯一的同类课程。其独特性在于,课程参与者有机会重点研究产品开发的某些方面,包括产品创新管理、实用财金知识和产品设计等。而其他课程则不会提供包含设计、管理和工程在内的一系列可选项。

Project based courses, workshops and seminars of various duration are planned to introduce, or develop existing knowledge, in the areas of DLPD.

本课程计划引进为期不同的DLPD领域项目式课程、工作坊和研讨班,或者拓展现有的相关知识。

Coaching for specific projects or personnel is planned and will be performed in the workplace or the TD+ workshops.

课程会在工作地点或TD+工作坊内为特定项目或人员提供辅导。

Longer term consultancy is available to work with a whole employee group to permeate the employment culture at all levels and so develop an ‘in house’ thinking design environment and DLPD approach to future projects.

我们也可提供更长期的顾问服务,与整个雇员团队一起工作,以使知识和理念渗透进工作文化的所有层面,从而形成一种企业“内部”的思维设计环境和处理未来项目的DLPD方法。

  • Resulting in 课程效果:
  1. A sound understanding of what drives successful product innovation and management.
    透彻理解成功的产品创新和管理的驱动因素。
  2. An ability to work within, and lead, inter-disciplinary teams, focused on product innovation and development.
    有能力融入并领导专注于产品创新和开发的跨学科工作团队。
  3. An understanding of the elements required and an ability to define the needs of a specific project to take a product or service to the market successfully.
    理解界定具体项目的需求所需要的元素,并具备这种界定能力,以成功将一项产品和服务推出市场。
  4. Research skills and an ability to use this research in ways to enhance the success of project.
    获得调研技巧和能力,能够运用这一研究提高项目的成功率。
  5. A socially responsible commitment to sustainable manufacturing processes, human resource management and ethical marketing procedures.
    致力于施行符合社会责任的可持续性制造流程、人力资源管理和伦理营销程序。

  • What are the key learning elements of the programme?
    本课程的关键学习要素是什么?

Students learn the basics of product innovation management. What underpins product development, in an industrialor commercial context, and specific areas of product development processes, methods, design and industrial management.

学员学习产品创新管理的基础知识。了解在一个工业或商业语境中,构成产品开发以及产品开发流程、方法、设计和工业管理特定方面的基础是什么。

  • Unique aspects of the programme?
    本课程的独特之处是什么?

A research Capstone project forms a core part of the programme. Most projects are industry based and are supported by a specific company. This provides students with a “real life” opportunity to apply their knowledge and further their learning in a commercial environment. Compulsory industrial practical work.

课程的核心是结业调研。大部分项目以产业为基础,由特定的公司提供支持。这将为学员提供实战机会去运用所学,并在商业环境中进一步深化其学习。行业实践为本课程的必修部分。微信图片_20170727151543

Product development in China 关于中国未来产品开发模式的建议

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As the economy gears up to meet the challenge of ‘Made in China 2025’ the focus is on innovation and creativity as drivers within the ten areas of government supported industry.

为迎接“中国制造2025”的挑战,中国经济发展加速,而使创新和创造力成为政府扶持的十大产业领域的发展驱动力则是焦点所在。

In order for these industries to manufacture market ready products and services, support will be increasingly required if they are to compete with already established global brands.

为使这些产业领域能够生产出市场化的产品和服务,并与成熟的国际品牌竞争,就愈加需要支持。

This proposition intends to introduce a number of design led product development opportunities for businesses that are moving towards a value added and higher technology future.

本建议皆在为正在迈向高附加值和高技术未来的企业引介若干以设计为导向的产品开发机会。

Product development is one way of assisting this government objective and it provides a formula that can be applied to virtually all production and service provision. In doing so it teaches transferrable skills and processes thereby ensuring long term value to those who become skilled and experienced in its application.

产品开发是帮助实现这一政府目标的途径,它所提供的方法能够运用于几乎一切生产和服务供应领域。通过实施产品开发,教授可传递的技巧和流程,从而确保那些在应用过程中熟练掌握这一方法的企业获得长期价值。

The Basics/基本概念

Product development is essentially a tool for analysis and evaluation, research and manufacturing methods in association with all the fundamentals of materials, processes, marketing and management.

从本质上说,产品开发是一个分析评估工具,一套与材料、流程、销售和管理的所有基本要素相结合的调研和制造方法。

The strategy is linear, logical and simple, the elements are incorporated into the process in proportions that fit the project. In this way it is also possible for a participant to put emphasis on a particular strength and so create a more deeply skilled individual who may then work in a team formation with similarly skilled people of different strengths and so produce an executive Design Led Product Development group.

它是一个线性的、符合逻辑而又简单的策略,其元素按照适合项目的比例融入流程之中。使用这种方法,也可使参与者有可能重点关注某一特定的强项,从而得到技能更熟练的个体,可与其他技能水平相当而另有所长的人们组成工作小组,继而产生一个 “以设计为导向的产品开发”执行团队。

By describing this proposal as ‘design led product development’ (DLPD) the emphasis is on the innovation and creative aspects of the process. Thinking Design is an approach to all problem solving and it is this component which differentiates DLPD from a more generic form of product development and is I believe the future of product development. There are many examples of DLPD companies around the world and include: Samsung, Dyson, Porsche, Philips, Boeing, Sony, Bentley …..etc.

我们把这一建议描述为“以设计为导向的产品开发”(DLPD),强调的是这个流程中创新和创造性的方面。思维设计(Thinking Design)是一种用于解决一切问题的方法,正是这一点使得DLPD区别于一般的产品开发形式,而我们相信它是产品开发的未来。世界各地已经有许多公司在运用DLPD方法,当中包括三星、戴森、保时捷、菲利浦、波音、索尼、宾利等等。

The linear process/线性流程

The elements in the application of a DLPD project are logical and linear, the elements are selected for each project on a case by case basis and not all will be necessary in every case. Also, as I have stated above, the proportion of each element varies with each project and may vary during the projectas information is exposed and ‘needs and wants’ change.

DLPD项目应用中的元素是符合逻辑和线性的。这些元素根据项目具体情况来选定,并不是每个个案都必需包含所有元素。而且,正如上文所述,每个元素的比例也因项目而异,而且随着信息的披露和“需求与意愿”的改变,在项目过程中也可能会发生变化。

Simply put, a linear description of DLPD is as follows:

简单地说,对于DLPD流程的线性描述如下:

Project identified, brief expanded and confirmed, all information gathered and evaluated, sorted into sections for later reference.

确定项目,扩展和确认项目任务,收集和评估所有信息,并将信息加以整理分类,供以后参考。

Research phase begins, precedent case, competition, existing products or services, new technology.

调研阶段开始,调研内容包括先例、竞争情况、现有产品或服务、新技术。

Market research looks closely at all aspects of similar products and starts the process of analysis leading to functional, user and material suitability leading to initial direction of differentiation.

市场调研则是全面深入地研究类似产品,并启动以功能性、用户和材料适用性为目的的分析流程,得到初步的差异化方向。

Consumer research further evaluates the user experience and gathers knowledge related to emotional and ergonomic and functional aspects of competitive products.

消费者调研,进一步评估用户体验,收集竞争产品的情感、人体工程学和功能方面的相关信息。

Materials and technological research collects relevant knowledge related to cost, durability, user suitability, sustainablity etc

材料与技术调研,搜集与成本、耐用度、用户适用性、可持续性等相关的资料。

Design phase has been running throughout these research activities and begins to develop conceptual models utilizing all relevant information from the research and evaluation phases. Innovation is provoked in the designers as they begin to question ALL aspects of the project and integrate elements like cultural tendancies, social responsibility and humanistic preferences.

设计阶段其实一直贯穿于这些调研活动之中,并开始利用由调研和评估阶段所得到的有关信息开发出概念性模型。创新在设计师们的头脑中激发,他们开始对项目提出方方面面的质疑,并加入如文化趋势、社会责任和人文偏好等因素。

Further consumer research introduces design concepts to consumers for evaluation and refinement. Serial iterations are developed and similarly tested. All aspects of concepts are included as the process matures, materials, functional details, ergonomics, user interface, durability, maintenance, social issues.

更进一步的消费者调研,向消费者引介设计理念,以便进行评估和精炼。这个过程不断地循环迭代,并且采用同样的方法进行测试。随着这个流程的推进成熟,这些理念的各个方面都将被涵盖进去,包括材料、功能细节、人体工程学、用户界面、耐用度、保养维护、社会问题等等。

Marketing has been evident in the development of concepts and would be heavily involved in consumer evaluations. Analysing market segment, price points, and distribution would further inform the concept development stage and confirmation of suitable model.

市场考量在理念开发的过程中是显而易见的,是消费者评估的重要部分。对细分市场、价格点和销售渠道的分析将进一步影响理念开发和对适用模型的确定。

Detailed design development and engineering would work together to finalise manufacturing prototypes and these again would be tested through consumer and marketing evaluation meetings.

细节设计开发与工程学相互配合,敲定最终用于生产的原型。这些原型又会通过消费者和市场评估会议再度进行测试。

Final design confirmed, the product, or service, would be ready for manufacture or introduction and become the subject of more focused marketing activity which would have been developing throughout the design and research stages.

确认最终设计,产品或服务将做好生产或投放市场的准备。在设计和调研阶段就一直在策划的市场营销活动,此时焦点更明确,已经做好准备的产品或服务将成为活动的主题。

Methods of marketing, ‘fishing and farming’, or creating and maintaining a market along with knowledge of advertising technologies and media and consumer behavior should lead to a comprehensive understanding of how to launch the ‘product’.

市场营销的方法,采用“渔耕”模式,或者换句话说,借助广告技术、媒体和消费者行为的知识去创造并维护一个市场,这样可以对如何推出“产品”有一个全面的认识。

Throughout the process, a management element guides the progress of the project and ensures compliance with all the objectives of the initial and developed briefing. Financial control, quality control, client relations and human resource control would ensure successful conclusions to the project

在整个过程中,管理元素指导着项目的推进,并确保进程符合从初期到成熟期的全部开发任务目标。财务控制、质量控制、客户关系和人力资源控制将保证项目得以成功完成。

All projects will require a ‘plan’ of development and not all the above steps willbe required for all projects. An experienced DLPD user will be able to select the relevant steps for each project as the conditions, context and objectives are confirmed with the client.

所有项目都需要有一个开发“计划”,但并非所有项目都需要包含上述所有步骤。在与客户将项目的条件、背景和目标确定下来之后,熟练的DLPD运用者能够为每个项目选定相关步骤。

Summary/总结

Bringing a product to the market involves, consumer research, market research, materials, product design and engineering, marketing, innovation, management and manufacturing processes these are the components of any product or service. The emphasis depends on the project and the objectives and experience of the individuals involved, but an introduction to ALL the elements of the process helps to establish standards that can be checked and replicated as the team matures. Essential to the implementation of successful DLPD is the management of the team.

将一项产品推向市场牵涉到消费者调研、市场调研、材料、产品设计和工程学、市场营销、创新、管理和生产制造等诸多因素。一切产品和服务都由这些因素组成。虽然重点取决于项目、具体目标以及所涉人员的经验,但是把这个流程的所有要素引介进来,有助于建立标准,随着团队的成熟,这些标准可以被检验和复制。成功实施DLPD的关键在于团队的管理。

A horizontal management structure allows all members to contribute to all elements of the process. In enlightened companies, the days of the only decisions being made by the boss have gone, favouring now a coordinated decision making process through ‘responsibility with authority’. A marketing person can inject knowledge and also emotion into a concept just as easily as a designer, an engineer may have insights to a research method etc. thus ensuring as broad a range of experience as possible contributing to the development.

横向式管理架构使所有成员都可以为整个流程的所有元素作出贡献。在开明的企业里,只有老板能决策拍板的日子早已一去不返,现在多选择通过“有权有责”的制度实施的协同决策流程。一位市场营销人员可以像设计师一样很容易地为一个构思注入知识和情感,一位工程师也许对某个调研方法颇有洞见,等等,从而确保贡献于开发的经验面尽可能地宽泛。

The notion of DLPD is not unique but each group who establishes a DLPD facility interprets the approach slightly differently depending on the contextual circumstances surrounding it. It is this difference that illustrates the concept of design/thinking/design. It would indeed be counter to the notion of DLPD if a group simply copied another without applying the creative process and evaluation strategies necessary to differentiate their company from the competition and so demonstrate an innovative, design led product development ability.

