商业周刊：中国工业设计师正在改写历史

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倍可亲网讯 美国《商业周刊》文章：中国的梦之队――工业设计师正在改写历史。作者：包峰（Frederik Balfour）于香港，罗谷（Dexter Roberts）于北京。

孙云波从未想过自己有一天能设计汽车。事实上，这位来自吉林的农家孩子在19岁之前甚至都没坐过汽车。因此孙云波说，自己设计的作品有一天能从组装线上大批生产出来，这在过去简直就是“天方夜谭”。他说：“对我来讲，汽车曾经是个很神秘的东西。”但今天孙云波却和其他20位中国设计师一起为别克凯越轿车的设计辛勤工作，通用汽车公司准备从今年秋季开始向中国市场投放这款汽车。孙云波说：“现在汽车设计对我来说已经是一件很平常的事儿了。”

孙云波勇立在一股震撼设计领域的大潮的潮头。近10年来，中国已经成长为一个出口强国，但中国工厂生产出的绝大多数产品都是由其他国家设计的。中国公司与20世纪70年代的日本公司以及90年代的韩国公司很相似，它们迫切希望能获取更高的利润，攫取更大的市场份额，而这一切只能凭借那些外形华丽、设计精良的产品来获得。湖南大学工业设计系主任何人可说：“我们的目标是实现从‘中国制造’到‘中国设计’的转变。”

比起10年前，这堪称一场巨大的变革，当时工业设计在中国还闻所未闻。今天，中国国内已拥有近200所设计院校，每年可培养出8000名毕业生。数以百计的优秀中国学生正蜂拥到美国和欧洲最好的研究生院，进修设计专业。与北京清华大学艺术设计学院创办了一个合作项目的伊利诺斯技术大学设计学院院长帕特里克・惠特尼评价说：“这些学生聪明绝顶。”

早在1997年，通用汽车公司就引领了这场运动。这家汽车制造商与它的生产合作伙伴上海汽车工业公司一道，在上海创办了一个设计中心，孙云波就是这里的一名员工。从那时起，西门子移动公司、LG电子公司以及伊莱克斯公司纷纷开始聘请年轻的本地设计师为它们设计符合中国国内市场需求的产品。为摩托罗拉公司个人通讯部门进行客户体验设计的负责人蒂姆・帕西说：“他们的敬业精神着实让我大吃一惊。”该通讯部门在北京雇有7位设计师，他们的工作就是为中国消费者量身定做移动电话。

尽管如此，米兰、伦敦和底特律的设计师们眼前仍然无需为丢掉饭碗而担心。截至目前，大多数中国设计师在设计出口商品时，只是使用了一些简单的色彩和形状搭配，而新型汽车、家用电器以及新奇的电子产品的整体设计工作仍然由欧美公司完成。零售商家庭用品公司（Home Depot Inc.）负责推销的执行副总裁杰瑞・爱德华兹说：“就许多产品而言，中国拥有优秀的设计师，可他们并不了解美国市场。”家庭用品公司雇用中国的分包商生产水龙头、吊扇等商品。

尽管中国的设计院校的数目在节节攀升，但是有人却提出质疑，中国的教育体制能否最终培养出具有世界水平的设计师。曾在上海同济大学工业设计系任教的周毅（音译）目前掌管着S.Point公司，这家独立公司拥有17名设计师，公司客户包括西门子移动、伊莱克斯和英特尔。周毅认为，中国孔子所强调的死记硬背的学习方法会扼杀学生的创造性思维，而且作为集体成员中的一分子，他们不愿表露自己内心的想法。他说：“在献策会上，大家只是坐在那里。尽管他们也在思考，而且也有了自己的想法，但他们从不开口。”

然而，在那些以中国大陆日益精明的消费者为目标的产品市场上，中国设计师的地位几乎牢不可破。过去，只要是舶来品，无论其设计多么呆板，都能在中国市场上轻松售出。但是，今天的购物者需要的是更能抢人耳目的产品。要想找证据的话，只要看看移动电话市场就行了。由于中国产品也具备了耀眼的外观设计，如TCL公司推出的以宝石为装饰的手机，中国制造商已经把自己的市场份额提高了2倍，从2001年的10%增至今天的30%。摩托罗拉公司消费者设计主管邱丰顺说：“他们的产品为什么如此畅销？因为他们了解当地市场的需求。”

