shanghai design living

Hi,

just wantedt to know if anybody has some experience about getting a job, and working in shanghai. I already know by browsing through the forum that ther is little to expect in terms of wages.
So is there an actual need of foreign designer, and how hard is it to get a job? I already tried to find an online job market for shanghai but couldn’t find nothing realy usefull.
Is there a special area in Shanghai where most of the studios are located, or are they all over the place?
Reading about hundrets of design/thousends students graduating each year I wonder if there is any need for young designers in Shanghai anyway.

Hi Crazykid,

I have been in Shanghai 2 weeks ago and was searching for design jobs - interaction design in my case.
I also tried to find some web-based jobboards and got no results as most are in chinese. I spoke with a lot of people and finally, it seems that the design scene of china is located in Beijing not Shanghai, which is more the commercial centre.

How to get a job here? Best way is have some weeks spare time, catch a flight to Beijing, go to the area 798 798 Art Zone - Wikipedia ,visit exhibition and talk with the guys there. Have a bunch of businesscards with you and spread them. Its very chic there to have a western designer - its like driving a bmw.

http://www.uigarden.net/ China-based interaction website

Ciao FuRanKu

Hi furanku,

thanks for your tips. Although I’m currently searching for a product design company I’ll have a look. From what I’ve found so far it seams that all the bigger companies (IDEO, Frog …) are in Shanghai which made me wonder if and where are the local companies located. If you move over, let me know. Would be nice to exchange some experience.

hi, Crazykid,

It’s amazing hearing you wish to come to shanghai as a industrial designer, the truth, here, there’re a big number of career opportunities, contains design agency and R&D department of multinations, so that it’s up to u which one to choose.

HI stoneshen, thanks for the info. Although I found something in Hongkong already, I’ll travel to HK to visit some offices. Could you name any good ones?

hi, crazykid
sounds great. it’s pleasure to introduce some to u, design centers of Herman Miller, Haworth, GM, GE, SONY etc, which based shanghai. moreover, you’ve already know about the founded offices like IDEO, Frog, Teams and something else. referred hk, i really know little though i worked for a HK agency at shanghai branch for a short time. wish these would be helpful to u. Good luck…

Good luck! There are plenty of opportunities in Shanghai or China in general, the only thing is for you to go vist and do cold calls.

does anyone know design studio where they do furniture or living stuff design in Shang-Hai or Bei-Jing ? US or european companies are good. i am now looking for job related to those fields. i did some research on the net. it seems like a lot of them are doing computer or electronics design.