Taiwan's Design Power

Every March, the design world is lit up by the "Oscars of design," the iF Product Design Awards. This year, there were 2,756 applicants from 43 countries, of which 993 were selected for competition. Those 993 included 95 from Taiwan, and out of the 50 products chosen overall for the gold award, seven were Taiwanese, behind only design giants Germany and Japan for numbers.

Since 2003, across the four major design awards-iF, red dot, G-Mark, and IDEA-Taiwan has accumulated a massive 1,341 wins. On top of that, of the top 100 companies listed by iF, 12 positions are held by Taiwanese companies, including Asus, Qisda, and Mitac. As you can see, Taiwan is more than holding its own internationally.

A catcher's helmet from Racer Sporting Goods.

Renowned cultural critic Chan Wei--hsiung has described Taiwan's rise in industrial design as "an overnight blossoming after a 40-year night." In less than a decade Taiwanese design has taken its place on the international stage. Where did the impetus for this rise come from, and how has the wave of awards boosted the industry?

"Accumulating awards is a valuable business strategy," says director of the Taiwan Design Center's industrial con-sult-ancy team Nina Ay; for a company, awards can raise morale internally and exposure externally, as well as attracting attention from potential clients overseas, making them an excellent avenue for opening international marketing channels.

"We musn't make the mistake of looking at awards as the only indicator of the success of Taiwanese design," says Kuo Jieh-cheng, chairman of the Chinese Industrial Designers Association, which with a 43-year history is Taiwan's most venerable such organization. While the string of awards means that Taiwanese designers have the potential to compete internationally, the design industry itself is still relatively embryonic.

In Kuo's analysis, among companies with their own internal design teams, the majority, including Asus and Qisda, are in the well resourced and well founded consumer electronics industry. Generally speaking, companies that set up their own design departments can provide a better environment for fostering design talent and help their com-pany with its long-term direction. Product lines designed internally are often more competitive, and by following this path companies are also exposed to less risk than if they work with outside teams. However, if expense is an issue or demand for design work is low, working with outside companies can add new vitality to product design by tapping the creative energies of specialist designers.

Being able to wed technical capacity with imaginative design will be crucial in Taiwan transforming itself from a tech hub into a design powerhouse.

According to statistics on Taiwan's cultural and creative industries published by the Council of Cultural Affairs in 2009, there are a total of 2,470 design companies-including product, graphic, website, and other forms of design-with a total annual revenue of NT$71.2 billion.

Of these, 41 companies make NT$100 million or more a year; despite accounting for only 1.66% of the total number of companies, their revenues make up 83% of the industry total. Another 2.8% of the total revenue comes from the 1,904 companies-77% of the industry-making NT$5 million or less.

Thus we see that the design industry in Taiwan appears to be a pyramid, with a few large companies at the top and a large number of smaller companies at the bottom. Revenues seem to follow an M-shaped curve, with the majority of the money being split between the largest and smallest companies, but a small percentage going to those companies in between. From this, we see that there is little diversity in what companies and communities demand from design companies, and thus the current industrial environment is not particularly conducive to diversity in the design field.

The holder of a master's degree in industrial design from the Hochschule fur bildende Kunste Hamburg and a former designer with German electronics com-pany Braun, Kuo Jieh-cheng notes that the iF Design Award was originally established to encourage innovation and marketing in industry. In the late 20th century, Korean brand Samsung was able to move from OEM to building its own brand thanks to the boost given to them by receiving the iF award. Design was the crucial element for Samsung building their own brand, and in 1997 they hired a leading American designer to overhaul their design department, helping integrate this side of the business into the overall corporate culture and pointing Samsung toward international success. The company went on to become one of the world's 20 leading enterprises, with a brand value of US$1.5 billion.

As Kuo notes, such awards are particularly helpful for marketing, as companies enjoy the benefits of consumers' desire to enjoy well-designed products. This then enables the company to invest more in developing new products, creating a virtuous circle. As for Taiwan, Kuo says, "We're currently stuck at a stage where we rely on these awards for affirmation, but don't really follow them up with strong production, marketing, and administrative policies."

Being able to wed technical capacity with imaginative design will be crucial in Taiwan transforming itself from a tech hub into a design powerhouse.

But just how useful are awards to companies in real terms?

This year's winner of the red dot award was the brand Just Mobile, which makes Apple peripherals. Managing director of Just Mobile Erich Huang says that the award helped improve the brand's reputation and image, and has certainly been a help to them in breaking into the Euro-pean market. A seven-year-old company, it was only three years ago that Just Mobile began working on developing their own brand, and within their first year they'd moved entirely away from OEM work, accompanied by a boom in their revenues.

In 2007 Free-1, the first telephone device to allow Internet calling via Skype, earned its makers IPEVO the iF, red dot, and G-Mark awards. CEO Royce Hong says that having won one award is enough to prove the quality of their designs, and as far as he's concerned, winning more wouldn't help much.

The exact effects of these awards may be difficult to quantify, but they certainly provide a boost to corporate image. However, any small- or medium-sized enterprise looking to compete for them may want to consider the expenses first.

