Being an Expat Designer in Asia
From Vancouver Canada, to Shenzhen China, and now Hong Kong
By Johanne Chow
A while ago, I’ve came across @Tobias van Schneider’s article — No Struggle, No Change. He mentioned that he’s ready to move onto new opportunities, refusing to be addicted to the monthly paycheque, and is striving to enable the freedom to generate more challenges for him down the road. Reading the article reminds me a lot of why I’ve moved to Asia.
In March 2014, I’ve left my hometown Vancouver Canada, to start a new journey at OnePlus. The company has its ups and downs but there was never an instant where I regretted making that decision on giving up on my comfort zone and joining a new venture, albeit in China.
Some people don’t like change, but you need to embrace change if the alternative is a disaster — Elon Musk (Tesla)
My beginnings were of no difference to any other average kid in the neighbourhood. Graduated high-school, went to college, got out, found a job, received a moderate paycheque every month. I’d be really happy if I’m someone with zero ambition at all, but as a youngster in my early twenties, I don’t feel like that’s what I should be doing. I shouldn’t be feeling comfortable too soon. Almost all my friends and family were shocked and against the decision at the time, but they know me well enough to know that I was dying for something new to happen in my life. I can’t be more thankful on how they’ve supported me to make the move.
Moving to Shenzhen China was an eye opener. Growing up in a Hong Kong family, I’ve often been told endless of horror stories about China, and specifically Shenzhen. I had never been to the place before moving there, which made me a bit nervous.
Despite the bad image, I’ve managed to live in Shenzhen for a full year. No, I didn’t get kidnapped, I never had food poisoning, and no I didn’t lose an organ for an iPhone (or an OnePlus). Instead, I’ve got to be a part of the team at OnePlus in its early days, and experienced the launch of OnePlus’ first flagship — the OnePlus One. The device was a success, despite a few mistakes here and there, but that’s how we learn and grow.
If I hadn’t made the decision to take the leap, I wouldn’t have had the chance to experience what’s its like to be a core member of a fast growing startup company. I wouldn’t have had a chance to grow my creative skills as quickly as I did working along other creatives from other parts of the world. I wouldn’t be able to open new doors down my career path.
Since the beginning of 2015, I’ve left OnePlus and joined Ogilvy & Mather Hong Kong. It’s another leap for me as I’ve always had a startup background. I would’ve never imaged being able to get into an advertising agency when I first graduated, but I learned that sometimes what people look for isn’t always your degree, they would like to see if you’ve done anything interesting in the past, or if you’ve taken on any challenges and how you fought through it.
O&M had given me a whole new working experience. I’ve got a taste of how a 4A advertising company runs, how teams from different department bond for different client and projects etc. I’m used to working in startups, where you seem to be doing a bit of everything, even though my title might just be “Graphic Designer”, but I’ve done online marketing, video production and some recruiting during my startup days. It may be random, but thats just how it works for startups, if there isn’t a person that already does it, most likely you’ll be doing it until the new guy(girl) joins.
It is easy to get too comfortable in a environment after a while, and it may be hard for you to attempt to try something new and out of your comfort zone, but I do recommend doing something crazy and unthinkable while you are able to. Travel to a new city, take on a new challenge, do something that you’ve never done before, go out there and experience the world!
I’d love to hear more about your experience in Asia, or anything else you’d like to share. Feel free to share them with me at : work.johannechow@gmail.com
Thanks for reading and please hit the ❤ button if you liked it. This motivates me to keep writing :)
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Johanne is an multi-disciplined designer with experience in art direction, UI/UX design, communication strategies and branding. Recently started freelancing under HYCStudios. Previously Senior Art Director at Saatchi & Saatchi HK, Content lead at Ogilvy HK and Senior Designer at OnePlus.
