Dean Thomas Kvan attends the “Talent Day” event of Nanshan District and delivers a keynote speech on the Nanshan Design Talent Forum

On the morning of October 30th, 2021, the “Talent Day” series event of Nanshan District, including Nanshan Design Talent Forum with the theme of “Design-Unveils the Beauty of Nanshan”, was staged in Qiuxiange Building, Shenzhen Talent Park. Prof. Thomas KVAN, the Dean of the School of Design, delivered a keynote speech “The Value of Design and Unveiling Beauty in Nanshan” at the invitation of the Forum.

This activity is guided by the Organization Department of Shenzhen Municipal Committee of the CPC (Shenzhen Talent Bureau) and sponsored by the Nanshan District Organization Department (Nanshan Talent Bureau), with the presence of important political figures including CHENG Buyi, a Member of the Standing Committee and Head of the Organization Department of Shenzhen Municipal Party Committee, HUANG Xiangyue, Deputy Secretary of the CPC Nanshan District Committee and Mayor of the Nanshan District Government, CHENG Zhenghua, Director of the Standing Committee of the Nanshan District People’s Congress, and CHEN Jun, Chairperson of the Nanshan District CPPCC.

In the opening remark of the Forum, HUANG expressed that themed on design talents, the “Talent Day” event of Nanshan District this year was aimed at exploring the future trend of design talent development in Nanshan, propelling Nanshan towards an integrated structure of “design + industry + talent”, and creating a more open, diversified, and international environment for the talent development.

Speech by Prof. Kvan

Prof. Kvan presented the speech by centering around five aspects of Design from the User Perspective, How Design Affects, Technology + Design, How to Realize Design Value, and the Mission of Design Education. To begin with, Prof. Kvan shared multiple examples to expound on how good design provides value for lives through engagement, experience, and personal knowledge, further provoking thoughts on how to explore new design directions and areas in a new technology epoch. He pointed out that design is situated at the nexus between technology and application and thus, has a great impact on the quality of output, industrial process, and the experience of the real world. To this end, attention should be paid to the design principles and creativity since the release of the power of the design is underpinned by design principles, and the creation of design value is guaranteed by creativity. Contextualization lies at the core of the formulation of design principles. By contextualizing design principles and leveraging three types of creativity, namely combinatorial, exploratory, and transformational creativities, plus the unique positions of Shenzhen, Prof. Kvan put forward the idea that Shenzhen can define what is next and should act as a leader instead of a follower in future design, further unleashing the values of design and building the future.

The impact of industrial production entering the mass customization stage on design is explained by Prof. Kvan

The speech was concluded with the mission of design education and the School that School focuses on fostering the creativities mentioned above, practices the concept of Design for Good, and cultivates design talents who are able to shape the future. Taking the root in local culture and contexts, the School proactively integrates multi-disciplinary perspectives and explores cross-disciplinary collaboration with a view to upgrading and transforming the industries, developing new and emerging disciplines, and promoting the technology transfer in research universities. Meanwhile, the School maintains a close link with industries and society, enabling the development of an eco-system where the realization of design values is guaranteed.

The Forum served as a great platform for the discussion and exploration of topics related to design, including the cultivation of design talents, the future development of design, and the development of an international environment for talents, during which FENG Changhong, the President of Shenzhen Industrial Design Profession Association, and LI Fang, the President of  Shenzhen Nanshan Lyshows Fashion Industry Association, also delivered keynote speeches on industrial design and fashion industry. The School of Design looks forward to working with all sectors of the society to actively contribute to the development of design talents for Nanshan District and Shenzhen and the building of a favorable talent environment via this opportunity.