This just popped up in my reader: a discussion hosted by Frog Design on design for the other 90% in China. The banner above is from the event; I liked it too much not to share it. That’s Chairman Mao, holding a mobile. It is emitting the light of knowledge, hope for the future, and flowers.

Sarah Lacy describes a cause for the fascination-factor with China succinctly:

What makes China so staggering is that everything that happened to corporate America over decades—think the television and media studios build out of the 1950s, the greed of the 1980s, the dot com bubble, the build out of physical and IT infrastructure, current Web 2.0 and CleanTech innovation—is all happening to China at once.

China is going through incredible rapid development and growth. Shenzhen was particularly interesting to visit because it’s exploding. Coastal City shopping mall is packed with tiny, expensive, homegrown brands. Development is going on everywhere: visibly and physically, with new buildings, business ventures, misguided architecture.

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I’ve noticed that global US design companies with a China base are clustered in Shanghai: Frog Design is one of them, IDEO is also based in Shanghai, and there are many others, like Razorfish. Why are global US design companies choosing Shanghai to base their Asia office?

Shenzhen has the highest GDP of any Chinese city, but seems to lack the attraction for global design companies as Shanghai. This is possibly because Shenzhen isn’t as established as Shanghai: it’s young, formative, and under heavy development.

Shenzhen doesn’t have anything like Shanghai’s brand image. Shanghai has enough cultural sway to have its own Gothamist spin-off, Shanghaiist. Shanghaii’s skyline is identifiable enough to make it into a logo. What would Shenzhen’s Gothamist logo look like? Exactly: a construction site.

Shanghai has a strong brand image: foreigners perceive the city to be an economic centre. Shanghai is possibly a popular choice as it’s a shopping mecca: the culture may also provide commercial opportunities for design and advertising, and supply enough business to justify an Asian branch.

But I don’t know the answer. Sadly I can’t read Mandarin, I can’t find out much from Chinese websites and articles. But the culture of design, design companies in China generally, would be really interesting to explore.

So, for the meantime, questions…

Is design as we know it in the West a luxury in the East, where owning pyjamas, a bicycle and a TV is considered an excellent standard of living, and only 253 million out of a 1.31 billion population have internet access?

Eye-tracking sounds a bit silly next to something as basic as pyjamas. In fact, pyjamas are so luxurious they’re considered a bit of a status symbol…

What’s unquestionable is that there are some astonishing opportunities in China for designers. Apart from high GDP cities like Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Shanghai, and Beijing, there’s the rest of China.

Frog Design poses some interesting questions (here’s that event link again):

1. What are the key opportunities (health care, education, transport, energy, etc.) for international brands in China beyond the 1st tier?
2. What are the best ways to uncover and design for the unique needs of people living in these areas?
3. What can we learn from local Chinese brands that have been successful in 2nd tier cities?
4. How can companies leverage marketing, distribution, and pricing for business success in these areas?

I wish I could go along to this discussion in Shanghai on the 25th June with Kunal Sinha. In the meantime, I’ll watch from the ringside…