Lesson1DesignedinItaly

Lesson1DesignedinItaly

Lesson 1 Designed in Italy? No, in China

Designed in Italy? No, in China

Behold Black & Decker's fleet of new irons. With their streamlined styling, you might imagine they sprang from some hip industrial design firm in Milan or London. But guess what: Their pleasing contours came from drafting boards in China's Guangdong province. 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.

设计在意大利？不，在中国

看百得车队的新铁。有了他们的流线型造型，你可以想象他们是从米兰或伦敦的一些髋关节工业设计公司跳下的。但猜测：他们的喜悦的轮廓来自中国广东省的起草委员会。中国“令人惊讶地与设计趋势的触摸，说：”史提芬埃克，在消费产品中的新产品开发总监，这使得百得公司小家电的许可证。

China is no longer content with being just the workbench of the world; it wants to become a force in industrial design, too. The country boasts no fewer than 200 design schools that churn out as many as 8,000 graduates a year. And hundreds of the top Chinese students are flocking to the best U.S. and European graduate programs in design.

中国不在满足于仅仅去当一个世界的工厂；它也想在工业设计行业形成一股力量。这个国家拥有不少于200个设计学院每年大量毕业8000左右的毕业生。数以百计的中国精英学生涌入美国和欧洲最好的设计研究生（学院）

"It really blows my mind how dedicated they are," says Tim Parsey, director of

consumer-experience design for Motorola Inc.'s Personal Communications division, which has an eight-person design team in Beijing. He's not the only one who's impressed.

摩托罗拉公司的个人通讯部门的用户体验设计主管蒂姆说‘让我震撼的是他们是那样的专注’这个个人通讯部门在北京有一个八人团体。他并不是唯一对这件事情印象深刻的人“这真让我想起他们的专注，说：”提姆Parsey，对摩托罗拉公司的个人通讯部门的消费体验设计总监，在北京有一个八人的设计团队。他并不是唯一留下深刻印象的人。

Executives at General Motors, LG Electronics, and Electrolux have all hired hundreds of hot young local designers to create products tailored to China's domestic market.

Of course, these are still the early days of Chinese product design.

通用汽车的高官们，LG电子公司和伊莱克斯都已经雇佣了数以百计的热情年轻本地的设计师参与创造适应中国国内市场的产品高管在通用汽车，LG电子和伊莱克斯均聘用本土设计师打造适合中国市场的产品。

当然，这些都是早期的中国产品设计。

So far, most of the work has been limited to tweaking colors or shapes of existing products. Conceptual work for new appliances or electronic gadgets is usually 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 of merchandising for retailer Home Depot Inc., which works

closely with Chinese subcontractors to produce items such as faucets and ceiling fans.

迄今为止，大部分（被雇佣的中国设计师）的工作有一定的限制：调整现有产品的色彩和形状，而对于新产品和数码产品概念上的工作

仍在欧洲或者美国完成。零售商家得宝公司(家得宝公司和中国分包商合作生产例如水龙头和吊扇的项目)的销售计划的执行副总裁杰里·w·爱德华说：“他们有好设计师，但是他们不了解美国市场（在产品方面）”

到目前为止，大部分的工作一直局限于调整现有产品的色彩和形状。产品的概念设计工作通常是在欧洲或美国的“他们有好的设计师，但他们不知道，在许多产品的美国市场”，说杰里·爱德华兹，为零售商Home Depot公司营销执行副总裁，和中国分包商合作生产项目如水龙头和天花板球迷。

And most of the work is offered free of charge to international companies by Chinese contract manufacturers seeking to gain an edge on rivals as competition heats up. That's great news for people like Applica's Hecker, who can save $100,000 or more each time he wants to refine a product's design.

而且大多数工作免费提供中国合作制造商举行的国际比赛，这些制造商也正在为了提高竞争力而寻找竞争优势。对于像赫克这些人来说这是个好消息，他们每次节省100,000美元或者更多的钱用来改善产品设计

大部分的工作是由中国的合同制造商在竞争激烈的竞争中获得优势的国际公司无偿提供给国际公司的。对于Applica公司的赫克来说是个好消息，他们可以节省100000美元或更多的每一次他想要改进产品的设计。

China's design push is a sign of its maturing economy. Even as it has become an export powerhouse, most products manufactured for the local market have been knockoffs of designs drawn up elsewhere.

中国设计的推动是它经济成熟的标志。正巧在它成为了一个出口大国的时候，所生产的产品大多数是为了本土市场，而本土市场已经让抄袭他处的产品占领了

中国的设计是其成熟经济的标志。甚至当它已经成为一个出口大