DLPD的概念并不是唯一的,每一个建立了DLPD工作组的团体在诠释这种方法时都会稍有不同,这取决于其所处的背景性环境。这种差异正是“设计/思维/设计”理念的例证。如果一个企业只是简单地复制另一个企业的产品,而不运用创造性的流程和评估策略来使自己区别于竞争对手,从而展现出一种创新的、以设计为导向的产品开发能力,那么则是与DLPD理念背道而驰。

This proposal is targeted towards any business that understands what the future of business in China, and the rest of the world, will demand in terms of quality, service, price, availability, delivery and social responsibility.

本建议适用于任何企业,只要它理解中国商业的未来,具有全球视野,并对品质、服务、价格、实用性、产品/服务的交付和社会责任有要求。

Thinking design as a methodology liberates the innovation in development teams and so encourages highly competitive solutions to projects of all types. It is a way of thinking not just a single solution and as such is future proofed to be used again and again in the development of products and services for the future.

思维设计作为一种方法学,将开发小组的创新力释放出来,从而有助于为所有类型的项目探求具有高度竞争力的解决方案。这不仅是一个单一的解决方案,而是一种思维的方式,正因为如此,它可以经受住未来的考验,在未来的产品和服务开发过程中被一再地反复运用。

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Thinking Like A Designer 像设计师一样思考

thinking design

微信图片_20170727151323Through our comprehensive consultancy group, we can advise on strategy and implementation quality and marketing and product development processes appropriate to most products and services.

我们的综合顾问团队能为大部分产品和服务就策略、实施质量、市场营销和产品开发流程等提供建议

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As china makes a move from a high volume low value manufacturing economy to one of innovation, quality and higher value, a review of how to achieve this is necessary in order to ensure supply of the required elements and to sustain growth.

随着中国由高容量低价值的制造业经济向高品质高价值的创新型制造业经济转型,我们有必要审视一下应当如何去实现这种转型,以保证为此提供必备的条件,并维持其增长。

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The recent announcement by the State Council that investment in the ten areas of public development which they will support are all good examples of where to grow, but in some ways fail to predict how to grow. To simply expect innovative, creative solutions is only identifying the need, without supplying the methodology. In this way china may well leave itself open to the next wave of ‘foreign experts’ when it should be fostering its own solutions and manufacturing culture if it intends to fully exploit the ‘Made in China 2025’ blueprint announced by the State Council. (The issue of manufacturing culture is one of great importance as the identity of Chinese manufacturing should reflect the culture of China, not simply imitate that of western manufacturers).

国务院最近宣布国家将支持在十个公共发展领域的投资,清晰指明了未来增长点所在,但是从某种程度上来说却未能预测如何实现这些增长。仅仅期待革新性、创造性解决方案的出现只能说是认识到了这种需求的存在,而没有给出具体方法。如果想要充分开拓国务院所构想的 “中国制造2025” 蓝图,这样的状况极有可能导致中国在应当培育自己的解决方案和制造业文化之时,却引来新一波“外国专家”涌入的浪潮。(制造业文化意义重大,中国制造业的自我身份认同应该体现中国文化,而非单纯对西方制造商的模仿。)微信图片_20170727151455

There is a need to introduce a less linear, more investigative form of strategic development and planning if the production culture is to be changed and evolve into the competitive entity outlined by the ‘blueprint’. This can be initiated by introducing an approach that is less dependant on single decision makers and develops responsibility with authority at levels where new thinking (thinking design) can assist in meeting the challenges of this cultural change.

倘若生产文化要发生改变,继而进化为“蓝图”所描绘的具有竞争力的实体,就需要引入一种非线性的、研究型的策略发展和规划形式。开始时可以采用一种对单一决策者依赖性较低的模式,形成不同权责层面,新思维(思维设计)从各个层面上帮助应对这种文化变革所带来的挑战。

I believe there is a need for the introduction of comprehensive, design led product development processes whereby less predictive thinking and planning contribute to more divergent outcomes and so meet the challenges of these new technology applications and manufacturing. To turn innovation and creativity into marketable products and brands requires the input of experienced business focused designers. To ensure market success of these technologies and inventions requires the input of design led product development teams experienced in all the components of ‘bringing to the market’ ideas that otherwise may fail.

我相信市场需要由设计导向的综合性产品开发流程,让出人意料的思维和规划促成更多样化的结果,并以此迎接新技术应用和制造业的挑战。要将创新性与创造力转化为适销的产品和品牌,需要经验丰富而又关注业务的设计师们的介入。而要确保这些技术和发明在市场上取得成功,则需要借力于深谙“落地市场”理念及一切构成要素的设计导向型产品开发团队。

This product development strategy should be initiated at the same time as the push for the ten areas of government supported manufacturing. Universities could review the design and engineering education courses and include a business focus which seems to be lacking currently. Between the two departments a hybrid offering called Product Development should be developed using models from UK and Australasia that have been proven to support high tech business and so accelerate the availability of ‘thinking design’ in the management of the proposed changes to manufacturing.

这种产品开发策略在力推政府支持的十个制造业领域之初就应该同时启动。高校可以检讨设计及工程教育相关课程的设置,并将时下短缺的商业思维课程加入其中。不妨借鉴英国和澳大利亚的经验,参考它们的一些已被证明可以对高科技产业起到支持作用的成功模式,在两个院系之间合作形成一个名为“产品开发”(Product Development)的研究方向,借此促进“设计思维”在制造业变革管理中的运用。

Successful examples are spread across consumer manufacturers, Samsung, Dyson, Sony, Apple are all design led businesses and the Product Development processes they employ are superbly tuned to their technology, products and consumers.

纵观全球消费品制造商,成功案例比比皆是,三星、戴森、索尼和苹果都是设计导向型企业,而他们所采用的“产品开发”流程都与他们的技术、产品和用户高度契合。

TD+ can assist in the change programme for companies taking the challenge to modernize their products and processes through design and product development. To apply thinking design in their approach to manufacturing, marketing, materials and management in order to assist in the achievement of the ‘Made in China 2025’ challenge.

TD+可以通过设计和产品开发帮助企业迎接产品和流程现代化的挑战。将设计思维运用到生产、营销、设备和管理之中,从而成就“中国制造2025”蓝图的实现。

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8 Principles of Good Design 好设计的8个原则

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Good Design / 好设计:

1. is a good investment. / 是一项好投资。
This originally started as “Good Design is Good Business”courtesy of Thomas J. Watson. However in today’s commercial environment, most people understand this concept. Unfortunately not many actually see it as an investment that has tangible returns. Therefore most Return on Investment (ROI) calculations can be applied here. This means there has to be risk assessments, planning, budget controls, and long term goals set out. Design should never be just about making something look good and flogging it for extra cash.

IBM前总裁小托马斯·沃森最早提出“好设计就是好生意”。在今天的商业环境里,相信绝大部分人都理解这个理念。遗憾的是,并没有太多人真正将设计视为一项能带来有形回报的投资。正因为是一项投资,大多数对于投资回报率(ROI)的运算亦适用于设计。这意味着必须进行风险评估、规划、预算控制和长期目标。设计绝不应该只是使某个东西看起来漂亮,然后为达成这个目标而额外烧钱。

2. is all encompassing. / 无所不包。
Good design is all encompassing and unifying. It should not just be about the product or look. It should include every single aspect that revolves around aproduct, including things like user interface, packaging and branding etc.

好设计是无所不包、统为一体的。它不应只关乎产品或外观。围绕着一个产品的每一个方面都属于设计的范畴,包括用户界面、包装和品牌等等。

3. does not exist in vacuum. / 并非存在于真空之中。
Nothing comes from nothing. The best designs works best for the context it was developed in. Good understanding of user needs, a critical insight on a problem, and a well-defined brief is important for producing the good design.

无中不能生有。最好的设计在其孕育成长的语境当中最能发挥效果。充分理解用户需求,以批判性眼光去分析一个问题,提供定义明确的指示等等,这些对于产生好的设计都非常重要。

4. satisfies all requirements. / 满足所有要求。

A design solution cannot be successful if it does not satisfy all the requirements of the user, business and development constraints. This is more about prioritizing rather than about compromise. Pick your fights, learn to negotiate, and make sure you win the war not the battle.

如果一个设计解决方案不能满足用户、企业和发展制约因素的所有要求,就不可能成为一个成功的解决方案。这与其说是妥协折衷,不如说是对轻重缓急的判断。选好攻击点,学会谈判,确保自己打赢的不只是一次战役,而是整场战争。

5. is beautiful. / 是漂亮的。
Not much needs to be said here, except our visual sense is one of the strongest of our 5 senses. There is no justification for ugly and over styled products. In other words you cannot polish crap. So it is better to be self-critical always, rather than face the consequences when the market tells you otherwise.

对此无需赘言,除了必须说明一点:视觉是人类五感中最强的感官。没有任何正当的理由可以为丑陋的和过于夸张的产品进行辩护。换言之,你是无法把废物打磨得闪闪发亮。所以,作为设计师,最好时刻进行自我批评,而不是等着市场来告诉你你的设计很丑。

6. is innovative, logical and clever. / 是创新的、合乎逻辑的、聪明的。
Good design does not stop at being beautiful. Good design goes beyond aesthetics, as it also needs to be an innovative and clever solution that evokes an emotional response from the user. Good design just makes sense.

好设计并不止于外观的漂亮。一个好设计是超越美学的,它还应该是一个创新而聪明的解决方案,能唤起用户的情感反应。好设计应该合理。

7. is intuitive and uncomplicated. / 是直观而简单的。
Leonardo Da Vinci said, “Simplicityis the ultimate sophistication”. Making a product simple to use, intuitive and uncomplicated is probably one ofthe hardest things for a designer to do. It requires passion and dedication at every stage of the products’ development cycle.

列奥纳多·达·芬奇说过:“至繁归于至简。”使一个产品易于操作、直观而不复杂很可能是设计师最棘手的难题。要做到这一点,需要在产品开发周期的每一个阶段都灌注热情,全情投入。

8. is strategic. / 具有策略性。
This is the last and the most important one. Design can and should be applied in all aspects of an organization. My favorite thought is that, Design should be a vital function in any organization, just like finance, accounting or logistics etc. This way Design is involved at the highest level of decision-making, and part of why an organization exists.

这是最后一点,也是最重要的一点。设计能够也应当被应用于一个机构的方方面面。就像财务、会计或物流等功能部门一样,在任何机构中,设计都应该发挥重要职能。如此,设计参与到最高层面的决策之中,也成为一个机构之所以存在的部分原因。

Case Study: New Zealand Design and Innovation 案例研究:新西兰的设计与创新

 

thinking design

New Zealand has a reputation for being a particularly independent thinking nation.

新西兰是一个以独立思考著称的国度。

It is also known for being relaxed, green and friendly.

其悠闲、绿色和友善也同样闻名。

These characteristics when combined in a context of design, product development and manufacturing lead to a unique approach to, and understanding of, the term ‘innovation’.

当这些特质在设计、产品开发和制造业语境之下结合在一起时,就为“创新”一词赋予了一种独特的态度和理解。

Set at the bottom of the world, nz’s isolation and deprivation in previous decades, has equipped nzers with both an inquisitive mind and an unusual level of self reliance. Innovation of ‘need’ has been substantially replaced by applied innovation in creative and technological contexts. The isolation that used to be seen as a real disadvantage has, through clever marketing and technological change, become one of nz’s strongest assets.

新西兰可以说是位于世界的“底部”。在之前的数十年里,这份与世隔绝和资源匮乏造就了新西兰人好奇的头脑和非凡的自力更生能力。出于“需要”的创新已基本上被创意和技术语境下的应用创新所取代。通过聪明的市场营销和技术变革,曾被视为缺点的隔绝孤立已经成为新西兰最强大的资产之一。

This attitude has affected the way everything is done in nz. From the way children are brought up to social policies that ensure fair treatment for all people, well most people, to the way designers see the world that they contribute to. The ‘can do’ attitude of nzers is what differentiates them from most other cultures and this attitude contributes to the freshness and clarity of designs and designers in nz through natural innovation, previously, the need for innovation.