Participating in red dot this year, for example, required a 220 (approx. NT$9,000) registration fee, and winners must also pay for being included in the yearbook, promotion on the official website, presence at the exhibition, and for use of the red dot trademark-a total of 2,250, or about NT$90,000.

Being able to wed technical capacity with imaginative design will be crucial in Taiwan transforming itself from a tech hub into a design powerhouse.

"What we have to consider is this: even if we won more awards than anyone else, would Taiwan then really be considered a major design location?" asks Kuo Jieh-cheng.

In his book The Language of Things, Deyan Sudjic, director of London's Design Museum, quoted Italian architect Er-nesto Nathan Rogers, who is best known for his work on the Ve-lasca -Tower in Milan in the 1950s: "Take a close analysis of a spoon, and you could tell the language of design which a society would use to build a city."

Sudjic notes that while at first this may seem a sweeping claim, it is important to modern design, because it shows us that even through something as small as a spoon, some degree of knowledge and information is being imparted, and we can begin to understand the genetic code behind the spoon that could also be the foundation of an entire city's design.

Kuo Jieh-cheng asks why it is that when people think of going on "pilgrimages" for design inspiration, they immediately think of Japan and Europe. His answer is that it's because from the moment they step off the plane, they see elements of design everywhere, from buildings and urban landscapes right down to shop signs, posters, and the like. A nation's strength in design must be congruent with its level of development and quality of lifestyle.

By way of example, Kuo points to the German public transportation system. Many of the buses and taxis that shuttle along the roads of Germany are Mercedes-Benzes, a German brand with over a century of history. With such vehicles operating as public transport, anybody can enjoy the design and engineering of this luxury brand without having to pay a fortune. This provides a valuable example of design transcending class and becoming part of the community, serving the public.

Well-known designer Hsieh Jung-ya and the Taiwan Textiles Research Institute took unwanted PET bottles and transformed them into a double-sided fabric in which plants can grow-the "Fabric Garden." This has already been used for an artistic garden (left and center), "drawn" by Jimmy Liao, at the Taipei International Flora Expo's Pavilion of Dream, helping the image of plants turn over a new leaf.

With regard to Taiwan's design industry being stuck at the consumer products stage, the Chinese Industrial Designers Association has begun promoting the concept of "strong design that benefits the community." Their hope has been to encourage more constructive "design for the public," which can show the quality of Taiwanese design together with a concern for society and the environment, and thus help improve society.

One example of this approach to design was developed by Zhang Ming-shun, a tech company manager. His invention was the kind of pedestrian crossing lights seen throughout Taiwan, with a numerical countdown and an animated "little green man" who runs faster when the light is about to turn red. This simple little design has since been emulated in the US, Germany, and Japan, making it an icon of the power of design to benefit the community.

Last year's Taiwan International Design Competition also focused on this concept. The gold medal winner, student in the Graduate School of Design at National Taiwan University of Science and Technology Huang Xiao-yuan, was inspired by her regular cycling to school and the unexpected dangers of Tai-pei's lanes, alleys, and intersections; with only convex mirrors on some intersections to rely on, she found it was easy to miss oncoming vehicles thanks to blind spots and environmental obstacles.

Building on this, she adapted these mirrors into the "Safe Convex" mirror, to be mounted at intersections with alleys and lanes, including radar and other sensors that can detect oncoming objects at a range of 20 meters, as well as incorporating LEDs to indicate the direction from which the vehicle is coming.

In the past, designers only had to concern themselves with the demands and direction of the product being designed over its planned lifetime. Now, though, they need to focus on extending the lifetime of the product, being careful about materials, and minimizing the materials and resources used, rather than pumping out products that waste natural resources and may harm the environment.

The response of industrial designers abroad to this growing environmental consciousness, along with the problem of aging societies, was to develop accessibility products such as shopping trolleys and devices to help the elderly put on their clothing. Such "universal design" focuses on designing for a range of age groups and creating products everyone can use.

Kuo Jieh-cheng says that Taiwan should emphasize this concept and promote things with a positive impact across socioeconomic, gender, and ethnic boundaries, such as these products that are aimed at addressing the aging society issue. "Only this way," he says, "can Taiwan shift its focus from wealth to society and earn the respect of the world."

Being able to wed technical capacity with imaginative design will be crucial in Taiwan transforming itself from a tech hub into a design powerhouse.

When Philippe Starck, a French design guru known for his childlike perspective, visited Taiwan, he remarked that the biggest problem Taiwanese designers, and designers throughout Asia, face is a "lack of creativity." If designers lack confidence in their creative abilities, they will continue just copying Western designs, blindly following the mainstream. And if entrepreneurs and management don't give their designers creative space and instead just wave a photo at them saying "I want one of these!" then there is no room for inspiration.

Cheng Jin-dean, associate professor of industrial and commercial design at National Taiwan University of Science- and Technology and a 20-year design veteran, says that this problem is rooted in Taiwan's OEM history. In the past, management generally didn't want innovation, and in fact believed that innovation meant risk; instead, they only cared about how to improve on others' designs in order to profit with minimal expense. Today, though, with the rise of brand consciousness, everyone is aware of the importance of creativity.

