Name: Nick Song
Job Title: Digital Graphic Designer
Joined EduGlobal in: July 2006
Home Town: Zhaozhuang, Shandong Province
Education: University Diploma, China University of Petroleum 

What is your role as Digital Graphic Designer?

I work as part of the IT-Design Team at EduGlobal. We have do a lot of work  for our clients who utilise EduGlobal Media  services, but most of my projects are related to EdGlobal's own work, such as designing interactive media on our various websites, creating the graphics for EduGlobal International Education Magazine, etc.

How would you describe your average day at work?

No matter what I do each day, I'm always working on new challenging projects that allow me to improve my skills. As the study abroad industry matures in China, we have more  opportunities in our work, but we also must be sure our designs and media presence remain competitive. My colleagues and I work very closely. We usually meet each day  to brainstorm and discuss new ideas, platforms and designs.

Typical work for me includes designing flyers, advertisements and brochures that can be used on and offline. I also do a lot of work on EduGlobal's websites. Right now I'm acting as Project Manager for the development of the EduGlobal Learning website. Ihe site has lots of visitor interaction and a major online learning component, so it's been an interesting new challenge. I've had to oversee the creation of the site, working with the other designers, my director, and the EduGlobal Learning team.  (ED. NOTE: Nick is too modest to mention that you've seen his work – he's the designer behind eduglobalchina.com!)

It's a bit unique to work on a design team for an international education company. How do you think it's different from working in a design or media firm?

Because my responsibilities are so focused on the design work itself, I'd guess it's not really that different. Probably the biggest thing is that, although we're often faced with different clients with different specific cases, ultimately the goals of our clients and even our own company are really not that different: how do we successfully draw in students and keep them engaged from now until the day they go abroad. Because I work for EduGlobal, I've become very experienced and specialised in this area. Now I easily understand the marketing needs and expectations of the industry from a design perspective.

What's the best part of your job?

I really enjoy building something from nothing. Small updates and changes can be tedious. I like being able to create something, from zero to something impressive. When my colleagues and manager need something done in only a few days, I feel very accomplished when I've been able to deliver what they've asked for. I can be quite affective in this way.

I also like speaking with the other designers about their interfaces and projects. I get to learn a lot about design styles through the projects they've done, and we can share great ideas and apply them to all of our work.

How have you seen media and design change since you started?

With everything changing so quickly, it certainly encourages me to always improve my skills and aesthetic. I'd say the biggest difference is that people have become more impatient. They don't necessarily want to read through lots of information, so you have to use visuals and design to guide them more closely. Using color and other tools to grab people's attention, it's become a lot more necessary and prominent.

Where do you see design going in the future?

Of course online is always becoming more and more important. We're continuing to build more online platforms and provide more and more information online through articles and interactive media. The new developments online, SNS, twitter, etc, it allows us to interract with each other differently and share our own thoughts if we choose to, but in terms of visual design, I don't think it changes things too much.

We hear a lot about how online media is changing, and the way we use the internet is changing. What is your personal web presence like?

I use the internet mostly to communicate directly with my friends and colleagues and to read the news. I read a lot about sports, finance, the housing market, and the auto industry. I'm a member of different websites like Kaixin001 [one of China's top social networking sites], but I don't like writing blogs or participating on bbs [blogs and bulletin board sites, or forums, are much more ubiquitous in China than in other countries]. For me, I don't know what the purpose is. I want to learn what other people have to say, so I read a lot, but I don't necessarily want to be a part of it!

In terms of interracting with other people, I mostly use Skype, MSN, and QQ.

What do you think are some common misconceptions clients or other teams at EduGlobal may have about your work?

Sometimes clients especially can be very tightly-focused and lose perspective. Of course staying on-task and remaining focused is important, but they also need to be open-minded and keep an eye on the broader perspective.

From your perspective, what's the difference between digital media in China compared to the West?

It's totally very different! Chinese people want lots and lots of content all at once. The more the better. A lot of information on one page looks like the site owners are very knowledgeable and have lots of expertise to share. Also, Chinese designers always make things very busy and complicated. Again, it can look very impressive, and sometimes used to beat out the competition, but sometimes that can be just distracting smoke and mirrors. In reality, people today don't really want all that information, they only want the specific things they are looking for. I much prefer the Western method, which is a lot more simple, offering content and information in a logical step-by-step form. I've been designing the EduGlobal Learning site with a more western style in mind, so people can log-on and not only find but use the information there in a very straight-forward way.

How will design and new media change the international recruiting industry in the future?

Online education is becoming much more popular in China, and I think that will have a big effect on international education. Although online learning came to China relatively late and is quite new, it's already spreading quickly and is being accepted as  a legitimate education alternative by many people. The fees are much less expensive than traditional classes, and it provides a supportive learning community regardless of location. China's a big country, full of people who seem to be working longer and longer hours. I think  the online learning platform will have an especially big impact on those who would otherwise have limited access to education. Now, they can enroll in famous international universities, improve their opportunities in the future, and expand their own views of the world.