visionunion

Interview with the Founder of Morning Design —Wei Lai

Visionunion:How did you step into this design field? And what’ve you done before this job?
Wei Lai: I have done all kinds of things before entered this field, like drummer in a night club, salesperson on the street, copywriter in an advertising agency, and so on. In 1997, I got a job occasionally as an assistant for a foreign designer, and that was an access to graphic design.

Visionunion:What do you think of the impact, or help, of your experience to creating or company founding?
Wei Lai: Perhaps there was some kind of help. I haven’t been to university, so I could just learn skills through my life experience. Being a drummer, I acquired the living skills in the community; being a salesperson, I learned basic marketing knowledge; and working for a advertising agency, I realized what’s out of pocket, and this was very important, for I knew poor management would result in a lot of trouble; being an assistant, I came into know how to run a design studio.

Visionunion:You’ve often said that design is by no means art, so what’s your conception about design?
Wei Lai: Absolutely, and it’s one of my philosophies. Design is not art; it’s just a sector of commerce, a commodity. Even if a best-designed package, no matter how many prizes it gained, will end up in dust bin. Seldom consumers would put aside the package, for it’s valueless, the only thing that matters is that helped sell. Confronting a pile of merchandise, which one will your consumer choose? Then design works. Another function of design is to conceal interests. Goods of the same quality and the same function will enjoy more popularity if they are designed and have a brand. This is a widely admitted point.

Visionunion:From an outstanding designer to an experienced operator, how did you transform?
Wei Lai: It is indeed a surprising transform like that. For all, being a designer with a mind of a craftsman, my world view based on a handful of acquired skills. But when I became a design manager, the old concepts improved. You turned into a miner, a crowd of talented people working around you, they are your mines, and what you can dig out, gold or coal, depends on your ability, and this the career of a design manager.

Visionunion:The unique management and operation mode you created are tailored to make Morning Design special, so where dose this mode come from?
Wei Lai: Actually this mode comes from my years of learning. We work for first-class enterprises, which are the models in their own fields, so you can say we were born with opportunities. We learned basic design management mode from Artron (the best local printing company), C&B system from Sino-Ocean Property, brand building approaches and contracted star designer management mode from Huayi Brothers, partnership management mode from Leijie Law Office. That’s why we have a hodgepodge-like management.

Visionunion:Compared with the old mode, what’s the advantages do you think the new one has?
Wei Lai: The key point is that we have settled the brain drain problem, which is the biggest problem Chinese creative industry is facing. Under that condition, it is impossible to build one’s own corporate culture and dangerous to run a large-scale company. The main reason lies in the companies, for they provide no clear promising future, C&B system, high social status and reasonable distribution system for designers. But our management mode aims to fix these problems. In Morning Design, designers have a very clear development route：apprentice — designer — contracted designer ( star designer) — partner ( build one’s own company), which is the best management mode in the creative industry at the present.

Visionunion:So you think the present mode is actually helping the members here to fulfill their working dreams?
Wei Lai: Absolutely. It is a character of the creative industry, designers will ultimately carve out. But most of time people don’t give full consideration to the risks of it, like problems of cost, administration, personnel, customer management, and so on. Designers are ignorant of these things, so it leads to slow development and vicious competition among small-sized companies. But the mode we have can precisely cure this ailment, so while designers are doing their favorites, the company keeps growing to a larger scale, and being operated in a brand-building way.

Visionunion:How do you judge the management and operation mode a real fit for the company?
Wei Lai: Productivity tells. A company if well-operated and efficient-managed will certainly has a high productivity, which is people, rather than machines. And unless the problem of personnel and living security is solved, the creative enthusiasm will not be released.

Visionunion:And in this design industry with opportunities and challenges co-existing, what’s your development orientation?
Wei Lai: We want to grope for a brand new management way through our efforts for the industry, and make ourselves the most outstanding and industrialized company.

Visionunion: What do you think of the prevailingly existing bidding for design?
Wei Lai: It is the most harmful competitive deed to our industry, because design is not competition, and it will do no good to our customers through bidding. Customers are also participants in a deal, you cannot deem yourself as a judge, for most of time you two parties share no common judgment, and biding for design is no other than entrepreneur suicide.

Visionunion:Can you share with us your apperception about setting up Morning Design?
Wei Lai: Every year we would say on our annual meetings, don’t hurry, do it slow, and make it perfect, and I think that’s our apperception. Right now most companies develop at a soaring speed, wealth explodes, and risks hide.

Visionunion:Compared with other design companies, what’s your biggest advantage?
Wei Lai: We have evident advantages in our management and constitution.

Visionunion:And do you have any further goal to go?
Wei Lai: To build up a Chinese Dream Factory.