通用汽车公司希望凭借这款售价2.1万美元的凯越轿车取得类似的成就。通用汽车上海公司首席汽车设计师Burt Wong说，中国人更喜欢用铬喷漆处理的汽车，而且他们更关注细节，而西方人追求的却是浑然一体的风格。因此，即将投放中国市场的这款凯越车前端的护栅就比美国市场上的别克车以及在世界其他地区销售的凯越汽车大，而且这款车型的环形大灯会让人联想到神话传说中凤凰的眼睛。Wong说：“汽车需要彰显其主人的地位和实力，但它不应该给人以咄咄逼人的感觉。”

努力发掘中国设计师的不仅仅是跨国公司。本地公司同样期望凭借诱人的设计来提升自身品牌的知名度。刚刚更名为Lenovo的联想控股公司已经聘请了美国俄勒冈州波特兰市的奇巴设计公司来改进自己的设计方案。中国最大的电视机制造商长虹电子公司和建筑设备生产商三一重工联合聘请S.Point公司为它们的品牌出谋划策。而白色家电生产商海尔集团早在1994年便成立了设计部门。今天，公司生产的电冰箱、洗衣机外形简约、线条流畅，这些设计提高了产品在全世界的销量。

中国人的设计甚至还登上了北美和欧洲国家的商品货架。部分飞利浦DVD播放机和Ryobi的电动工具都是中国人设计的。百得公司（Black & Decker）生产的新款电熨斗外形曲线优美，这款产品的设计就是由广东的设计委员会完成的。Applica消费产品公司的新产品开发部门主管史蒂文・赫克说，中国人“在感受设计潮流方面具有惊人的才能”。该公司在百得公司的授权下为其生产小型家电产品。

这一切都意味着，迟早有一天中国将成为设计领域中一支不容忽视的队伍。28岁的方振（音译）是孙云波在通用汽车公司的同事，从他身上我们可以看到中国设计界的未来。他的头发染成漂亮的橙色，喜欢穿黑色T恤衫和肥筒裤，他通常从意大利寻找创作灵感。方振说：“首先，我希望成为中国的久加洛（Giorgio Giugiaro）。”他所说的这个人是意大利的传奇人物，他曾为阿尔法―罗米欧（Alfa Romeos）、兰博基尼以及1967年奥兹莫比（Oldsmobile）生产的Toronado担纲设计。“然后我想成为全球顶尖的汽车设计师。”鉴于上海已有人吐露出如此的雄心，西方的设计师也许应该留神观察一下后视镜了。

 

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English Version:


http://www.businessweek.com:/print/magazine/content/03_35/b3847065.htm?mz

SEPTEMBER 1, 2003

DESIGN

China's Design Dream Team
Industrial designers are making a mark


Sun Yunbo never dreamed he might one day design cars. In fact, the farm boy from China's Jilin Province didn't even ride in an automobile until age 19. So the notion that his creations might someday roll off an assembly line was "absolutely unimaginable," Sun says. "A car was a mysterious thing." Today, though, Sun is one of 21 Chinese designers working on the Buick Excelle, a new sedan that General Motors Corp. plans to start selling in China this fall. "Now auto design is natural for me," Sun says.

Sun is at the vanguard of a trend that's shaking the world of design. As China grew into an export powerhouse over the past decade, most of what its factories churned out was designed elsewhere. Now, like the Japanese in the 1970s and the Koreans in the 1990s, Chinese companies are keen to reap the higher margins and market share that often reward flashy, well-designed products. "Our goal is the transition from 'Made in China' to 'Designed in China,"' says He Renke, chairman of the industrial design department at Hunan University.

That's a big change from a decade ago, when industrial design was virtually unheard of in China. Today the country boasts some 200 design schools that churn out as many as 8,000 graduates a year. Hundreds more top Chinese students are flocking to the best U.S. and European graduate programs in design. "The students are blazingly smart," says Patrick Whitney, director of the Illinois Institute of Technology's design school, which has a cooperative program with Tsinghua University's Academy of Arts & Design in Beijing.

