Jianping He was born in in China in 1973. He currently lives in Berlin, working as a graphic designer, professor, and freelance publisher.
Jianping studied graphic design at the China Academy of Art from 1991–1994. He received a Master of Fine Arts from Berlin University of the Arts in 2001, and completed his Ph.D. in cultural history from Free University of Berlin in 2011. He served at the Berlin University of the Arts, employed as a guest professor by Hong Kong Polytechnic University, China Academy of Art in Hangzhou, as well as a Ph.D. supervisor at the China Academy of Art. In 2002 he established his own design studio and publishing house in Berlin, Hesign, and in 2008 opened another office in Hangzhou.
His works have been globally awarded. He has been awarded a Gold prize (2012), Silver prize (2001, 2010) at the International Poster Biennial in Warsaw; Gold prize at the International Poster Triennial in Toyama, Japan (2012); First Prize at the Lahti International Poster Biennial in Finland (2005); Silver (2008) and Bronze prize (2010, 2011) at the Art Director’s Club New York; Silver medal at the International Poster Biennial in Mexico (2010); three Silver prizes at the Hong Kong International Poster Triennial (2004, 2010); Bronze medal at the Hong Kong Designers Association (2009); Silver medal at the 2nd Ningbo International Poster Biennial (2001); The Golden Bee 7 - Moscow International Biennial of Graphic Design (2006); Award for Typographic Excellence at the Type Director’s Club New York and Type Director’s Club Tokyo (2007–2010). In 2006 he received the Poster Art Yard in Rüttenscheid prize in Essen, Germany. His solo exhibitions have taken place in Germany, Nanjing(China), Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, Slovenia, Poland and Malaysia and elsewhere.
Jianping He was elected a member of the examination panel for the Masters level diploma at ESAG Penningen, Paris. He has internationally judged design competitions, including: 100 Best Posters of the Year – Germany, Austria and Switzerland, the International Biennale of Theatre Posters in Rzeszow, the International Poster Biennial in Warsaw, the Red Dot Design Award, the Ningbo International Poster Biennial, the Lahti Poster Triennial, and the Design for Asia Award in Hong Kong. He is a member of the Alliance Graphique Internationale (AGI).
www.hesign.com
1. What were your reasons for leaving China, and for choosing Germany as a place to work and further your education?
I studied graphic design at the China Academy of Art for four years, beginning in 1991. The four-year period I spent studying in a Chinese university freed me from my ignorance, casting me into the oceans of art and design. However, I hadn’t a clue what to do after graduating, facing the immensity of this ocean. Driven by feelings of irresoluteness about my profession, and an enthusiastic longing for the world of modern design, I chose to continue my studies in Germany. At that time, I was extremely curious about certain aspects of the Bauhaus’ theoretical output. I always felt I would understand these things better by returning to their source.
2. It’s been almost a decade since you published the book “Thirty”. What changes has your work undergone in the interim? If at all – to what extent was this period influential in your coming in to your professional identity?”
In 2001, having graduated from the Berlin University of the Arts, I proceeded to publish a monograph of my work, “Before Thirty”. I do not dare open it these days. It’s too immature — so uncertain, both in professional terms and in light also of what it presents in relation to my subsequent progression. When I say that today I daren’t open that book, it has to do with the way I explored the profession at that time. Most of the experiments it contains seem superficial to me now, and too heavily influenced by other designers. Nonetheless, I have never abandoned the ideals I laid down in my youth, choosing design as the career I would devote my life to. Until this day, my practice remains focused on graphic design. I find myself bound in a way by double standards: wanting to satisfy my clients’ requirements and needs while trying to find fulfillment of my own — not deviating from my duty as a designer, and pleasing myself without ever resorting to repetition (whether this be in terms of my ideas or the way these are expressed). It isn’t easy to find this sort of contentment. I’m still looking for it, even now.
3. How exactly does one combine the cultural richness of China with that of Germany? Your designs for book covers including ‘Modern Graphic’, 2004 and ‘China Image’, 2004 for instance. Is it your own, Chinese culture has managed to prevail in the face of Germany’s culture? Does it have anything to do with the striking richness of the Chinese culture itself?
In the international context, it is individual styles that people focus on rather than national characteristics—characteristics that are waning. Perhaps written language is the strongest of visual elements among such national characteristics. Nonetheless, graphic images need to be consumed by people; they have to stick in their minds. Aside from text itself, the understanding itself is paramount. We need to understand the content of design. Of course, I don’t emphasize the importance only of my own expressive, stylistic means. As time goes by, a person who chooses to engage in design gradually makes connections between their design language and their way of life, from which design ought to emerge spontaneously.
4. Both German structure and Chinese spirit can be well seen in your designs, (e.g. posters: ‘Acquaintance’, 2003 and ‘75th Anniversary of China’s Art Academy’, 2003). Do you believe the combined structure and spirit is because you have lived and studied more than a decade in Germany or it relates somehow to your understanding of the modern world?
In association with the last answer, one’s artistic maturation is synonymous with the path one takes in life. I am from the South of China; since childhood I was deeply influenced by the landscape and geography of my surroundings. Where I grew up, Chinese calligraphy and painting were the preferred modes of artistic expression. These modes subconsciously exerted a deep-set influence on me. When I began studying in Germany, I made a conscious decision to abandon these traditions completely. 20th century Western painting, like Cubism, Dada and also Pop Art — of which I am very fond of — all had a significant impact on me. However, eventually I realized that my temperament wouldn’t allow me to ever resemble a Western artist’s disposition. Why would one pursue such things deliberately? I returned to those things I had once whole-heartedly endorsed, taking elements of things I was fond of in my youth and bringing them into my design work. Suddenly I felt the sentiment of my work was a natural expression, and this restored my confidence.
