Excel one’s master

On speed, worshipping progress and how the West is a role model for China. An interview with Jianjun Xie, founder of Dongdao Creative Branding Group — among China’s foremost design agencies.

Jianjun Xie completed his master’s in Design at China Central Academy of Fine Arts. He founded Dongdao Design in Peking in 1997 and is still its CEO. Today Dongdao Creative Branding Group has grown to become a leading brand consultancy and development company. Jianjun Xie is a member of numerous design associations and has received many prestigious awards for his work.

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The monitor lights up. We hear the buzz of conversation in Chinese from somewhere in Beijing, in a space currently locked in the frame of our 15-inch screen. Then we hear a direct message from the interpreter: Jianjun is on his way. Two worlds, Munich and Beijing, directly united in a video conference. Jianjun Xie appears and waves at the camera, and we meet again. We met in person in Beijing at the beginning of the year, visited the Dongdao agency and had dinner together. That evening, along with our shuan yang rou — Mongolian lamb firepot — we scribbled ideas for logos on our paper napkins. The pace of life is different in China, faster. The needs driving this pace are learning, making progress, leading. Dongdao is one of China’s premier brand design agencies, actively supporting and helping to shape the country’s booming economy. The man who foun­ded the agency and led it from national to international success adjusts his screen, then beams broadly at us.