在新西兰,做每一件事的方式都受到这种态度的影响。从如何养育孩子,到确保人人——好吧,是大多数人——得到平等待遇的社会政策,再到设计师们如何看待他们为之挥洒创意的这个世界,无一例外。正是新西兰人这种“能行”的态度,使他们有别于大多数的其他文化;而这种态度,借由本能的创新,也就是以前所说的对创新的需求,为新西兰的设计和设计师们平添上一份清新与明晰。

To challenge convention and not to accept the norm is fundamental to designers, or should be, and this provocative approach to problem solving is enhanced by the social and environmental conditions prevalent in nz through its global location and historic precedents. True innovation only occurs when social conditions support it and when culture and economies benefit from it.

挑战传统和拒绝成规是设计师的根本,或者说设计师应当如此,而在新西兰,由于地理位置和历史先例原因而形成的社会和环境条件又更加强了这种挑衅式的解决问题的方式。真正的创新只有在得到社会条件支持而文化和经济又从中受益的情况下才会出现。

The push towards 2025 in Chinese economic developments has emphasized the need for innovative and creative attitudes to lead the way in the economy of the future. The areas of economic support have been identified by the state council and financial support will be focused towards these emerging and already established businesses. However innovation and creativity do not just happen, the right social and cultural conditions are required to encourage and support these left brain activities.

中国经济发展2025推进计划强调了未来的经济需由创新和创意精神去引领。国务院确定了给予经济支持的发展领域,而资金扶持也将集中于这些新兴的或成熟的产业。然而,创新和创造力不会就此发生,需要合适的社会和文化条件去鼓励和支撑这些左脑的活动。

Reading the brief analysis of the nz design/innovation situation shows one way that an environment that needs, and then supports, innovation can benefit an economy in much the same way China’s leadership is promoting. Within China there should be positive movements in both the economy and education to create an enabling support for creative activity and in this way the seeds of innovation and creative endeavour in all forms can grow to support, not just the economic growth of China, but also the culture and arts of China.

对新西兰的设计/创新状况的简要分析显示,一个需要创新而又反过来支持创新的环境能够惠及一国经济,中国政府正在推行的发展模式即大致与此类似。中国在经济和教育方面都应实施积极举措,为创造性活动创建一种使之能够实现的支持,唯其如此,一切形式的创新与创造性努力的种子才得以生长,从而不仅为中国的经济增长提供支持,也促进中国在文化艺术上的发展。

So this week’s chat is to encourage people to become aware of the design work that happens in nz and to use this as a start point for researching social, historical and economic influences in other nations that claim a design or innovation heritage (Italy, France, Scandinavian countries, England etc) .

所以,本期所聊的主题旨在鼓励人们去了解发生在新西兰的设计活动,并由此出发,调研设计在其他具有设计和创新传统的国家(如意大利、法国、斯堪的纳维亚国家、英国等)里所产生的社会、历史和经济影响。

In this way a deeper knowledge of the importance of design to the expression of nationhood, the identity of cultural strength and importance of geographic influence will help to inform young designers’ development and professionalism. To understand why we do things assists in developing the confidence we need to challenge the how we do them.

设计对于国家地位的表达、文化力量的身份认同和地理影响力的重要性具有重大意义,更深入地了解这种意义将有助于影响年轻设计师的成长和专业素养。明白自己做事的原因会帮助我们建立起所需要的自信,去向我们做这些事的方式发起挑战。

For further information about design and designers in New Zealand check these links:

读者如有兴趣了解更多关于新西兰设计及设计师的资讯,请访问以下网站:

www.betterbydesign.org.nz

www.dinz.org.nz/

The Chinese Interior Design Business… Interview Outline

Interviewee:  Roger Billington, Director of Design and Development, B+SW Design, Shenzhen.

Theme:Located in a city of design, how does B+SW adapt to and lead the development of design? What’s your opinions about international design environment at home and abroad?

My business has always been based on a research approach to projects and, by consequence, developing a future focused capability in the designers who work here. We design from our knowledge and experience base, and if those bases are limited, then so is our ability to design with the credibility needed to convince clients that we are worth our fee, the better you are, the more you can charge. As in any other business, investment is needed to improve and our investments are in knowledge and technology. My design teams are all researchers and have a topic of their own choice, but must also be of value to the business. We also run a design history seminar every week, topics that extend designers understanding and appreciation of many diverse aspects of design, culture and society……check www.bswdesign.com.cn to see some examples, (although we are a little behind in these two areas at the moment).

Interview outline:

1. Hi, Roger. It has been seven years since Shenzhen was selected as the city of design, as a representative international company in Shenzhen, from which aspects does B+SW feel the encouragement and support for the design industry in Shenzhen?

Support from who…?

Other than A963, I don’t see any support for design as a business in SZ. I think most businesses still see design as an expense, not an investment, that’s the basic problem here and that will only change when companies adopt an understanding that design assists the development of all aspects of biz from products, interiors, brand, print, web and marketing when they utilize a thinking design approach to their business, then design will flourish as it has in other countries. So if we can organize support for design and designers to help business to realize the values of design then that would be a good start, how to do this, I have some good ideas…..read below….?

2. China is developing rapidly. The Chinese government has just introduced upgrades in ten key sectors of manufacturing industry before, presenting the concept of “2025 MADE IN CHINA”. In your opinion, what can design bring to development? Pease give examples to illustrate it.

I am currently promoting design led product development (DLPD) as a support to these government initiatives. All the ten areas for investment lack the benefit of an experienced commercialisation unit and that can be introduced through DLPD. DLPD is a process which can be applied to all products and services and through a series of evaluation stages ensures that products are ready for the market. In a globally competitive environment, if products are simply a good idea, or innovative technology, without satisfying more subtle consumer needs, then they will not be competitive with leading international products and services who’s design direction also focuses on ‘soft’ elements of development and social understanding of consumer wants and needs. The days of ‘making do’ have gone and manufacturers now have to understand the expectations of international consumers, and increasingly Chinese, who are showing preference to products that are environmentally safe, have sophisticated user considerations and are, of course well designed.

3. What’s the reason that you pay attention to the policy of design investment? Is the fact that B+SW is an international design company counted in?

Design investment…?  Where….?

4. Referring to investments in design field in foreign countries, take Samsung as an example, its success is contributed to design, but government’s support also plays a very important role in its success. What’s your opinion about this phenomenon?

I don’t agree that the governments support has very much to do with the success of design led companies overseas. The majority of companies that describe themselves as design led are simply confident, innovative and technologically advanced and understand consumer expectations. The world has changed through generational evolution, many of the current older thoughts are still rooted in the post WW 11 thinking of, utility rather than excellence. This is understandable, the need for economy was necessary, but now with later generations, an expectation of top performance, user centered and value added are the norm. Price is an issue, technology is another, but design is the main differentiation between products these days, manufacturers who fail to understand this will not be with us for long. The brand development of a company relies on consumer appreciation of the design approach the companies take, so the importance of design cannot continue to be relegated to ‘making things look nice’……DLPD develops the holistic approach to a companies organizational developments and products through design thinking techniques.

5. Our designers have always kept a close contact with designers in Italy. As a leader of global design, why can they keep the edge in your opinion? What can we learn from them?

I would say the most important thing to be learnt from Italian design is for business in China to appreciate the value and contribution design and designers can make to organizations, especially during a period of immense change, as China is in right now. Design is not simply how things look, it is about how to develop the whole manufacturing programme, the organization required to implement the programme and then how to market it, to whom and why. In the face of massive change themselves at the end of WW11, Italy developed this perception of excellence as designers, now because they ‘walk the talk’, their economy, post war, has been based on this belief and so they have made it a reality, (perception becomes reality) I do not think that Italian design is that good, but they do, and so it works, this confidence is what Chinese business can learn from the Italian model.

6. The postwar economic development of Italy is based on design education, but they don’t have design academies domestic and designers should first accept the education of architects. What influences does this kind of model have on designers and what’s your opinion?

This philosophy is based more on allowing a student to develop a personal interest and direction in design, art and architecture and as they progress through the course the focus gets sharper, but still allows an holistic approach to design decisions. It is the model I studied as a student in England, and it is the model I have adapted for my position as head of design schools in New Zealand and Australia. I totally agree with the idea that a creative individual must be given the opportunity to ‘find’ their way in a creative environment, as long as they accept the rigour of professionalism as part of it, from this comes genuine innovation. Design is above all else a business oriented profession, it is not an art where self expression is the model, design closely follows the needs and often predicts the future of business. This is what China needs if the concept of innovative economic development is to happen, you can’t just tell people to be innovators, you have to create the right structures and support to encourage it.

7.  Are there any other cases promoting the design development in the world impress you? Please share them with us.

I am quite impressed with my own design development programmes, they are innovative and they are demanding of the students, in business though they are often a little bit ahead of client’s expectations. Through my insistence in ongoing learning and research I believe my design management rates high in comparison to any other in the world, often the problem lies in selling this to Clients, so we compromise a little. There are also notable schools of design the Architects Association in London, Royal College of Art, Art Center and many others, and there are many highly successful design led companies in the world, it would be nice to get a programme started in China to assist in the uptake in both education and business here and create links with some of these long established centres of excellence.

8. Many western countries have long historical and cultural traditions, and they have become veritable design powers. But in China, Chinese elements are frequently copied in design. Does there exist any differences in ways of thinking between them?

I honestly believe that design talent already exists in China, designers only lack the focus,  confidence and opportunity to become a world power in design. Design is, after all, only about 30 years old in China, since the economic policies of Deng Xiao Ping, before that it was all utility and industry. I have been visiting and helping in China for 15 years and have witnessed a great change in the apparent abilities of designers here, I think that a look at design education objectives and some coaching for business leaders would strengthen that growth in ability and, most importantly encourage younger Chinese designers to develop a design culture which reflects China, not some copy of a western model.

9. How to deal with the individuality and otherness of different countries when China is learning from them? What positive ideas and thoughts do you have?

Individuality is the word, and an education that insists on the development of divergent thinking, rather than the linear or conventional thinking, is I believe the only way to move into the future as described by the governments Made in China 2025 policy. I believe there is a need for Business studies, Engineering and Design to work together and develop a hybrid approach to ‘design in business’ courses for emerging designers. As I said above, global business is making decisions about products and services that most Chinese designers and businesses don’t even know about yet, why….? ( lack of research and development ) Those who do know, or understand the need to find out will be the ones who succeed in the new Made in China 2025 environment.

10. To become a county or city of design, what does China still lacks? And what efforts did B+SW make?

I wrote many supportive articles and papers in support of Shenzhen’s application to become a city of design and I am happy to be able to tell my international colleagues that I now live and work in such a city. For the rest of china, why bother, between shanghai and SZ that’s enough, let’s focus on education, at all levels, and see China as a design led country not just a few cities. Develop MBA degrees with a DLPD content for existing and emerging business, provide design, architecture and engineering degrees that provoke students to evolve rather than replicate and supply meaningful scholarships or awards to younger designers and students of design so they can travel, see and experience, in context, the influences that the rest of the world of design has to offer. Travel is the most important experience a young person can have and for such a small cost the ROI would be one of the best investments the Chinese Government could make to support the 10 areas of investment for ‘Made in China 2025’

roger b.

 

 

Change your thinking… change the world

Managers are finding breadth outscores depth in design and engineering knowledge requirements. Employers complain that it is difficult to get the breadth of skills required for industrial problem solving. Adaptability (keeping up with changes and where practical being ahead of them, innovation) and practical skills rank high with today’s employers.

Employees with a depth in their design and engineering discipline, plus breadth in related studies are the key to innovation in the work place Managers who enable the employees to be innovative are the future of successful manufacturing.

Design Led Product Development (DLPD) is the study that most closely aligns with the employer requirements and a rapidly changing economy and consumer world. Its coverage of design, engineering, marketing and business management areas, which are required by employers, makes this study option unique.

Another reason is because graduates are encouraged to think holistically about problems and to identify opportunities. They learn to define a problem, look for alternative possibilities, select the most appropriate way forwards, design, develop and test it. They also consider the multiple factors associated with the product’s context and user interactions.

