Fast, good, or cheap. Pick two.
I once had a discussion with my dad about starting a graphic design shop here in New York someday, designing for the Chinese market.
I now realize that if I want to stick with the Chinese market, it will probably have to be another city — just not New York.
Let’s be honest. Most local Chinese-language printed materials (sales fliers, newspaper ads, business cards, product packaging, restaurant menus, etc.) here in New York are beyond ugly. They are unappetizing and hard to read. And let’s leave those horribly scripted and absolutely corny TV & radio ads for another day.
Having spent half of my life in Hong Kong, I know for a fact that Chinese know what good design is. From the look of things, I thought there may be a niche here, an opportunity wide open.
But then I realized that there isn’t a shortage of good Chinese designers here in New York. So why do businesses continue to waste their money on the nasty stuff?
The answer is that the Chinese community here has been “spoiled” by illegal immigrants. If restaurants have to start paying minimum wage to the cooks and the deliverymen, and that the workers can choose to work less hours or even elsewhere, there’s no way you can get any thing for under $5.
Here, illegal Chinese workers literally go begging for a “6 days a week, 12 hours a day, $5/hour”, non-stop, labor-intensive job.
Having gotten use to this kind of labor deal, Chinese business owners in New York naturally want everything the same way: fast and cheap. They make money anyway because of the low labor cost, so when it comes to things related to company’s image, advertising and promotion, they just don’t see the investment value in it.
Since there’s no demand for good design, local print shops hire people who know the software and have them “design” in-house by simply cramming every bit of information in a 5″ x 3″ ad space, slapping a photo on it, and then put it all on a yellow background to make it look “designed.”
In contrast, some overseas Chinese communities were started by educated, financially-established immigrants looking to maintain, grow, or invest. Thus, the “fast & cheap” culture was never really established. They understood the value of good design, good image. They value good investment.
So, until the culture here changes, I doubt the possibility of me seriously contributing, design-wise, to the Chinese community here in New York.
There’s always someday.
I absolutely agree with you. Chinese people really do want things fast and cheap! I think that’s how we were all taught. If you cannot get it for a bargain or pay for it in cash to not pay taxes on it then don’t buy it (that’s what my dad would always said). One of these days, you’ll create some awesome ad for some Chinese group and it will change the world. I know it!
You can teach old dog new tricks. One is here to make quick moneys, the other is to pay off their debts from the Snake heads. This will not change in 2 or 3 generations later. But like the waves from the sea, one came, another one follow. May be one day in China you can?
Stereotyping groups is certainly a mixed bag! Sometimes you are right, and others, you are way wrong. With that said, Ether, I have been in 22 foreign countries so far (and I am not being dumb and counting airport stays and such) and I have ran into groups of Chinese people in a lot of them, but far from all. And everywhere I have been, from the streets of NY to New Zealand to Peru and so forth, one of the most consistent identifying traits of Chinese people has always been the love of free things — a real genuine delight in it. And closely tied to it has almost always been the type of mentality that you describe. There are very obviously exceptions, but the general feel of the immigrant communities has always been similar. It seems less intense to me when it is more of a mixed asian grouping, like in Christchurch, NZ (I never expected to speak so much Korean there). But the people who really want quality seem to me to be the ones that are at least in some part attached to some of the more western oriented businesses or customers. Anyway, that is just what I have seen. I would not be surprised if the only ones who care about quality are only those in a higher economic class, honestly. I have not been in Honk Kong. I have only been in the Taipei airport. And by conscious decision, I have never entered mainland China, so my knowledge in these places is completely nonexistent. But for what it is worth, those are my observations.
I definitely agree with all of you. I think economic status of the people here is the reason behind it. When your most basic needs are not being met, or your ability to survive is in question, who cares about what’s going to happen tomorrow? Why bother with investing in a future that may never come? The most important thing under that kind of situation is to survive one more day! That’s why it’s not an issue only unique to Chinese or immigrants. People just instinctively think that way when they have experienced economic deprivation. That mentality just manifest itself more openly & extreme among refugees & immigrants.
The attitude of not bothering with the future usually sticks with people for a long time. I can definitely see that even in myself & my own family. I think people are just naturally attracted to “cheap-ness.” Like dad said, it’s going to take at least a couple of generations. The ever-increasing influx of debt-ridden illegal immigrants here will certainly prolong that mentality.
Obviously, Chinese businesses here want to do better, just like businesses in any other ethnic communities. That’s why they even bother with advertising on the radio and handing out fliers. However, many of them still look at good design more as caviar than a viable & important business tool.
Until there’s a shift in their perspective, good design within the our community here will remain a rare sight and a “luxury good” for the few.