Mr Adam Laws 

Managing director of Nielsen Design 

Adam is the principal designer of over 20 award-winning products ranging in diversity from a humble kitchen sink plug to AirTraffic Control workstations. Adam's work has been exhibited at the Sydney Powerhouse Museum.

🔵What do you think are the main characteristics of Australian industrial design compared to that of other countries, particularly China?  

Australian industrial design is very outward looking. The Australian domestic market is not large enough for most products to be a commercial success, so design solutions must be competitive in global markets. The depth of knowledge and ability of Australian industrial designers to develop products from concept right through to manufacturing is fairly unique. Of course, designers in other countries will claim this too but typically the follow-through work is done by design engineers, meaning that sometimes the designer’s vision is compromised. 

For an industrial designer to maintain project continuity through to production, they must have detailed knowledge of manufacturing methods and materials. This knowledge is expected of designers in Australia and typically takes five to ten years to acquire with the mentoring of experienced colleagues.This in-depth knowledge is valuable for creating more developed and easier to implement solutions, even when the designer only completes the concept stage before hand over. I think this Australian model is probably ideal for China, given the nature of China’s strong manufacturing industry.

🔵What opportunities do you see for your company in China and where can we build onour respective strengths? 

China is a very big and competitive market. Products have the potential to sell in large quantities and so investment in design to provide a competitive advantage is easily justified. I am very encouraged to see that so many Chinese companies understand this and are looking to develop unique designs. I see increasing opportunities for us to assist this transition by providing high level design services.

🔵How should Australian industrial design service providers differentiate themselves from their competitors? 

As an established industry with over 50 years of experience, Australian industrial designers are creative and highly skilled, with a depth ofunderstanding that often exceeds expectations. Australian industrial design is competitively priced, compared to design groups in Europe and the US, and offers good value for the design services provided.

🔵Where are resources best placed to assist and support the internationalisation of the Australian industry? 

Platforms to support collaboration and assist in matching Australian industrial design service providers to international clients would help to support the internationalisation of the Australian industry. Austrade, for example, offers a valuable service that assists both Chinese and Australian companies to meet and develop business relationships that would otherwise be unlikely to happen.

🔵What is the best model for China and Australia cooperation?

I am working on this, but there may be no one right answer! Clear communication is a key foundation for any business relationship to be successful. From my limited experience in China, I believe communication from both sides is open and direct. It helps that Australia is relatively close to China and that the times zones make it easy to collaborate during business hours.

🔵What is a key message that you’d like to convey to the industry in Australia?

China is open for business. This is important for the Australian domestic market where pressure from a declining manufacturing sector and very little support for the design sector means that the design profession needs to look to other business models to remain viable.

🔵Any other points that you’d like to mention?

After my recent trip to Shenzhen for the SZIDF 2017 trade fair, I can see the importance of learning Chinese to help make the most of business opportunities and demonstrate commitment to ongoing relationships in China. Nielsen Design is very fortunate to have a designer who is also a native Mandarin speaker. 

Dr. Jack Fan

Head of School of Industrial Design and Ceramic Art，Foshan University

Research Fields: Innovations in Industrial Design, Digital Design, VR Application 

🔵What stage do you think Chinese industrial design industry is currently at? What are the main characteristics of Australian industrial design compared to that of other countries, particularly China?  

Industrial design started in the 1940s in Australia, whereas it was only introduced to China in the 1980s. However it was not until 10 years ago that more people actually began to pay attention to this industry. In the recent years, industrial design has developed rapidly in China, mainly due to increased importance being placed on it by different levels of government , particularly with the government’s drive for innovation development and supply-side reform.

Indeed, governments and regulators have realized the importance of industrial design. As such, they have passed many supportive policies, built up numerous design parks and organised various design competitions and academic conferences across China to promote the development of this industry.  According to current statistics, there are 110 state-level industrial design centres, more than 8,000 industrial design companies , over 6,000 enterprise-owned or affiliated industrial design centres and morethan 110 design awards and contests. The scale of industrial design education in China now ranks No. 1 worldwide with over 600 higher education institutions establishing an industrial design major and close to 600,000 graduates with a design related major.