DLPD designers and engineers are specialists in simplifying complexity, resolving ambiguity and being creative within defined boundaries. They learn to translate the languages spoken by the various disciplines that are involved in inter‐functional development projects. Very often specialists in other disciplines cannot understand or appreciate one another’s perspectives. DLPD designers are able to improve collaborations across R&D, manufacturing, shop floor and sales and marketing staff, remove ambiguities and lead inter-functional projects. They also appreciate business and organizational matters of scheduling and finance and the social and environmental implications of products and services.

“In the automotive industry, there are not enough broad gauge engineers and designers with multiple skill sets”says recruiting firm Barton Group inMichigan,USA.

Recently there has been a rise in preference for generalists over specialists in industry. In their experience, employers want design and engineering graduates who have a flexible approach to problem solving, have experience in meeting deadlines and appreciate the need to design and make meaningful, profitable products. Specialists are less preferred due to their narrow outlook and, often, lack of creativity. Successful product developers are able to keep abreast of the latest innovations in their field and be able to connect across disciplines.

The demands of today’s industrial world and global problem solving requires this breadth of skills.

Product Development Studies for Professionals involved in innovative product change and value added manufacturing.

This is the only programme of its type in China/Australasia. Its uniqueness is founded on the opportunity for participants to focus on specific areas of product development including product innovation management, practical finance and product design. Other courses do not have the range of design, management and engineering papers to choose from.

Project based courses, workshops and seminars of various duration are planned to introduce, or develop existing knowledge, in the areas of DLPD.

Coaching for specific projects or personnel is planned and will be performed in the workplace or the TD+ workshops.

Longer term consultancy is available to work with a whole employee group to permeate the employment culture at all levels and so develop an ‘in house’ thinking design environment and DLPD approach to future projects.

Resulting in:

  1. A sound understanding of what drives successful product innovation and management.
  2. An ability to work within, and lead, inter-disciplinary teams, focused on product innovation and development.
  3. An understanding of the elements required and an ability to define the needs of a specific project to take a product or service to the market successfully.
  4. Research skills and an ability to use this research in ways to enhance the success of project.
  5. A socially responsible commitment to sustainable manufacturing processes, human resource management and ethical marketing procedures.

roger b,

• What are the key learning elements of the programme?

Students learn the basics of product innovation management. What underpins product development, in an industrial or commercial context, and specific areas of product development processes, methods, design and industrial management.

• Unique aspects of the programme?

A research Capstone project forms a core part of the programme. Most projects are industry based and are supported by a specific company. This provides students with a “real life” opportunity to apply their knowledge and further their learning in a commercial environment. Compulsory industrial practical work.

 

Product development in China

As the economy gears up to meet the challenge of ‘Made in China 2025’ the focus is on innovation and creativity as drivers within the ten areas of government supported industry.

In order for these industries to manufacture market ready products and services, support will be increasingly required if they are to compete with already established global brands.

This proposition intends to introduce a number of design led product development opportunities for businesses that are moving towards a value added and higher technology future.

Product development is one way of assisting this government objective and it provides a formula that can be applied to virtually all production and service provision. In doing so it teaches transferrable skills and processes thereby ensuring long term value to those who become skilled and experienced in its application.

The Basics:

Product development is essentially a tool for analysis and evaluation, research and manufacturing methods in association with all the fundamentals of materials, processes, marketing and management.

The strategy is linear, logical and simple, the elements are incorporated into the process in proportions that fit the project. In this way it is also possible for a participant to put emphasis on a particular strength and so create a more deeply skilled individual who may then work in a team formation with similarly skilled people of different strengths and so produce an executive Design Led Product Development group.

By describing this proposal as ‘design led product development’ (DLPD) the emphasis is on the innovation and creative aspects of the process. Thinking Design is an approach to all problem solving and it is this component which differentiates DLPD from a more generic form of product development and is I believe the future of product development. There are many examples of DLPD companies around the world and include: Samsung, Dyson, Porsche, Philips, Boeing, Sony, Bentley …..etc.

The linear process:

The elements in the application of a DLPD project are logical and linear, the elements are selected for each project on a case by case basis and not all will be necessary in every case. Also, as I have stated above, the proportion of each element varies with each project and may vary during the project as information is exposed and ‘needs and wants’ change.

Simply put, a linear description of DLPD is as follows:

Project identified, brief expanded and confirmed, all information gathered and evaluated, sorted into sections for later reference.

Research phase begins, precedent case, competition, existing products or services, new technology.

Market research looks closely at all aspects of similar products and starts the process of analysis leading to functional, user and material suitability leading to initial direction of differentiation.

Consumer research further evaluates the user experience and gathers knowledge related to emotional and ergonomic and functional aspects of competitive products.

Materials and technological research collects relevant knowledge related to cost, durability, user suitability, sustainablity etc

Design phase has been running throughout these research activities and begins to develop conceptual models utilizing all relevant information from the research and evaluation phases. Innovation is provoked in the designers as they begin to question ALL aspects of the project and integrate elements like cultural tendancies, social responsibility and humanistic preferences.

Further consumer research introduces design concepts to consumers for evaluation and refinement. Serial iterations are developed and similarly tested. All aspects of concepts are included as the process matures, materials, functional details, ergonomics, user interface, durability, maintenance, social issues.

Marketing has been evident in the development of concepts and would be heavily involved in consumer evaluations. Analysing market segment, price points, and distribution would further inform the concept development stage and confirmation of suitable model.

Detailed design development and engineering would work together to finalise manufacturing prototypes and these again would be tested through consumer and marketing evaluation meetings.

Final design confirmed, the product, or service, would be ready for manufacture or introduction and become the subject of more focused marketing activity which would have been developing throughout the design and research stages.

Methods of marketing, ‘fishing and farming’, or creating and maintaining a market along with knowledge of advertising technologies and media and consumer behavior should lead to a comprehensive understanding of how to launch the ‘product’.

Throughout the process, a management element guides the progress of the project and ensures compliance with all the objectives of the initial and developed briefing. Financial control, quality control, client relations and human resource control would ensure successful conclusions to the project

All projects will require a ‘plan’ of development and not all the above steps will be required for all projects. An experienced DLPD user will be able to select the relevant steps for each project as the conditions, context and objectives are confirmed with the client.

Summary:

Bringing a product to the market involves, consumer research, market research, materials, product design and engineering, marketing, innovation, management and manufacturing processes these are the components of any product or service. The emphasis depends on the project and the objectives and experience of the individuals involved, but an introduction to ALL the elements of the process helps to establish standards that can be checked and replicated as the team matures. Essential to the implementation of successful DLPD is the management of the team.

A horizontal management structure allows all members to contribute to all elements of the process. In enlightened companies, the days of the only decisions being made by the boss have gone, favouring now a coordinated decision making process through ‘responsibility with authority’. A marketing person can inject knowledge and also emotion into a concept just as easily as a designer, an engineer may have insights to a research method etc. thus ensuring as broad a range of experience as possible contributing to the development.

The notion of DLPD is not unique but each group who establishes a DLPD facility interprets the approach slightly differently depending on the contextual circumstances surrounding it. It is this difference that illustrates the concept of design/thinking/design. It would indeed be counter to the notion of DLPD if a group simply copied another without applying the creative process and evaluation strategies necessary to differentiate their company from the competition and so demonstrate an innovative, design led product development ability.

This proposal is targeted towards any business that understands what the future of business in China, and the rest of the world, will demand in terms of quality, service, price, availability, delivery and social responsibility.

Thinking design as a methodology liberates the innovation in development teams and so encourages highly competitive solutions to projects of all types. It is a way of thinking not just a single solution and as such is future proofed to be used again and again in the development of products and services for the future.

roger b.

 

Thinking Like A Designer

Through our comprehensive consultancy group, we can advise on strategy and implementation quality and marketing and product development processes appropriate to most products and services.

As china makes a move from a high volume low value manufacturing economy to one of innovation, quality and higher value, a review of how to achieve this is necessary in order to ensure supply of the required elements and to sustain growth.

The recent announcement by the State Council that investment in the ten areas of public development which they will support are all good examples of where to grow, but in some ways fail to predict how to grow. To simply expect innovative, creative solutions is only identifying the need, without supplying the methodology. In this way china may well leave itself open to the next wave of ‘foreign experts’ when it should be fostering its own solutions and manufacturing culture if it intends to fully exploit the ‘Made in China 2025’ blueprint announced by the State Council.  (The issue of manufacturing culture is one of great importance as the identity of Chinese manufacturing should reflect the culture ofChina, not simply imitate that of western manufacturers).

There is a need to introduce a less linear, more investigative form of strategic development and planning if the production culture is to be changed and evolve into the competitive entity outlined by the ‘blueprint’.

This can be initiated by introducing an approach that is less dependant on single decision makers and develops responsibility with authority at levels where new thinking (thinking design) can assist in meeting the challenges of this cultural change.

I believe there is a need for the introduction of comprehensive, design led product development processes whereby less predictive thinking and planning contribute to more divergent outcomes and so meet the challenges of these new technology applications and manufacturing. To turn innovation and creativity into marketable products and brands requires the input of experienced business focused designers. To ensure market success of these technologies and inventions requires the input of design led product development teams experienced in all the components of ‘bringing to the market’ ideas that otherwise may fail.

This product development strategy should be initiated at the same time as the push for the ten areas of government supported manufacturing. Universities could review the design and engineering education courses and include a business focus which seems to be lacking currently. Between the two departments a hybrid offering called Product Development should be developed using models from UK and Australasia that have been proven to support high tech business and so accelerate the availability of ‘thinking design’ in the management of the proposed changes to manufacturing.

Successful examples are spread across consumer manufacturers, Samsung, Dyson, Sony, Apple are all design led businesses and the Product Development processes they employ are superbly tuned to their technology, products and consumers.

B+SW can assist in the change programme for companies taking the challenge to modernize their products and processes through design and product development. To apply thinking design in their approach to manufacturing, marketing, materials and management in order to assist in the achievement of the ‘Made in China 2025’ challenge.

roger b.

 

 

The Roger @ TD+

Welcome to the inaugural edition of the TD+ WeChat Platform, designed to background events and people in the design world and to offer a platform for interactive debate in the creative fields.

To begin with, the title, “Thinking Design”, we all are, or should be, familiar with the phrase “Design Thinking”. How design is integrated into business culture and assists in formulating processes for product development. It has become a studied and applied area of research, quite academic. I wanted to make our blog more accessible so this platform is for everybody who thinks about design, ‘thinking design’ seems more appropriate as you don’t need to be a designer to appreciate good design.

The title also operates on another level, thinking design (clever design) also implies a certain quality of design, design that considers issues, provokes alternative solutions and, perhaps most importantly, understands its role in society and the business world equally. Design is about creating solutions that work on many levels too and so the title is quite important to explain our purpose.  To help designers to perform at higher levels, clients to understand the potential of a project and society as a whole to improve as a result.

No simple task, but we are good at complex thinking and as a result of some integrated thinking design, I have selected as my first topic for discussion a sensitive one. One that has so many players it will beyond doubt prove the above explanation of the title as being for all people interested in design, but not only designers, so welcome to the blog, and don’t forget, I want your thoughts too, more about that later.

Why China Policy needs to consider the place of design in business and society.

I recently read a very compelling paper by an eminent Scottish professor who contends that Chinese business is, generally, more future proof than many of its Western counterparts because it is not restricted by the age old conventions and habits that have evolved over the last 300 or so years and currently dominate many aspects of business performance in the West. Not looking to the past and constraints that restrict growth and development,Chinais ready for the future, but how to define that future is the big question facing the Chinese Government now.

I recently read another paper, and it is the integration of these two papers that establish the theme of my article. The second paper was from a meeting of the State Council,’ Made in China 2025’, it announced the 10 directions for Government special funding and support to the future.

Those directions are:

Info Tech, High end numerical control and automation (mechatronics), aerospace and aviation, maritime and high tech vessel manufacturing, advanced rail equipment, energy saving vehicles, electrical equipment, new materials, biotech and medical equipment, agricultural equipment.

No doubt these are all good choices for development but I see a gap, I see one area of development and support which has been traditionally left out of the mix in Western business thinking too, Design, and it seems to missing from the State Councils thinking too.