So the question is, how do we move forward?

Zheng believes that fostering creativity must begin with design education. For example, in 2004 founder of leading American design company IDEO David Kelley was hired by Stanford University to lead the creation of their Hasso Plattner Institute of Design. In the process, he brought to bear his decades of previous experience and the perspectives that they granted him, distilling them into the creation of a leading graduate course entitled Design Thinking.

Put simply, designers should look at their projects from the perspective of ordinary people, rather than simply focusing on aesthetics and functionality. As such, designers should also be encouraged to think about the sourcing of resources, downstream production techniques, and even how to improve lives through commerce.

For example, one of Stanford's courses, entitled Launch Pad, requires students to design a feasible commercial product from scratch in three months.

One student, Erica Es-trada, remembered seeing the poverty in small Indian villages during her travels, and that many lacked power and water. The woman in charge of her homestay there would have to fill up a kerosene lamp to go out in the dark to feed their cattle, and if the lamp ran out, she had to grope her way home in the dark, putting her in a dangerous situation.

Using her knowledge of opto-electronics and the resources she had available, Es-trada used a soda can as the base of an LED lamp costing less than US$10 to make. In just a year, she sold 2 million lamps, and now she has founded her own company and begun developing low-cost, environmentally friendly solar-powered lighting, and selling products in over 40 developing countries. And Estrada is far from the exception as far as students in this course and commercial success are concerned.

This approach has been sweeping through American colleges, with leading schools like Harvard and MIT following Stanford's lead. Bloomberg Busi-ness-week referred to this as a new and innovative way of thinking that could replace the traditional commercial perspective of business schools.

Taiwanese design is beginning to blossom, lending new color to the island's towns and cities. This photo shows the opening ceremony for the 2010 Good Time Public Art Festival.

Starck has also had kind words for the technical skill and support for designers in the Taiwanese tech industry, saying, "If you have a great idea, Taiwan can help you make it real." Taiwan's decades of manufacturing and R&D experience may also prove crucial to taking Taiwan's design industry to another level.

At the end of 2010, the Ministry of Economic Affairs' Department of Industrial Technology worked with the Industrial Technology Research Institute, the Institute for Information Industry, and the Taiwan Textile Research Institute (TTRI) to form the Dechnology alliance, a project promoting the combination of design and technology. Using Taiwan's industrial and competitive strengths, the alliance is aiming to foster creative groups and accelerate the development of new products and markets.

The winner of this year's iF gold award, "Fabric Garden," for example, was a joint effort between the TTRI and founder of Gixia Group Hsieh Jung-ya.

Fabric Garden marked the first time gardening broke free of the old limitations of flatness, creating a double-faced, modeled garden out of green modules of organic plants. These modules can be stretched or compressed, and can be molded to fit any kind of gap to create a sustainable garden, as well as creating an artistic effect and fitting in with conservationist ideas. Fabric Garden is not only already in use as the outer wall of the Taipei International Flora Expo's Pavilion of Dream, it is also the first iF gold medal winner for Taiwan's research institutions.

From "Made in Taiwan" to "Designed in Taiwan," Taiwan's industrial world has already begun to realize that design is the soul of a product and a crucial element of corporate policy. As receiving awards becomes less of a novelty and design begins to be recognized for its industrial value, Taiwanese design has already begun to blossom, making Taiwan happier and more beautiful.

Buses with a lowered chassis make it easier for passengers to get on and off, and are an excellent example of design being used to benefit the community.

Being able to wed technical capacity with imaginative design will be crucial in Taiwan transforming itself from a tech hub into a design powerhouse.

Well-known designer Hsieh Jung-ya and the Taiwan Textiles Research Institute took unwanted PET bottles and transformed them into a double-sided fabric in which plants can grow-the "Fabric Garden." This has already been used for an artistic garden (left and center), "drawn" by Jimmy Liao, at the Taipei International Flora Expo's Pavilion of Dream, helping the image of plants turn over a new leaf.

Being able to wed technical capacity with imaginative design will be crucial in Taiwan transforming itself from a tech hub into a design powerhouse.

A cycling jacket with LEDs, from the Taiwan Textile Research Institute.

Well-known designer Hsieh Jung-ya and the Taiwan Textiles Research Institute took unwanted PET bottles and transformed them into a double-sided fabric in which plants can grow-the "Fabric Garden." This has already been used for an artistic garden (left and center), "drawn" by Jimmy Liao, at the Taipei International Flora Expo's Pavilion of Dream, helping the image of plants turn over a new leaf.

Being able to wed technical capacity with imaginative design will be crucial in Taiwan transforming itself from a tech hub into a design powerhouse.

Being able to wed technical capacity with imaginative design will be crucial in Taiwan transforming itself from a tech hub into a design powerhouse.

The animated little green crossing man.

Being able to wed technical capacity with imaginative design will be crucial in Taiwan transforming itself from a tech hub into a design powerhouse.