▲Design works from RMIT exchange students

However, this boom does not come without its problems.

Even though the government has placed importance on industrial design, the understanding of this topic is still a bit superficial and lacks substance. The majority of companies believe that industrial design only has a beautifying effect on appearance and no functionality, without considering it from the perspective of product and brand strategy. They are therefore reluctant to invest more resources into it. Furthermore, theoretical research in China currently lags behind other countries. For example, while research into sustainable design is currently a hot topic in China, the same area was researched a long time ago in Australia. In addition, Chins is still just in its in fancy in terms of user experience design and interaction design.

🔵What do you think are the advantages and disadvantages of Chinese design majors compared to their foreign counterparts?

▲Design works from ECHON Award 2010

At high schools in China, students have to choose between Science and Liberal Arts streams ,therefore the scope of knowledge of students is often incomplete, which is very detrimental to industrial design as this discipline by nature is very interdisciplinary.  Currently, domestic industrial design majors are divided into two types: the Science type and the Arts type, and each category contains students who have different characteristics. Students who belong to the Arts type do not have a solid foundation in science subjects and tend to be more sentimental. They are disadvantaged in logical thinking and their scope of knowledge, which cause an insufficiency in their sensitivity to and knowledge of technology and craftwork. In addition, these type of students are usually not very proficient in foreign languages, which affects their effective communication with foreign counterparts. On the other hand, students who belong to the science type are well equipped with general education, good logic and learning capabilities, but are limited by their lack of innovation and divergent thinking. In terms of advantages, Chinese students visit many enterprises, exhibitions, fairs and participate in a lot of competitions, and therefore are more passionate about learning, more open-minded and receptive to new knowledge and challenges. The majority of students are smart, diligent, and as such are able to achieve good things after graduation.

🔵What do you think of the teaching qualifications of higher institutions with the Industrial Design Major? 

The rapid expansion of industrial design education has caused an imbalance in its development as universities, whether qualified or not, have swarmed to set up Industrial Design majors. Some universities, such as Tsinghua University, Hunan University and Tongji University, are of sound education level equipped with good teachers. However in some other universities, teachers sometimes have a very limited understanding of industrial design and some don’t even have and educational background in industrial design. Additionally, some colleges do not have well equipped teaching environments. As a matter of fact, a general problem for Chinese universities is that the content taught does not meet practical demands. After graduation, the majority of students find that there is a long way to go for them to be qualified designers for enterprises or design companies. This has much to do with the fact that our programs and teaching staff lack practical experience. However, with further development of this major, increased international exchanges and graduates including overseas returnees, I believe that Chinese industrial design education will gradually improve. 

▲Design works from ECHON Award 2010

🔵How do you think China and Australia should foster further cooperation in terms of higher education? 

From my experience in education and international cooperation, Australian design education is not bad when compared to that of the U.K and the U.S, yet it has not been promoted much in China. Chinese students who study in Australia mainly major in Finance and Information Technology, so therefore, I believe more cooperation on industrial design education between universities should best strengthened. For example, we spent less than two years reaching cooperation with Plymouth University in the U.K. and NSCAD in Canada to establish student programs like ‘2+2’ and ‘3+1’, while our cooperation with RMIT hasn’t expanded any further beyond student exchange programs that has been ongoing for more than 10 years. Together with leaders of our university, I have visited RMIT many times, yet there still has not been much progress on further cooperation. Besides traditional programs like ‘2+2’,‘3+1’, I think Australian universities should explore opportunities in other areas such as co-development of postgraduates, international joint labs, and even opening Chinese campuses in order to push cooperation to another level.

China has mader emarkable economic achievements and its manufacturing industry is also very well-developed. RMIT has attached much importance to exposing their students to the manufacturing industry here so that they can engage in actual design programs. Many Australia students who participated in our exchange programs came back to China (including Foshan) after graduation as they were confident of future development and opportunities in China. Therefore, increased cooperation is win-win situation for both sides and constructive to the continued developmentof the industrial design industry globally and its promotion within China.