Some of the most successful economies and corporations in the world are, or are becoming design led. Germany’s rise from the Second World War based on principles of design and quality, Italy’s rebranding of itself as a design culture has led to its place at the top of the design, fashion and manufacturing world,  Scandinavian countries, Sweden, Norway and Finland all have a history of design led productivity, Samsung Corporation has designers involved in all levels of decision making, as do BMW, Dyson, Apple, and the list goes on.

Each one of the industries to be supported by Government would benefit from the inclusion of design thinking people, not to see design as something you apply at the end of the development process (see: Tim Brown, IDEO). Design thinking assists in exploring not only technological or scientific but also more esoteric and humanistic aspects of the development processes. In an increasingly demanding and concerned consumer world, Designers can assist in defining user experiences and expectations and integrating these ‘soft’ elements into the development process.

While living inNew Zealand, a good friend of mine, the President of the Labour Party, asked if I could help their Department of Commerce to develop marketing and industrial design solutions for the some products they had been working on. It seems there were these ‘boffins’ or nerds who had invented numerous world beating products but none of them had any market potential because they were not usable due to a lack of parallel design development. In other words, let’s pop design in at the end to make it look ‘nice’, not the way to meet the market of the future.

I used to run the design department in theSchoolofEngineeringatMasseyUniversityinNew Zealand. My responsibility was in the area of Product Development and it here where I strongly advise the Chinese Government to look into assisting the ten areas by committing to design led product development support for them. I worked on a variety of projects that cover many of the ten areas and it from this experience that I make the suggestion to instigate product development at university level.

The process of product development is applicable to all products and services, the research types, materials testing, design and prototyping and consumer evaluation create the parameters for decision making and so lead to successful integrated manufacturing. The post production/implementation evaluation processes lead to ever increasing quality and market approvals and this informs further development and innovation.

So here’s the first one, a complex topic, but one which demonstrates my belief in the importance of design. It shows the possibilities of how design can be so much more important once you start to integrate diverse information into the project and how the project will benefit from that. Hopefully in the future we can discuss how to gain that information, what to do with it and when best to use it to advance the designers profile inChina.

And if you share my belief that design is not just a job, but a way of life that can help people and society to understand their living environment better and enjoy the benefits of “Thinking Design”, I would appreciate your feedback. This helps produce talks which fit the reader’s profiles and hopefully help in extending your understanding of design more globally. I am also interested in what you think would be good topics for discussion, so if you have issues you would like me to explore, send the suggestion along to me on this blog.

(I suggest you Search the comments I make in brackets as these are for your research.)

roger b.

 

B+SW:带你找回被遗忘的设计历史

Roger Billington,深圳B+SW设计中心董事、首席执行官,早在四年前刚到中国发展设计事业时,他就发现中国的年轻设计师往往只关注设计本身,而普遍缺乏设计之外的知识。意识到这一点后,Roger秉承着“授之以鱼不如授之以渔”的师者作风,展开了持之以恒的课题调研活动,他认为,设计师们对这些课题有了深入的调查和研究才能真正掌握设计的精髓。

在记者看到的其中一份调研题目中,涉猎范围广而深,除了有对设计风格演变、不同时期的设计表现、材料的运用和起源等等容易被设计师们忽略的历史问题,甚至还出现了“麦当劳来自哪里”,“请预测出未来哪些行为不会被人接受”这些看似与设计无关的课题。“像麦当劳发展史这个课题,就希望我们的设计师能够去思考,懂得设计师要具有观察社会结构、社会需求变化的能力,从而去赢得市场。”

谈到对中国年轻设计师有什么好的建议时,Roger一再强调,设计师们不能只关注设计本身,而要学会尊重设计、尊重历史,更应结合实际、善于思考,让设计创造出最大的商业价值。

 

Roger Billington简介:中国深圳B+SW设计董事及首席执行官。建筑概念、室内设计师及产品设计师。新西兰设计师协会理事会员、澳大利亚设计师协会会员、英国工业艺术家与设计师协会会员。毕业于英国沃夫汉普顿大学,获空间设计学学士学位、灯光设计研究生学历,在英国、新西兰以及中国都完成了很多优秀的设计项目。

  

                           B+ SW设计员工全家福

设计历史背景知识的积累是基础

【A963】贵公司四年来一直在坚持不断地对一些设计历史等题目进行研究,能跟我们详细谈一谈具体涉及到了哪些课题吗?

【Roger】我们之前已经完成了一份课题研究,现在第二份已经完成了2/3。所有的课题范围、跨度都很广,设计风格、设计历史、设计背景以及社会因素等都有涉及。我们的设计师可以从课题中选择自己感兴趣的部分,搜集资料、整理、深入调研,然后给其他同事做讲解和演示,这样的话,不仅仅是研究该话题的设计师,其他听报告的同事也会对该话题有更深刻的了解。

 

【A963】那是什么原因促使您想要做这件事的呢?

【Roger】原因有很多。我刚到中国时面试过很多年轻的设计师,发现他们普遍对设计历史等背景知识都不是很了解,这是我做这个调研课题的最初原因之一。在西方,这些设计历史知识的了解是成为设计师最基本的要素,也是西方教育的重点,但中国在这方面则急需提高,这也是中西方教育体制的不同之处。我们做这些课题的调研就是希望我们年轻的设计师能够通过对这些知识的搜索、了解、调研,可以掌握一些最基本的东西,从而对基本的设计方法、设计原理能够有更深入的了解。比如古典风格、新古典风格的不同点,分别受到哪些因素的影响,在不同的室内、建筑设计中会有哪些不同的表现形式等等,这些都在调研课题范围之内。其实这也是对中国年轻设计师再教育的方式之一。

同时,我们也聘请国外实习生来公司实习,把这些国外实习生和中国设计师的想法和能力进行融合。这样双方都可以体验到与自己不同的设计形式,两种教育模式出来的设计师在一起互相取长补短,感受不同的设计师风格,设计理念,相信对他们都是很好的提升方式,也能够促进他们对设计有更好的理解。

另外,我们还通过影片的观赏来了解不同时期的设计,就像詹姆斯·邦德系列电影,从这些影片中,我们可以感受到伴随着设计、科技等因素的变化,相似的故事情节在不同时期内可以有不同的表现,而这些变化都是我们设计师要思考的。通过这些方式,我们的设计师在学习知识时也为他们的工作增加了不少乐趣。

 

                    B+SW设计人员对课题调研进行展示、演讲

 

【A963】除了看影片,您的团队还通过哪些途径来对这些设计知识进行学习和调研?

【Roger】我们的工作模式有点特别:对任何事物进行提问。为什么要这样设计?这样设计的好处?背景依据是什么?……中国很多年轻的设计师缺乏挑战常规和质问的态度,总是以某种特定方法去做事情,发散性思维不够。我一直鼓励设计师质疑我,他们有时候是正确的,有时候是错误。这些质疑就是鼓励他们能够去提问,自信地去应对挑战,而他们质疑的前提是有一定的历史背景知识来支撑。

其实这个过程和我们的课题调研是相辅相成的,在项目的设计过程中,设计师的任何设计决定都是有原因的,都要经过经济、环保、可实行性等多方面因素考虑,也正是这些设计历史知识的需要性,让我们更有理由继续将这个课题调研继续做下去。

我现在带设计师的模式更趋向于商业化,设计师要懂得如何和客户交流,更好地了解客户的真实需求,然后用自己的专业知识呈现给客户完美的作品。这是我们设计师要不断学习和改进的地方。这个模式和在学校教学生的模式还是有点不同的。另外我们还通过博客、竞赛等模式来提高大家的能力。

 

 用设计思维让项目价值最大化

【A963】在这些课题中,您最为关注的是哪些?为什么呢?

【Roger】所有的话题都很关注,都很感兴趣。看设计师对他自己感兴趣的话题作报告时,我会从西方的角度、用西方设计的视野做出点评,我们也会发现中国设计师对设计历史的理解还很欠缺。

中国室内设计发展的这30多年中,多数设计师还是将设计当成是一种服务,而不是职业。设计师要赢得业主的认可,不仅仅要有扎实的设计功底,设计历史背景知识的积累也很关键,许多设计师在校期间学到了很多设计技巧,但是对设计本质的运用、思维能力还不够。现在我们就提倡打破传统模式下的工作方式,让年轻的设计师在工作的同时,不但能够学习到知识,还能够享受其中的乐趣。我们发现经过这样不断地积累和锻炼,能够做出更多客户和市场认可的作品,设计师个人水平也得到提高。

 

                       Roger现场点评调研课题成果

 

【A963】您认为这个课题研究对您的团队,乃至对整个设计界会有什么样的意义?

【Roger】有了这些知识作基奠,作品会更加尊重历史,强调文化背景的运用和积累。对设计个人能力的提高,公司和整个行业的发展都有积极的意义。

这些调研资料和结果今后都会对外公布,因此所有参与到课题调研的设计师,都会很认真地对待,同时也是他们自身能力和知识提升、积累的过程。

通过这些课题的调研,设计师会更加地自信,包括心态,统一性,综合把控能力,对客户要求的掌控能力都得到很大的提升。真正的设计,就需要设计师自信,自信地应对各种挑战,这些成绩都可以回归到他们对设计历史等相关背景知识的积累。

 

敏锐的观察力才能赢得市场

【A963】看了一些您的研究课题,感觉它们涉及面非常广泛,还有一些相互有交集的课题,您的团队是如何保证高效地、有条不紊地来进行分工合作的?

【Roger】所列出的这些课题都有共同点,但各自又有不同的侧重点,其实这样可以让设计师在调研自己相关话题的同时,了解到同一时间其他因素的发展情况。就像有位设计师的课题是关于20世纪50年代的产品设计,另外一位设计师的课题则是二战时期,建筑、室内设计的发展,那么这两位设计师可以将相互的课题资料放到一起来进行分析、对比和类推。设计师对事物需要有敏锐的观察能力。新艺术运动,也是从面料等布衣的改变开始,不断延伸到别的行业中去。

 

                        B+SW团队认真聆听讨论调研课题

 

【A963】我看到课题中有对麦当劳这类与设计的关系不是太密切的一些相关话题,您对它们的研究又是出于一种什么目的呢?

【Roger】对待设计,我们不能单纯地看成是设计,设计和我们生活的整个环境都息息相关,将麦当劳的发展史放到我们研究的课题中,就是要让大家了解到,设计和社会因素都是相关联的。麦当劳的发展,很好地展示了企业在应对社会需求发生变化时是如何调整政策最终赢得市场的。

二战结束之后,经济机构发生了很多的变化,人们的生活水平也逐渐提高,交通基础设施完善了,很多工作需要东西部走动,移动性不断地增强。在这种历史情况下,麦当劳的创始人雷蒙德·克罗克发现了东西部移动性的变化,也发现了在这个过程中食物的供应没有跟上。意识到这个机遇之后,他就首创了快餐模式的食物供应,这种食物便捷、快速,也保证食物的质量。美国现在几乎每隔3公里的地方就有一家麦当劳,生意依然非常好,这是很成功的例子。

现在市场上也出现了很多的快餐模式,餐饮领域有星巴克、KFC等等,家具领域有宜家。对于设计师的话,这也可以算是一种创新,我们在设计过程中,要善于发现社会需求的变化,根据这种变化做出相应的调整,设计出符合市场需要的作品。室内设计师其实是对生活方式的一种设计,每个设计都要符合各种要求。设计师同时也要对设计相关问题进行多方面的思考,才能够创造出更多的价值。

综合来讲,设计师要学的不仅仅是色彩设计或者是哥特式等建筑风格的学习,还要用心地去发现和设计有关的知识,不断地去学习,好的设计可以为企业增加价值,而不只是简单的装饰和装修。我们一直鼓励设计师用设计的思维去对待设计,不断地提问,这样才能不断地进步。

 

B+SW设计团队轻松友好的工作氛围

品牌是企业的核心价值

【A963】您在设计中一向主张生态环保和创新,这也是全球设计的发展趋势,您来中国也有好几年了,认为中国的设计市场在这两方面有没有一些变化?接下来您仍然会把这两个优势作为贵司的核心竞争力吗?