GM helped get the movement rolling back in 1997. Together with its manufacturing partner, Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp., the carmaker established the design center in Shanghai, where Sun works. Since then, Siemens, (SI ) Mobile, LG Electronics, and Electrolux (ELUX ) have used young local designers to create products tailored to China's domestic market. "It really blows my mind how dedicated they are," says Tim Parsey, director of consumer-experience design for Motorola (MOT ) Inc.'s Personal Communications Div., which has seven designers in Beijing working on mobile phones aimed at the Chinese market.

Even so, it may be a while before designers in Milan, London, or Detroit need to worry about finding a new line of work. So far, most Chinese designers have simply tweaked color and form for export products, while conceptual work on new cars, appliances, and electronic gadgets is done in Europe or the U.S. "They have good designers, but they don't know the U.S. market" in many products, says Jerry W. Edwards, executive vice-president for merchandising at retailer Home Depot Inc., which hires Chinese subcontractors to produce items such as faucets and ceiling fans.

Despite the growing numbers of design schools in China, some wonder whether China's education system ultimately will be able to churn out world-class designers in quantity. China's Confucian emphasis on learning by rote stifles creative thinking and makes team members reluctant to speak out, says Zhou Yi, a former teacher of industrial design at Shanghai's Tongji University who now heads S.Point, an independent firm that employs 17 designers and engineers doing work for the likes of Siemens Mobile, Electrolux, and Intel (INTC ) "At brainstorming sessions, they just sit there," says Zhou. "Even though they are thinking and have ideas, they don't say anything."

Yet for products aimed at increasingly sophisticated consumers on the mainland, it's hard to beat Chinese designers. Time was, anything foreign could be easily flogged in China, no matter how clunky the design. Today, though, shoppers demand products with more pizzazz. For evidence, look no further than the mobile-phone market. Chinese manufacturers have tripled their market share, to 30% today from 10% in 2001, largely because of splashy designs such as the gem-studded handsets offered by TCL International Holdings Ltd. "How do they sell so well? They under- stand local tastes," says Motorola's di- rector of consumer design, Kumo Chiu.

GM is hoping for similar success with the $21,000 Excelle. The Chinese prefer more chrome and detailing in their automobiles, while Westerners go for more organic styling, says Burt Wong, GM's top vehicle designer in Shanghai. So the Excelle's grille is larger than on U.S. Buicks and versions of the Excelle that are being sold elsewhere, and its wraparound headlights are meant to evoke the eyes of the mythical phoenix. "A car needs to show status and power, but shouldn't be aggressive," Wong says.

It's not just multinationals that are discovering Chinese designers. Local companies are also looking to give their brands a lift through better design. Lenovo, formerly known as Legend Holdings Ltd., has hired Ziba Design Inc. of Portland, Ore., to beef up its design program. China's largest TV manufacturer, Changhong Electric, and construction-equipment maker Sany Heavy Industry Group have hired S.Point to give their brands more flair. And white-goods maker Haier Group established a design unit back in 1994. Today the clean, cool lines of its refrigerators and washing machines help boost its sales around the world.

Chinese designs are even finding their way onto shelves of North American and European stores. Some Philips DVD players and Ryobi power tools were designed in China. And the pleasing contours of Black & Decker (BDK ) new irons came from drafting boards in Guangdong. The Chinese "are surprisingly in touch with design trends," says Steven Hecker, director of new-product development at Applica Consumer Products, which makes Black & Decker Corp. small appliances under license.

That means sooner or later China will be a design force to be reckoned with. For a glimpse of the future, check out 28-year-old Fang Zhen, who works with Sun at GM. He sports orange hair, favors black T-shirts and cargo pants, and looks to Italy for inspiration. "First, I want to be the Giorgio Giugiaro of China," says Fang, referring to the legendary Italian who designed Alfa Romeos, Lamborghinis, and the 1967 Oldsmobile Toronado. "Then I want to be a top auto designer globally." With that kind of ambition coming out of Shanghai, designers in the West may want to keep one eye on the rearview mirror.

By Frederik Balfour in Hong Kong and Dexter Roberts in Beijing