January 18, 2012

Tobias Nüesch is a product designer in our Lucerne office. He was in Taipei from September to December 2011 to work with our Taipei team. We were keen to find out how he has got on with a few months’ immersion in a new culture and work environment, so we asked a couple of questions just before his flight back to Switzerland.

Are you looking forward to getting back to Switzerland, or would you have liked to stay in Taipei for longer?
A bit of both. «Partir, c’est mourir un peu!» My time in Taipei has been fantastic! For one thing, the Taiwanese are extremely friendly people, as I have discovered on a daily basis on the street, in the metro, out shopping, having lunch or even in the office! For another, the city is extremely pleasant – as a Swiss, I was impressed by the metro as a practical means of public transport, and food is very important here, too. As a result, there is a wide range of delicious delicacies to be tried – even McDonald’s is called «happy food» here. Switzerland is my home, however: I love the smell of freshly mown grass and our «Ruchbrot» bread is world-class! A seven-hour time difference means that communications can sometimes be wearing, as well, and I am looking forward to seeing my friends in the flesh again soon.

What did you particularly like about the city or the people? What has impressed you?
Taipei is big: 2.6 million inhabitants, a seemingly infinite array of department stores, an all-night shop every 50 metres, the 101 Tower, bubbling street kitchens, the metro, night markets, an armada of scooters – and the town is always lit up, either for advertisements or for decoration. And even though pedestrians and scooters and cars are constantly weaving past one another, everything stays «relaxed» – the traffic regulations are just recommendations, but I haven’t seen a single accident! The people behave as we might expect in Switzerland, or rather they’re a little more friendly, and they always stand on the right and walk on the left on escalators, which I am personally a great fan of. I was impressed with the way a product, a bill or even a business card is handed over: attentively, with both hands, and with respect.

What kind of projects have you been involved with and how did you find working with the team in Taipei?
Here we have had a few projects where the interaction between Taipei, Lucerne, Zurich and Shanghai was crucial. These were always very exciting, as each location could bring its strengths to bear in a team effort to improve the final product. The time difference was a challenge – whenever Lukas was having his mid-morning snack in Lucerne, I was thinking of noodle soup and supper! Overall, it would be fair to say that the pace of work in Taiwan is appreciably faster, which means that as a designer you have to be flexible and quick on your feet. This can hamper innovation, as thorough analysis for a concept is rarely a requirement and is sometimes even unwelcome. Proximity to industry is a plus, as this makes it possible to sort out details quickly.

What are you taking back with you from Taipei? Which three words do you have to know in the local language?
As a blond Swiss it is possible to get along pretty well with no knowledge of Chinese – Taiwan is very welcoming to foreigners – but there are a few words which are nonetheless good to work into everyday conversations, and the most common words in a foreign language are useful here too: «Hello» is «nǐhǎo» or just «hey», and «thank you» is «xièxie». Then there are a few less palatable expressions, of course, which sound like Bernese Swiss German but mean something completely different, but I won’t go into them here! In general, language difference plays a fundamental role and neither party has English as their mother tongue; the aim was thus to communicate succinctly rather than learning yet another foreign language. What will stay with me once I’m back in Switzerland? I have often wondered what is expected of me, what experience I am supposed to acquire here... and in fact the answer is as banal as it is apt: I’ve learnt how to eat with chopsticks. What will remain are the friendships, experiences, leaps in the dark, short nights, memories and the knowledge that curiosity and respect open the door to many cultures. I am already looking forward to visiting Taiwan and the Taipei office again! Thank you Process, thank you Team Taipei!