【Roger】很多人都在谈论和提倡环保、创新,但是这几年来看,中国设计市场在这两方面改变还不是很大,真正感兴趣的业主也不多。我们自己的项目也是在通过设计流程、设计分析,让业主在不增加费用的情况下说服业主。

现在年轻的设计师,对于生态、环保很关注,但是大家更多的解决方式只停留在材料选择和运用上,但是这些还不够,我们除了注意建筑、材料施工的过程要达到生态环保的标准外,还有很多工作要做。很多设计师也可能是因为没有时间,或者不知道通过什么途径去找到这些材料以及遵循环保的施工条例。我们现在就正在筹建一个网站,在这个网站上,有很多环保材料,以及一些相关的建筑施工条例,不管是建筑设计师,还是室内设计师都可以轻易地找到自己想要的,这些产品我们也会做出相应的评级说明,使用者可以清晰地了解到产品的材质、性能、安全性等知识。

而创新,是我们设计师每天都要考虑的事情,要不断地学习一些新的事物,不创新就是自欺欺人,创新对于一个作品起到至关重要的作用。我一直强调创新不是创造,而是要不断保持创意,材料、技术的新运用也是创新,不断地思考,成为真正知识丰富的设计师。

 

B+SW设计作品:北京宝马博物馆

 

【A963】设计行业不断地发展,大家也将更多的目光放在了“品牌”上,越来越注重品牌形象的打造,您如何看待这个现象?

【Roger】品牌是一个企业的核心价值,过去的30年,大家偏向于制造,再制造,但是现在大家开始意识到品牌在现代行业中的重要性,一个公司要知道客户的需求,如何留住客户,那么就要知道自己企业的品牌到底是什么,核心竞争力到底是什么。

中国的设计师也越来越了解到了品牌的重要性,对西方“Smart design”(聪明的设计)也更加地注重,更了解品牌的需求;设计师能够通过案例的调研来了解中西方设计的不同,懂得更聪明地做设计,“设计”不仅仅在设计行业有效果,在很多的商业活动中,设计的思考和商业思考模式有很大的不同,设计师可以用更广的思维想得更远,带来更多的价值。

B+SW公司将环保、创新、专业、自信的设计服务作为公司的核心价值,我们认识到设计不仅仅是装饰的工具,而是可以打造企业形象的有效途径。四年的发展,B+SW公司将这些成长以及项目案例的积累作为B+SW公司品牌的基础,我们也对公司的核心价值进行了严谨的分析,从短期目标,到长期的发展,都不断地会有一系列的推广活动。B+SW设计这个团队重心在室内设计,而我另外一个顾问公司则更注重品牌的推广,帮助其他公司分析他们的核心价值,并推动其公司发展,提升品牌效益和形象。这个顾问公司更倾向于国际化发展方向,我们也会有很多国际元素的注入。

 

记者手记:近几年,明式黄花梨桌椅在国际上大受追捧、米兰国际家具展上中国元素也呈崛起之势……在越来越多中国设计师盲目崇拜模仿国外设计的同时,国际设计大师们反而把目光锁定在中国。

一个外国设计师,坚持用四年的时间来弥补中国年轻设计师们基本功的欠缺,在大家有幸看到这些调研成果的时候,也许会如获至宝,当然更多人会感叹:怎么会是一个老外去做这件事!

种种现象难道还不值得我们国内的设计界反思吗? Roger先生的告诫仿佛又在我耳边响起:学会提问、学会质疑……

设计顾问在中国——外籍设计师Roger B.的新规划

设计顾问,源于西方的新兴职业,在中国市场实属“新秀”。它能成功的建立企业的品牌形象,准确把控企业的市场定位,增强其在行业中的竞争力。如今,有着多年国际设计顾问经验和成功案例的外籍设计师Roger B.,决心将这种新兴职业引入中国——

从商业的角度来看,设计顾问的加入可确保企业得到更多市场份额的机会,从形象、功能和行动上展现企业的魅力从而进一步得到消费者的认可。中国的市场实际急需设计顾问的产生,只有设计顾问的出现,才能更好地帮助中国企业明确发展目标。如今Roger B.深感自己应肩负这样的使命,引进“设计顾问”这个西方理念,融合到中国市场中来。

 

Roger Billington简介:中国深圳B+SW设计董事及首席执行官。建筑概念、室内设计师及产品设计师。新西兰设计师协会理事会员、澳大利亚设计师协会会员、英国工业艺术家与设计师协会会员。毕业于英国沃夫汉普顿大学,获空间设计学学士学位、灯光设计研究生学历,在英国、新西兰以及中国都完成了很多优秀的设计项目。

 

开创设计与顾问相结合的新模式

设计和顾问相结合,在中国是一种全新的发展模式,设计顾问通过对市场需求、品牌的参考及消费者的思维统一把控,开发企业品牌形象的各个领域以促进企业的发展。B+SW设计以及设计顾问在中国的发展都在Roger B.的职业规划之中,在访谈中,记者明显地感觉到,Roger B.对设计顾问在中国发展的市场前景非常自信。

【A963】贵公司乔迁新址到南山区的香年广场,是否意味着公司有更多的新发展?

【Roger B.】我们一直都在发展着,最近有三位新设计师加入团队,也正在招募更多的设计师,目前在做的项目很多:北京的宝马博物馆,深圳沙井有个6000平米的项目,还有珠海的地产项目……都在有序、稳步地发展着。

除了B+SW公司的运营之外,设计顾问是我计划中的另一个业务。设计顾问不是单一的设计服务公司,除了设计领域,还要对客户公司进行其他方面的引导和帮助,比如客户品牌形象的定位,公司名称规划,公司整体发展方向等元素。设计顾问的业务和B+SW是两个不同的独立个体,B+SW是项目设计,设计顾问侧重于概念设计和商业设计;顾问,也就是帮助企业品牌定位和推广市场宣传等一系列活动。

设计顾问这个职位,需要有丰富的经验,可以帮助企业做全方位的综合分析,如果现在拿到一个项目,就可以结合我自己的经验以及B+SW的经验,涉及到市场的分析以及潜在市场挖掘,有关商业和市场调研等方面,由设计顾问公司来完成,项目设计方面由B+SW完成,这样两者分工合作,对于SW来讲,是一个很好的工具和途径,也能为更多的高端项目服务。

这种设计顾问服务的模式也可以更好的促进未来设计行业的发展,未来的设计不应仅仅只是做设计,还要能结合和把握商业。这种模式契合了设计师的特点,设计师的思维方式很特别,喜欢通过思索去挑战传统,能够不断地创作富有挑战性的新方案,这也是我认为设计师更适合担当设计顾问这个角色的原因。设计师以后的职责不仅仅只是追求建筑或者是室内的设计,还要对企业未来的发展起到帮助。

【A963】设计顾问的模式和设计模式有什么区别?

【Roger B.】设计的模式,是根据客户需求,进行分析,一步步地到达顶端,提出方案;但是设计顾问,要综合各方面的资源,包括社会心理、材质、环保的分析,通过多方面的了解和调研,才能到达顶端,完成方案。设计顾问有更多的程序和步骤。

设计顾问的范围非常广,相当于企业各种顾问的综合体,包括对公司形象的包装、建筑和室内空间的设计,公司项目的分析及对公司各方面进行统筹和有策略地把控,帮助企业进行商业规划。设计顾问可以向企业提供挑战性的观点,激发企业的创造力和潜力,完成更多更好的解决方案。

除此之外,设计顾问还适用于各式各样的发展,包括员工的绩效分析、员工与管理人员间高质高效的督导和合作。设计顾问还可以改进员工的工作方式,确保员工很快适应日新月异的环境。

各行业的设计顾问流程相同,但是侧重点不同,根据不同的市场需求来对产品进行分析,当然设计顾问之间的本质是相通的。资源共享,一起学习,降低出错率,少走弯路。这种模式在中国的发展也将成为一种趋势。

 

用系统服务促发企业的潜在价值

设计顾问可以帮助企业提升现有价值及未来潜在价值,优化企业环境,形成和完善项目管理的标准,从而确保各个项目单位间无缝地结合。那么这个职位所具备的素质是什么?什么样的公司最需要设计顾问的帮助?设计顾问的工作程序是什么? Roger B.用他的回答,展现了设计顾问的魅力所在。

【A963】设计顾问应具备怎样的素质?职责是什么?

【Roger B.】设计顾问这个职位很特殊,要求也比较多,否则很难驾驭这个职位所要承担的职责。首先,要有丰富的经验和学识丰富的头脑;第二,要有调研的兴趣,有能力对现有及潜在事物进行分析,也要对设计有调研的兴趣;第三,对设计、市场有想法,有一定的创新思维;第四,有设计经验,有一定的设计技巧和设计能力。

职责可以用两个词概括:明确和统一。明确,充分分析客户公司的详细资料,明确该公司整体的发展方向,确定整体的计划和策略;统一,综合地将各方面的元素统一运用,公司发展方向等都用统一的设计元素来综合地贯穿。这样综合地分析和思考,公司的品牌推广更易成功。

设计顾问还有一个重要的职责——“产品商业化”,即产品开发的服务,中国大多工厂生产产品都没有设计顾问来服务,设计顾问会在产品生产之前做足调研,对产品进行够统一的推广,这样的产品更能满足市场和消费者的需要,在设计顾问指导下的产品也有更好的销售前景。产品设计专业最早出现在新西兰梅西大,当时由我和另外三个人推动了这个专业的形成,现在这个专业被新西兰以及澳大利亚很多大学采纳。就中国市场和行业的发展来看,也非常需要这样的职位。其实,产品的开发包括了各行各业的产品开发和服务,而设计顾问对市场和消费者都有很大帮助,消费者能够更加理性地了解到自己到底想要什么,不会盲目消费。设计顾问和产品开发两者相结合,能让产品更加符合消费者日益增长的需求,设计出适合消费者需要的产品。

【A963】那您觉得怎样的企业需要这样的设计顾问?

【Roger B.】国外设计顾问行业已经发展得很好,有很多这样的国际性公司,例如IDEO,成为了很多大型公司及政府机构的顾问,美国10%的百强公司,70%的政府公司和部门都请他们做设计顾问,他们的优势在于“设计性思考”的过程,以及他们对调研、战略规划和分析的运用能力,这也是设计顾问的价值所在。

我认为,凡是需要品牌推广的公司都是需要设计顾问,从建筑、室内设计到整个公司的对外形象、宣传推广以及公司logo的设计,设计顾问可以对这些方面进行系统地品牌推广,帮助企业综合地把控未来发展的方向,让设计以及其他的元素达到统一,并让客户能通过视觉感官全面地认知这家公司,直观且简易地接受,从而提高公司的认可度。一些连锁企业,更加需要设计顾问来提供服务,设计顾问的整体概念及策略,更加符合连锁店发展的需求。整体的宣传和推广都能够统一。设计顾问是现代化设计的进化,提供了更深层次的设计,能为客户提供更多的商业活动服务及更明确的发展方向。

【A963】设计顾问的工作程序是什么?

【Roger B.】设计顾问的工作,是经过各个程序一步步完成的,不能跳跃式进行,每个阶段完成的事情都不同,包括消费者层次的调研、消费者需求的搜集、市场走向,还涉及到质量的控制、产品的使用周期、寿命及产品的可回收性。如果设计顾问的团队有八个组员,那么会有三、四人参与到产品的开发中去,其他人参与到相关的调研过程。

设计顾问的模式,在产品开发的时候能有一些资源的共享,根据不同的侧重点去分析不同产品的需求,我之前做过一个国际连锁店项目,从第一个店开始就由我来做设计顾问,现在已经有200多家的连锁店了,计划在5年内发展到1000家连锁店,对于这样的连锁店,设计顾问是有品牌推广策略的,有了策略的把控,就能出更符合市场需求的产品。

登陆我们公司的网站会发现,B+SW已经集中了多种领域的设计顾问,包括园林设计、灯光设计、平面设计、产品开发及公司VI的设计制作等各个方面。除了我之外,还有其他18个设计顾问已经加入。这些工作可以由不同领域的设计顾问分工完成。同时,设计顾问模式和B+SW结合,会让SW公司更加地专业化。可以说,中国市场上目前还没有这样的设计顾问公司,我们算是行业的引领者。这对SW和中国市场都是一个新的起步,我相信在未来5年之内,我们将能成为行业的领头人而不是追随者。

 

用发散性思维挑战传统的设计模式

跳出传统的设计模式,让大家知道设计在商业分析下会更显成熟,对于设计顾问在中国的模式,虽只是起步,但是却是行业趋势。Roger B.不会一味追求速度,而更愿意根据实际情况,稳步发展,逐渐让大家接受这个概念。

【A963】对于“设计顾问”的规划,现在您已经开展到哪个阶段了?