5. ‘Philosophy’ plays a fundamental role in both China and Germany’s cultures, although its exact nature as a concept manifests differently in each. Has this distinction become in any way integral to the way you design?
The Chinese philosopher Liang Shuming argues “Culture is everything one relies on in life”. Kant states that “Human beings and Culture are the terminal goals of Nature”. These two philosophical positions, one Chinese, the other European, are consistent with one another at a basic level. I feel their significance is very similar, namely with regards to “The Human as solicitous subject”. Design as I know it is something similar, in that the production of visual language involves the human as its basis, with the notion of consistency between man and nature at its core. I hope that design reveals comprehensible symbols, and a form of intuitive, tractable aesthetics. Although there are differences between the Chinese and German formal languages, there is still potential for their mutual intersection and translation.
6. Are you better known as a Chinese designer, a German designer, or a Chinese-German designer?
It’s sufficient to refer to me as a graphic designer. If this isn’t sufficient for one professionally, all notions of identity are in fact quite meaningless.
7. You have established publications first in Berlin and later in Shanghai and Hangzhou, all of which have contributed much in terms of knowledge about to European graphic design not only among students and designers in China, but among followers of graphic design worldwide. Was this a conscious decision to bring about cultural exchange?
I think publishing is a process of “translation”. The editor tries both to “collate” and “translate” the designer’s creative thinking processes, attempting to decode the product of another’s design. During this process, there has to be some kind of cultural exchange. There is a Chinese saying that states, “Stones from other hills might be tapped for jade”. I personally have gained a great deal in having “forced myself to study”. In order to edit the work of others, one has to learn and understand the design work before one can edit. Such “enforced study” is a way of bettering one’s self.
8. Please explain more about the presence of images of Chinese-ness in your design and the role they have in imbuing your work with certain, national characteristics.
I’m looking for a “design of difference”. A design without “difference” frightens me. What this implies is the abandonment of one’s own history, customs, aesthetic orientations, spirit, perception, language, chosen art form and so on — all subtle variations of individualized expression — becoming indistinguishable from any other person or trend. In terms of technology, the whole world is using the same tools — whether it be a computer, printing apparatus or photography — any expressive variation that arises due to differences of cultural background. Hence, there will never be complete consistency. However, globalization — or rather, the decisive influence of “Western” values — has impacted designers from across the globe profoundly. It is design pedagogy that ought to take the lead in addressing this crisis, taking society’s own needs as its accomplice. For this reason it is imperative we engage in this “design of difference”.
9. To what extent is Chinese graphic design traditional, to what extent is it modern?
Unfortunately, Chinese graphic design remains as I described, in formal terms but a derivative of Westernized modernism. Nonetheless, fortunately there are still a few astute designers experimenting with elements of tradition, conducting research into Chinese calligraphy’s digitization for instance.
10. What principles underpin the union between the traditional and the modern in your design?
A reverence for spontaneous, natural expression. Whether one is fond of ink, landscape or calligraphy, everything depends on one’s individual aesthetic orientations. Nonetheless, as far as my intellectual approach to design propositions is concerned, I hope “spontaneity” arises from my own inclinations, feelings and experiences as a means to convey my understanding. Any designer (or person) capable of thinking independently deserves our respect.
11. Zen (Chan) and Buddhism originated in China, having spread only later further into Eastern Asia. Could you explain to us briefly the principles of these schools of thought?
Zen (Chan) Buddhism ascribes particular importance to an enlightened “understanding” (incorporating the practice of a Buddhist subject. I think this is something which can be integrated into the formation of a design aesthetic.
12. Different technics and styles can be seen in your designs. Where has this diversity originated?
It’s possible that it has something to do with education. I am fond of Dieter Rams’ observation: “Design and art are two different professions. Designers can’t take artistic practice as a means to engage in design. This will ultimately lead to its losing sight of its own direction”. Of course designers cannot oppose art, cannot neglect its influence. There is no contradiction here. Given this perspective, I hope my work meets the demands of all manners of design theses, as opposed to simply immersing myself in my practice.
13. You have amassed considerable experience curating various exhibitions. Could you describe to us how these exhibitions have attempted to bring Eastern and Western culture close together.
My notion of curation has shifted from the search for “difference” to that of “common ground”. At first when I curated, I tried to display work that differed from the city or country where the exhibition took place. I thought this “difference” would draw more people in. Later, I began to consider whether “difference” could be communicative? Or rather, might exhibitions that manifest merely superficial “difference” in fact work as an impediment to communication and mutual understanding? The highly developed state of today’s information technologies means that we require a level of communication with a basis in deeper understanding. Now, I am attempting very much to rejig my former understanding of curation.
The last exhibition I curated was Bruno Monguzzi’s solo show in Shenzhen, China. To begin, I spent three years researching Monguzzi’s design process as represented in his publications, hoping that — in spite of differences of language, national context and clientele — I might be able to find “common ground” to establish in this Chinese context. I tried to analyze the thought processes behind his work; understand and reconstruct the specific context of the time at which he was working. At its most essential level, I found that Monguzzi’s design shared certain origins with that which is typically considered Chinese. As you know, I had published a Chinese publication exhibiting Monguzzi’s work in 2003. If compared to the 2014 publication, where one seeks difference, the other is rather a search for this “common ground”. Following the publication came the exhibition and the associated colloquium. I invited Henry Steiner (Hong Kong), Shin Matsunaga (Japan), Wang Xu (China) and an Italian design critic in order to search for this “common ground”. I found that this time around, the curation was for more successful.
www.hesign.com