Chinese Designers Making Progress
December 11, 2009 | Levent OZLER
Transforming China's massive manufacturing industry from "Made in China" to "Created in China" has become a buzzword, a mantra-like evocation, offered as a solution for the industry's problems at nearly every gathering of designers and manufacturers in the country.
China's industry and government clearly want that to happen, but what is the situation today?
Bill Moggridge, co-founder of the well-known American design firm IDEO and designer of the first laptop computer, thinks product design in mainland China is in the same place it was in Taiwan 20 years ago, Then, Taiwanese manufacturers were anxious to move beyond making things for others, where most Chinese firms are now, and start developing their own products for global markets, he said.
Over time they made that change, he said, led by consumer electronics firms like BenQ, Acer and Asustek, with Taiwanese firms now leading the way in introducing the first netbook computers, for example.
Some say Chinese firms, while developing rapidly, still have much to learn before joining the ranks of the elite product development companies.
Zhou Yi, who founded Shanghai design consultancy s.point 13 years ago, said design remains a "passive" function at many Chinese firms, which excel at production and technology, but don't think enough about design and related disciplines like marketing.
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