【Roger B.】目前还是起步阶段。设计顾问对于中国市场是一个新产品的开发,要对中国市场进行综合地分析。设计顾问的目的是让企业挑战传统的设计思维和流程。如果生产一种产品,传统的思维方式就比较线性,直接投入生产,但是设计顾问会有发散性思考,提供多方面的可能性,让产品更加优质。传统的产品开发只有一条线,目标也只有一个;但是在设计顾问帮助下的产品开发,考虑的因素多,这样产生的可能性结果就会有多种,不好的就可以剔除,这样通过对材料、环保、可回收性分析的结果得出的产品,目标会更加地完美,发展道路也更加久远。

【A963】能否和我们分享下您做过的一些项目?

【Roger B.】我之前给石油公司、汽车公司、人力资源等公司做过设计顾问,这些公司都意识到听取多方面的意见对公司发展更加有益,所以需要设计顾问的服务,来为他们提供专业的多方面的意见。而对于B+SW公司,公司的发展也需要有前瞻性,公司在未来的5年内,不能仅仅只是单一地做设计项目,要更多的引进西方的先进理念,规划好公司的发展方向,这就是设计顾问的意义所在。

中国设计行业还是比较年轻的,很多设计公司也非常年轻,大部分公司只是10-15年的经历,所以我更希望这样的群体能够跳出仅是装修的模式,不要单纯的进行建筑设计或室内设计,希望能够往设计顾问的方向发展,这样对中国整个设计行业都有帮助。

【A963】那您对于设计顾问在中国的发展有什么具体的规划?

【Roger B.】中国市场有很大的不同点,虽然这个市场很需要设计顾问的出现,但是这个发展不能太急,需要一步步的进行。设计顾问这个职业的要求非常高,去寻找合适的人选也需要时间。设计顾问的工作除了各方面专业的领域需要考虑,各种社会心理学的要素也不能落下,我们需要花很多的时间去建立这个团队,一步步地发发展。拥有了好的设计、好的项目、好的员工后,并要对市场及消费者的各种需求进行分析后,设计顾问在我们的努力下就能有很好的发展。

希望通过我们的努力不断提升市场设计的标准,普通的设计更多地是关心项目设计的时间、费用和设计效果,但是经过设计顾问的服务出来的产品,就能有更多方面的收益,不仅仅是产品,还对企业的整体发展及员工的工作效率等都会有帮助。

目前我们会以B+SW为主体,把设计顾问适当地切入到我们的设计项目当中来,让这两者相辅相成地发展。之前我和你们谈过的个人博客的开发,这也将会成为设计顾问的一部分,我希望能够全力去开发这个领域。我有机会也会到各地去做演讲推广我的理念,让更多的人,特别是年轻的设计师知道,设计不仅仅是一门关于装饰、颜色、材料的选择的职业,而是更有深远的意义的,关乎文化及各种知识的职业。

Hotel and commercial interior design in china by a foreigner

What are the differences between designing in the west and in china…..

Not too many but the important ones are:

Clients, in china most clients still see design as a service industry, not to see designers  as a professional group who can transform the clients thinking into a positive and profitable object or space.

Often this is because designers themselves don’t understand the importance, or lack the experience, or confidence of leading the client through the design process and so developing a solution that is in advance of the client’s expectation.

Clients interfere, even at minor levels of design, often assuming they are able to create the best solutions and the designer is simply a person who draws it up for them. This is one explanation of the situation where constant change is requested and the designers acceptance that this is ok.

I once heard a graduate presentation in London where the student said “the closer a client gets to the project, the worse the project gets” this is a bit too strong as clients must be

close to the project, but in china clients should also learn to have confidence in the ability of designers to solve the problems and to enjoy the difference in designers work.

Generally Chinese clients do not seem to be able to develop a brief that refelects their actual needs preferring to let designers do a lot of work just to say that this is not what they want. I think here is an opportunity for Chinese designers to become more professional by working with the client at the very beginning to develop the clients thinking of needs and wants and so limit the amount of time wasted trying to ‘guess’ what the client requires.

Chinese culture is in conflict with the ways of design in the west as respect for the ‘boss’, in this case the client, is essential in china. In the west the value of the designer is in what they bring to the design and how they provoke the client to accept the challenge of something new.

Respect is mutual and a good client will respect a designer as much as the designer respects a good client. In this way relationships are built up and usually designers are approached with projects because of the difference they show in their work through working with good clients.

This is how design progresses and how innovation in design exists, it is this provocation that is essential in advancing a good design culture.

Time, in china all projects are urgent, to me this demonstrates a lack of planning and or understanding of the design process by the client. It leads too often to unresolved solutions that are only partly developed, and so slow down the development of a strong culture of design in china. Good design does take time and although I think design in the west is often too pedestrian, a balance could be developed between the two.

Research, In my experience, research in design is not a popular feature of the design process in china. This may be because it takes time, and time is money, but in my business, research is the starting point of all projects. Whether this is research into materials, history, the site, the client, the type of business the client runs and how this project should benefit the business all are important and actually increase the speed and efficiency of the design solution as the research gets you closer to what the client actually needs.

Quality control, again time is often the guilty party, but quality control is an issue constantly referred to in my business. Clients, in their need for speed to finish the project and designers in their need to get on with the next one and construction teams who fail to detail finishing work, often let the last 10% of the project be the worst part. Well built major construction and fitting out is ruined with a lack of attention to detail that in the west is rare due to contract conditions that penalize shoddy detailing. It is this 10% that people judge the quality of the finished product. It is this 10 % that we interact with and maintain and use in the day to day operation of the business. If the door fails to close properly, the drawer sticks or the tap is loose when we turn it on, these are the things we remember and judge the product by, obviously if the roof falls down we notice that too.

Price, designers in china are not paid as well as designers in the west. This leads to many difficulties for both designers and clients, for example, work is often rushed through before full development leading to a lack of detailing, quality and potential effectiveness, especially in commercial and hotel projects.

This pricing difference can also lead to a situation where offices grow into enormous factories of design. The founders, who were probably good designers committed to producing good designs grow remote from the design practice and focus on the business issues more and more.

This leads to a lack of focus or direction and an emphasis on more and more instead of better and better. In the west it would be unimaginable for an office like Philppe starke or zaha hadid to produce work which is not in the house style, in fact it is the house style that determines the success or not of a design business. In china the house style is too often determined by the client instead of the other way around. In the race to be the biggest, the best is often forgotten and the equation ends up simply as cost, or price and profit.

The bigger we are the more projects we can do and so the turnover becomes more important than the product.

Of course this happens in the west too, but there is always a reward for the design company that promotes design as a benefit to the client, not just an investment and it is these companies that develop a reputation for high standards thereby attracting better clients, better projects and more profitability and this is the model my company is developing in china, in this case less really is more.

Design is a business to me but more important it is a lifestyle, designing allows me to live a life of freedom to travel, to enjoy the company of people and to have creative insights into the institutions that control the world and so allow me to take advantage of all this world offers. This is what drives my interests in sustainable building and environments and what encourages me to influence my Chinese clients to share this way of life.

In the west there is a phrase for designers, it is said in design there are three elements, price, time and quality, and a client can have any two, I have used this phrase often when talking to clients, and the way they respond often indicates how good they may be as a client, if they find it humorous they are usually good ones, if not, avoid them because, apart from anything else, design should be fun.

Q1: If there is a night club project with good construction budget, but the deadline is very tight. Will you take it?

A1: Yes, I don’t see tight time frames as too much of a problem, they are a constraint, but if you analyse all the conditions of a project before you start, you can manage all the constraints effectively. Analysis of the brief and a clear, consistent set of constraints or conditions give you all the information needed to allocate the right number of people. Obviously you need to have a straightforward talk with the client before you start and ensure they also understand the conditions of you taking the project.

 

Q2: Will you work with a very picky client? How do you deal with them?

A2: Depends, some picky clients are just immature in the world of design and there I have to be very direct. If this fails I refuse the project. Some picky clients are just very motivated and interested in there project (remember it is their project so they have right too). With these clients you have to establish a close working relationship working towards them understanding that your approach and experience are better than theirs, it’s that they are paying for.

 

Q3: What is your advice for young designers’ career development?

A3: There is no better career development path than to continue learning, about anything and everything. In my office all the designers have to research design history for presentations and they all have a personal research topic related to the profession of design. This way they become experts in their own field and can apply this learning to their design work. They can also assist each other in areas where they need knowledge.

The development of the Designers Club in Dongguan is a great way for all designers to continue to learn. Through social interaction young designers can push the older ones and the older ones can give experience to the younger ones.

 

Q4: What should young designers do to become outstanding?

A4: In design there are probably 2 approaches to being outstanding. One is you are born outstanding and the other is you work very hard at it. Learning is the only way I know of improving your level of greatness and the way you apply that learning, as a young designer you need to know everything so you can bring this to your ideas. The most important thing though is to learn how to think for yourself and not just copy, to do this takes confidence and experience and they take time, so don’t be in a hurry, just focus on being good and don’t worry about the money just yet.

 

Q5: Do you normally recommend a style for client or follow the fashion trend?

A5: If you are a thinking designer (ref last question) you are response for dictating what the styles should be. Fashion or trends are simply new ways of looking at old stuff, style is forever and you have to be stylish to understand the difference.

 

Q6: How do you apply Chinese elements in your design?

A6: My definition of or application of China modern is simply a development of my approach to design and style (ref Q5). I have a particular interest Chinese furniture, porcelain, calligraphy and modern art and so I use these elements inside my personal style. The balance of aesthetics is how you assess the ability of the designer, to balance all the standard design elements of colour culture, context, texture, proportion, scale, light, shade, temperature, all the ambient elements in combination should lead to a result which fits the purpose of the design. This methodology could be applied in the same way in Greece, Africa, and Brazil etc. anywhere in the world. What’s critical to success for a designer is they develop personal style (ref Q3 and Q4).

Furniture Talk

Hi I am roger billington partner and ceo of sw design based here in Shenzhen, my PA Jeanne is here to help with the presentation.

I have been invited today to talk about trends in furniture design and or manufacturing and inevitably sales and the use of furniture.

I suspect the real nature of the talk is about where furniture design is going so rather than discussing trends, which can be transitory and not necessarily help the debate, I will make a prediction or provocation.

The prediction is based on volumes of my international knowledge and experience and more recently my living and working experiences in china.

It is also based on my observations of society in china, some of the preconceptions of Chinese design and manufacturing and where the furniture industry is, present day, in china.

It is also based on bigger issues, like sustainable manufacturing and recently developed technological improvements and processes like rapid prototyping and lean manufacturing.

I believe my prediction draws together many of these issues and paints a very rosey potential for the future of furniture design and manufacturing in china and, consequently, its place in the world of design.

My comments are not judgmental simply views of china and china industry and where I believe the future lies for, in this instance, the furniture industry.

China has long been known as a place where manufacturing for the world has included copies of modern, classical and traditional furniture types from around the world. It would be fair to say that the design of original pieces  is generally restricted to lower end sales and so suffer from a lack of design input and therefore avoid being relevant in a global design market.

A social issue is that of recently acquired wealth in china, within one generation many Chinese have gone from poverty to immense wealth. For them the purchase of, sometimes, indisputably high quality reproduction furniture has been seen as a way of demonstrating personal prestige and status and has offered a ‘design’ solution to those who crave the recognition and enjoyment  brought about by this style of interior design and furnishing.

The issue, 30 years on from the onset of personal wealth, is for some the growing desire to invest in furniture and interiors that reflect an entirely different position for the wealthy and, sometimes, not so wealthy. Many Chinese have travelled overseas, they have seen and felt the real antiques so faithfully copied and desired by their counterparts and through this they understand the differences in quality, value and desirability. It is these people who I believe are the next generation of furniture investors, not simply purchasers. They want to see furniture as investment and as an heirloom, a valuable piece which can carry on a families tradition as it used to do in china.

