--- Graphic design
As the cradle of modern graphic design in China, Shenzhen holds a leading position in graphic design and has become an important base for the industry in Asia. At present, Shenzhen has about 20,000 to 30,000 graphic designers, with the number ranking among the largest of Chinese cities. There are also nearly 1,000 graphic design companies or institutes, with a total production value of 600 million yuan (US$83.86 million).
Since the late 1980s, the development of the printing industry in Shenzhen has trained an unbeatable team of graphic designers. When China's design industry was still largely under the influence of traditional arts and crafts, innovative graphic design trends began to emerge in Shenzhen and later spread throughout southern China and then the whole country. During the process, traditional arts and crafts conflicted with modern graphic design in some ways until the "Graphic Design Exhibition in China," a milestone exhibition of the industry, was held in 1992. The exhibition, organized by Shenzhen graphic designers, put forward for the first time the notion of "graphic design" in China and established Shenzhen as a pioneer in the graphic design industry, enhancing the city's international influence in the field. As a pioneer in China's reform and opening up, Shenzhen has shouldered the responsibility of spearheading China's modern design, with its graphic design industry becoming a cultural highlight in the city's development. Shenzhen also came up with the idea of building itself into a "City of Design" in 2004. Now, 16 years later, the biennial "Graphic Design Exhibition in China" has become a grand and high-standard showcase of the industry in China. As one of the most authoritative, fair and influential exhibitions, it has won huge international attention and served as a platform and a cradle for a legion of graphic designers. It also brought forward new ideas from time to time, leading China's graphic design to a higher level.
In 1995, the Shenzhen Association of Graphic Design, the first professional graphic design institute on the Chinese mainland, was founded. In the same year, the stamp design for World Women's Congress made by Shenzhen designer Chen Shaohua was adopted. The stamp was circulated nationwide, symbolizing that Shenzhen designers had been accepted by the public. In the following 10 years or so, Shenzhen designers won almost all the top international awards.
The dynamic economy has spawned a large group of world-famous designers. Shenzhen designers have served large enterprises and cultural institutions from all over the country, from the World Architectural Congress bid logo designed by Long Zhaoshu, the logo for the Beijing's Olympic bid designed by Chen Shaohua to the logo of Sanjiu Group standing in Times Square in New York designed by Wang Yuefei. These also include logos for China's first joint-stock bank, Shenzhen Development Bank; the world-famous brand names of Konka and Skyworth; and companies like Ping An Insurance, China Vanke Co., Huawei Technologies and ZTE Corp, among many others. Shenzhen's designers have made significant contributions to China's economy, particularly Shenzhen's economic development.
The Shenzhen Association of Graphic Design has more than 80 individuals as members and about 20 company members. The association also has members from other major Chinese cities, such as Beijing, Hong Kong, Guangzhou, Shanghai and Nanjing. In 2006, at the invitation of the art college of the prestigious Qinghua University, the Shenzhen Association of Graphic Design set up the Shenzhen Association of Graphic Design Scholarship.
Shenzhen graphic designers and the Shenzhen printing industry support each other and form an integral industry chain. Taking into account graphic design and related advertisement and packaging and printing business, the production value of Shenzhen's graphic design industry has been growing at an average of 54.8 percent every year. The production value of the industry in 2006 topped 11 billion yuan (US$1.54 billion).
---Packaging design
Shenzhen is one of China's three package printing industrial bases, alongside Beijing and Shanghai. It has built a reputation for novel design, advanced technique, rich categories and high quality, with production equipment and technique leading the country. Shenzhen is home to Jincai Printing and Packing Co. Ltd., China's largest manufacturer of alcohol packaging; Jingjia Group Co. Ltd., China's largest cigarette packaging firm; Nine Stars Printing and Packing Group Co. Ltd., China's largest medicine packaging enterprise; and Hongxing Printing (Shenzhen) Co. Ltd., the country's largest child's toy and book manufacturer and exporter, whose products are exported to European countries and the United States.
Most packaging designs of well-known Chinese-made luxury goods are works of Shenzhen designers. Shenzhen designers have won "Star of the World" by World Packaging Organization more than 30 times, the world's top award for the trade, 56 international awards and 500 provincial awards. More than 60 percent of Guangdong Province's products of excellent quality are produced in Shenzhen according to results from six quality national competitions of the publishing and package printing industry.
Before 1979, Shenzhen had only one factory employing manual labor to paste paper boxes. Its first packaging factory, Shenzhen Printing Factory, was set up in 1981. In 20 years, the city's packaging industry has matured with a complete chain of equipment, material, design, production and support services. It is close to the level of developed countries and leading in China for superior quality, new techniques, a full range of products, satisfactory after-sales service and low cost. So far, Shenzhen is home to more than 3,000 packaging companies, 85 percent of them joint ventures and foreign-invested firms. The sector yielded an annual output value of more than 40 billion yuan and 90 percent of its products were exported.
Package designs have also improved. By the end of 2006, there were 1,000 package design companies and departments in the city, employing more than 1,000 designers who are energetic, young and avant-garde. Shenzhen designer Li Yu has won 20 "Star of the World" awards given by WPO since 1988. The annual "Star of the World" is an equivalent of the Olympics in the packaging industry. Two of his works were in the Paris National Museum collection in 1988.
