Lidan LIU is the CEO of designaffairs China. Upon graduating with a Master Degree in Industrial Design at the University of Duisburg-Essen, Lidan returned to Shanghai and founded XLPLUS Design (2006-2011). In 2011, XLPLUS Design merged with designaffairs Group, one of the world’s leading strategic design consultancies.

In her capacity as the CEO of designaffairs China, Lidan has directed her team towards winning more than 60 major international design awards including iF Award, Red Dot Award, Good Design Awards (Chicago) and Plus X Award. She has also been a member of the iF Award jury for the categories of Product Design and Concept Design multiple times.

Founded in 1960, designaffairs is a strategic design consultancy which integrates product development and brand strategy. It was the former design department of Siemens Group, and became an independent company in 2007. designaffairs has cooperated with many clients worldwide, including BMW, Siemens, SONY, Starbucks, and Bosch. Operating from three locations, two in Europe and one in Asia, designaffairs can be found in Munich, Erlangen,and Shanghai.

designaffairs operates successfully using an international operation model, and is regarded as one of the most creative agencies in the world.

Lidan also serves as the Program Director of Industrial Design at Tongji University, College of Design and Innovation. She aims to bridge the gap between industry and academics, leading future designers towards innovative problem solving and independent design-thinking.