This longevity of use and relevance also addresses other issues previously mentioned. To continue to produce furniture with a life cycle of between 3-7 years is not only, not sustainable, it is not desirable for an increasing number of eco aware people, here and overseas.

So how to begin to address my prediction, at SW Design I have instigated a policy of internship for the graduate designers. Each year we bring in 2 recent graduates from NZ, Oz, India, Korea and we interface these designers with our Chinese teams. They each have different qualities and skills and by integrating them like this I believe we benefit both groups, through this we certainly have gained a reputation for design which demonstrates the strengths of diversity, innovation and internationalism.

The solution to the furniture design dilemma is, I believe, a similar model to that of my company. I strongly advocate the installation of designer maker opportunities for students, an international ly recognized process. This practice of making and designing opens innovative approaches to design that the western design school system has proven to work and this is essentially what we do at SW, training and learning go hand in hand with practice. At the end of WWII, a bankrupt Italian government invested heavily into furniture design in its schools of architecture and design, that is why Italian furniture is so successful in the world market and why it is copied all over the world. The designer maker model is practiced there as it is in most design schools around the world and in a similar manner this is what I predict would future proof the furniture design sector in china.

If furniture production in china is to address the topics above and if it is to gain a place in the world of design, action needs to be taken similar to the Italian governments. The development of environmentally responsible processes and the production of Chinese furniture that meets global standards of production, design and quality control can only be brought about by either a review of this part of the design education system or the supply of a private institution that focuses on these issues and so ensures a future based on value added craftsmanship and innovative design rather than fashion or reproduction.

If my prediction comes true not only will the furniture industry benefit, as in schools like RCA in the UK and Design Center in USA, transportation, fashion, interiors, architecture and industrial designers will be encouraged to think creatively through programmes that challenge them to think and innovate therefore insuring a place for china in the future design world. We have started this process at SW, it works, to do it for the future of furniture design in china needs a commitment to my prediction similar to that in Italy from either government or industry…..  

Conclusion:

For the furniture industries long term good health I predict the need for a sound design, technology and research based manufacturing sector. China should beware of concentrating on a “make for others” industry and develop, in house, innovation and design strengths by reviewing current design educational policies and so become a member of the internationally growing body of “creative industries”. In doing so an independent and world class industry would be prepared for the imminent social and economic changes we face in addition to more astute buyer demands in a dynamic and increasingly responsible world of consumers.

Beijing Talk

To start with an extract from the Stanley Kubrick film 2001 space odyssey may seem a little remote from the topic but hopefully the analogy will be understood…..In the final scenes of the film there is an old man in a large sterile bedroom appearing to be on the edge of death….no friends, no medical staff…..nobody, it evokes a sense of reflection and of inevitability.

I have through the years held this image in my mind and often thought about the significance of this scene….it has led to my conclusions that no amount of money, or houses, or wine cellars or….. are the things we think about in these final moments. What we think about are the things we did, not the things we have, the people we knew, the places we went, the good influences on other people, and sometimes the not so good. This for me all results in a choice of two phrases: I wish I had or, I’m glad I did.

Moving to china has been my third life experience. I have the opportunity to share my world experience with a new culture that is on the brink of major challenges daily.  Socially, politically and environmentally the range and dimension of these challenges is breathtaking and I feel privileged to be able to be a part of this dynamic but potentially fragile transition from a feudal society to a world leader in such short time. It is this transition period which gives china the opportunity to express in the future the same two phrases I defined from the film. ‘I wish we had’ or ‘I’m glad we did’.

The issues of green practice and economies are this opportunity. The green expectation of consumers in the west is increasingly, and with great momentum, determining the purchases made by these communities. The design features of similar technologies, materials and processes have been the choice factor for many years but now increasing numbers of people all over the world are beginning to re-evaluate the criteria for those choices. They see need to practice not just talk about the green issues. This translates into business at all levels and into all economies a need to address a consumer led revolution towards a safer and more considerate way of life for themselves and most importantly for the future, their children.

The economic crisis in the west caused a downturn in spending in most sectors. This brake on the economies of the west has also given people time to think about issues beyond themselves and has resulted in some remarkable examples of re thinking business practice. Their philosophy being to run business for other ……not to maximize and therefore potentially collapse a major biz like GM motors is a good example of dominance having the ability to become the next victim.

Designing the exhibition spaces at Dong Peng, Wuxi.

Designing the exhibition spaces at Dong Peng, Wuxi.

 Roger Billington Director of Design and Developments, CEO,  SW Design, Shenzhen, China.

The brief for the five showspaces my company agreed to design was quite clear, using the agreed themes, we were to maximize display of the building materials and sanitary fittings in a way that increased sales through customer experience, inspiration and enjoyment.

The themes we agreed to design were: American rural, south east asian, luxury European, romantic and minimalist. All themes we have had experience in portraying previously through our show house designs for various developers around China. Two further themes were designed by a cooperative company from Guanzhou who have worked with Dong Peng several times previously.

The major difference between designing for show houses and exhibitions, and what made these quite interesting, was that they were not intended to be ‘real’, they are experiential in that they are designed to give an impression of what is possible rather than designed for today’s use. This is not uncommon for my designers as we pride ourselves on our research into all aspects of a project from full understanding of the context, to the client and the materials to be used etc. We try to show our clients a proposal that is in advance of their expectations and, generally, we succeed in this. The client at Wuxi was no exception, obviously and astute businessman, he also has a very good way in working with designers, he listens, makes considered comments and does not insist on changes that may compromise the integrity of the design, in other words, he understands the design process and most importantly the value of design as a business tool, not just a set of 3D Max renderings and a bit of CAD thrown in that can be changed without consequence.  

My background as a designer stretches back 25 years, in England, New Zealand, Australia and now in China and SE Asia. I have been Head of School at one of Australasias top schools of architecture and design and in that position grew the school from around 200 to nearly 1200. I acted as academic director in Canberra’s top design school and was visiting professor at RMIT in Melbourne. I have run successful design and architecture businesses throughout and have seen pretty much all there is to be seen in the design world. However, working in China has been the most challenging, exciting and frightening all at the same time. The pace of change here is staggering and to be involved in it is a great opportunity to put into business, my collected thoughts and experiences from the past years.

In my office I have introduced an internship system that offers places to top graduates from New Zealand and Australia, but also offers to other countries, so far we have had Indian, S. Korean and English too. I also have a group of top architects, urban planners, landscape designers and industrial designers that I can call on for specific projects from the same countries. This exposure to my Chinese graduates rapidly changes the way they approach their working style and both groups benefit from this range of influences and experiences. This is how we develop design and how we maintain our leading design approach. We must however, carefully and consistently work to educate our clients and those using our client’s services to ensure the future of international design in China continues to grow. Working with our client in Wuxi is a good example of how the process works well and it is a pleasure to continue to work with him on further projects now and in the future.

The value of design to business in the western economies is not disputed, indeed it is reported to be the next great growth tool after the periods of Energy, Information Technology and Bio Commerce. I have brought this model to my business based in Shenzhen, but unless we can assist Chinese clients to learn to see the professional advantages of design, then design will continue to be seen as a ‘slightly expensive’ luxury or a simple decoration experience that anybody can turn their hand to by copying the last edition of interior magazines. We are fortunate to have, within the 18 months of opening, developed relationships with some pretty smart clients, almost all of whom have offered repeat business. Our only problem now is sourcing the right designers, product specialists and technicians to carry on our growth. Despite being in a slower than usual economy, we consistently have more work than we can complete without a healthy amount of stress and as I tell all my young designers, if you don’t have stress, you’re not a designer, I think they believe me…….

If you are a graduate, not satisfied with your current position and think you could become a successful internationally competitive designer in one of China’s leading start up businesses, you should give my PA, Jessica a call and discuss, call her on 0755-8347-6787.

Designed, and made, in China.

I have been asked to respond to these three words, inspiration, experience and enjoyment In order to this I considered a few ways to illustrate the relationship between these words. I looked at architecture, interior and industrial design, urban planning and I looked at a variety of business applications and alternative creative possibilities….. Secondly I analyzed the words themselves and couldn’t see the three of them working together, one of them is wrong. Inspiration, great we all need a little inspiration, experience, great, we gain experience every day, but enjoyment…. This seems out of context, although we need enjoyment too, it doesn’t fit the 1+1=3, it doesn’t describe the breadth of solutions that inspiration and experience together can achieve. If we change the word enjoyment to success, or solution we can cover all the outcomes of combining the first two words, inspiration and experience…. For example, if we design an office space, we don’t look for enjoyment as much as efficiency or economy. If we design a retail space we would expect successful sales and an environment that people would be able to experience the full range of products available, of course for these spaces enjoyment should be a by product but not the primary aim. And of course there are spaces and objects that we design that are specifically for enjoyment but these examples are all ways of describing outcomes that are solutions, not just enjoyable, and of course they all must be creative and appropriate for the task. So, having analysed the words and their meaning together….and having reviewed them for accuracy, what could be the best way of describing the outcomes to a group of designers and people who are interested in design. As I used business as one of the analytical tools for the words, I think it’s appropriate to use my business as a model. We use inspiration and experience as tools for the development of all our projects whatever the expected outcome and as it is a design business it should be relevant to the audience. The model is very simple, I employ both Chinese and international graduates and I coach them to become confident and capable designers. I do this in a number of ways, I coach them during the development of projects having taken the brief, analysed it and then briefed them. They then produce a number of concepts to show and we discuss potentially successful solutions. They then develop these through rigorous questioning, into design proposals and so on, the design process as we all know it. I also run design history research, materials research social responsibility issues, and a number of other additions to their base knowledge to ensure a rich and diverse platform for them to design from. What’s different is that there is a future….the purpose of integrating Chinese and international graduates is that each have strengths and each have weaknesses and by combining both I produce an internationally competitive Chinese focused designer that I call, China International, like China Modern, but they are not a style, they are becoming a movement. Why do this, I believe for the individual there is a need to express creative ideas with a commercial competence and so improve the standard of design generally and the place of designers specifically. Designers are not commonly as respected as they should be in China and that’s where the international graduates come in. They bring with them a self confidence and enquiring approach to the work they do, Chinese generally have a much less developed sense of confidence due to the education system and Chinese culture where the boss is always respected regardless of whether they deserve respect or not. I do this for China as believe there is soon to be an opportunity to integrate internationally competitive design more effectively into mainstream business here. Here I refer to the move away from China of increasing numbers of manufacturers to cheaper centers like Viet Nam and Cambodia where multi nationals produce good s for the world as they used to in China. I refer also to comments from the Obama administration suggesting that there will continue to be increasingly less imports from China even after the financial crisis. So China needs designers who have the tools of international business and the skills of international manufacturing to assist in ensuring employment and wealth creation do not stall in the next booming economy. My plan is not to change Chinese designers into foreigners, but to equip them with foreign attitudes and processes, to retain their Chinese-ness and to integrate the two components into truly Chinese designers. For instance, to be internationally competitive Chinese designers must be aware of and able employ standards of manufacture and safety, for instance, and be able to meet all compliance regulations which are becoming increasingly complex but control the manufacturers’ ability to export. We will hopefully produce the first Chinese stars of design, there are none yet, no phillipe Starkes, Ron Arads, Zaha Hadids etc etc etc and it should be these designers who lead the ‘Designed and made in China’ slogan that drives my thinking. I have been introducing this model for development for just over one year now. The two groups are maturing rapidly and I am increasing the numbers every month. The first Chinese designers are now moving into positions of responsibility; the first interns are either working full time with me or have scored top jobs in their home countries, against all the experienced designers competing for the same very limited number of jobs. Many of our clients are starting to realize that good design is a process and a business tool, not just a service industry to be interfered with by inexperienced opinions, and they are coming back with new projects. To illustrate this approach and type of client I will show you the exhibition rooms we did for Dong Peng in Wuxi and the client Yang, who has already come back to us with more interior and furniture design projects. He understands that in business to be competitive, you need design that is competitive and to be competitive in design you need……. inspiration, experience and success……with a little enjoyment too. Thankyou………..

roger b.