Todot Design: brand-making design

09 2015 | Issue 9
Text/Joseph Leung and Day Ng

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Located in 678 Creative Cultural Park along Istmo de Ferreira do Amaral, Todot Design is a design studio run by a team of six. Its exuberant designs have gained much popularity, attracting a strong clientele including government departments, arts and educational organisations, as well as local and Mainland Chinese brands. The visual collaterals for the film Macao Stories 3: City Maze, for example, are designed by this studio.

 

Bob Lei, founder of Todot Design and its chief designer, is a design graduate from Macao Polytechnic Institute. After finishing his studies, Lei went to Hangzhou, where he gained some experience in graphic design before moving on to a new arena, joining KL&K Design in Shenzhen to work on commercial branding. In view of the exorbitant taxation rates and various policy restrictions in China, Lei decided to return to Macao to further his design career.

 

“When I returned to Macao, I realised that the design companies in the city focus largely on events such as conferences and weddings, while I am more keen to explore newer areas such as branding design.” Determined to achieve something of his own, Lei decided to form his own company. Together with Chiu Kwok Kwan and Ho Man Yu, Lei founded Todot Design in 2013. The three founders complemented each other: one of them is knowledgeable on government projects, while the other is a multimedia guru, whereas Lei has experience in commercial design on the Mainland. In Lei’s opinion, the design studio’s greatest strength lies in the integration of their skill sets.

 

In Mainland China, the major clients tend to be very demanding, and may discard the proposals from design agencies any minute. Therefore, these design agencies are competitive in terms of client retention, mainly achieved through powerful persuasion and lobbying. On the other hand, most clients in Macao will come to the design agencies for small-scale design services such as branding design or wedding collaterals, and are much less demanding. As such, the local enterprises are often less aware of the importance of branding.

 

“Some food and beverage clients would only ask us to design a menu or a flyer. We often have to explain to them that a menu alone will not achieve much effect. After all, what is the target clientele of a restaurant? Design is necessary to bring in more business, and it entails everything, from the uniforms of frontline staff to the way with which customers are greeted.” Therefore, Todot Design aims to promote the value of branding design among its clients.

 

Lei conceded that, over time, the government should appreciate more on the importance of design. At present, the government would only pay a design company upon the award of design tender. The company that did not win the bid could not recover any costs spent on design work, even if they have worked on the design substantially. In Taiwan and Hong Kong, however, the governments are willing to provide a small upfront to all the bidding companies, and then pay the rest of the fees upon the award of tender, so that the agencies are fully compensated for their work. “It is ridiculous that while they assess the bids in terms of the time and budget estimates, they do not assess the designs themselves.”

 

Unlike other creative industries, design agencies do not produce standalone goods such as films, music or books. Rather, their designs must cater to the clients’ production and sales and marketing plans. Given the nature of their designs, how do they retain their sense of independence from the clients? For Todot Design, the solution is to come up with exclusive products. Lei revealed that they are planning to launch their own design label, which will feature products other than the popular, 2D design such as tote bags or T-shirts. “For example, we will explore the functionality of designs too, such as coming up with well-designed watches that are more user-friendly and comfortable.”

 

The launch of an independent design label brings them to the question of production, an issue that has posed limitations on Macao’s design industry. “While it is easy to make a poster or a banner, it is hard to design a pen and get it produced it locally.” To override this difficulty, Todot Design aims to partner with Mainland manufacturers in launching their own design collection.

 

A brief look at the designs across the globe shows us the differences in design and taste: the elegance of French designs; Scandinavian simplicity and the Japanese style of intricacy… so what can Macao’s designs offer to distinguish themselves? “If we are talking about a decade ago, I would say that the designs in the city have a strong sense of Portuguese richness. However, other influences in recent years have made it impossible to pin down Macao’s designs to a particular style…” As revealed in their existing design goods, Todot Design is not marked by a single, distinctive style. Lei pointed out that the art of design is different from fine art, and the designer is there to connect the client with the community, rather than to show off his or her own sense of aesthetics or artistic judgement. He hoped that Macao’s enterprises will diversify and develop further, rather than relying so heavily on the gaming business, so that the design sector will have more opportunities to showcase what they are capable of making.