The Designs of Hong Kong

N S S V I S U A L A R T S C U R R I C U L U M

A R T A P P R E C I A T I O N – D E S I G N P A P E R

( S P E A K E R : V I N C E N T L E E K W U N - L E U N G )

The Designs of Hong Kong

Chinese-styled designs

Advertising slogans: Utilize ancient calligraphies, such as oracle-bone scripts, semi-cursive scripts and clerical scripts, as fonts to highlight a visual respect of that particular product to the traditions of Confucian / Taoist heritage.

Brand-mark: Adopt seal-engraving to highlight the legitimacy and authority of that particular product : Ensure clients a guaranteed reward

Reserve the complicated and decorative patterns from the structures of paper-cutting or architectural engravings in the design background, which enhanced the level of “empirical royalty” and attracted the upper class to attempt a purchase

Chinese-styled designs

Grandeur but harmonious combination of subject matters: gave clients a comfortable vision

Adopted color with auspicious implications due to the superstitious beliefs of Chinese society, for example:

yellow represents Chinese civilization and empirical royalty; red represents heroism, revolution and celebratory events like wedding, lunar new

year and new births; green represents purity, retreat, agriculture and natural life; oceanic blue represents optimism; dark blue represents death and grievances; purple represents bourgeoisie flavor; black represents mysterious predications; white represents purity or death; brown represents minimalism and martial-art monasteries.

Chinese-styled designs

The idea of "civilian-based and approachable promotion": honored the practical purpose for the goodness of people’s livelihood but harmonious combination of subject matters: gave clients a comfortable vision

Preserved an admirable sense of craftsmanship

Manipulated the similar rhythms or intonations between traditional idioms and contemporary phrases to deliver some convincing messages

Chinese-styled designs

Harmoniously merged the ancient fairy characters, like the Birthday Gentry and God of Wealth, with the contemporary secular episodes, regardless of impossible and illogical combinations : bridged the gap between past and present

Associate the products with martial arts to boost up the public morale for more purchases

Adopt the fortune-telling visual elements to persuade clients the emergency for purchase

Chinese-styled designs

Change particular strokes within a Chinese character into some iconographies to deliver exceptional implications

Greater focus on the distribution of detailed typographies

Distorted typographies to deliver a sense of comedy and fantasy

Chinese-styled designs

Exaggerate a particular iconography with a convincing slogan, but reserves a great extent of emptiness in the background, to highlight the significance of that particular product in the enhancement of people’s livelihood.

Government advertisements in Hong Kong or Macao: Using the wholesome behavioral interactions from middle-class families for educating citizens’ obedience to “civic responsibility”: to ensure an international image of a civilized, transparent, just, uncorrupted, literate and democratic bureaucracy

Paper bag and mooncake box design

Lots of contemporary-styled hotels in Hong Kong, which establish their own Chinese cuisines, tend to design the covers of paper bags and mooncake boxes with a digitalized mode of symbolic Chinese visual elements.

The digitalization does not cause a ruin on the “engraving-liked” Chinese decorative patterns. Rather, a prior emphasis is put onto the colour selections for the logo, the lines and the background. Minimalism is the key of success in leaving clients a deep impression.

(Source: www.orijen.com)

Neon-lighted sign board logos

The neon-lighted sign board logos are a typical reflection of Chinese culture. The red colourssymbolizes auspiciousness, whereas the “regular scripts” (楷書) are presented with bold calligraphic strokes.

“Double happiness” is an idea that is often adopted by the institutions which operates wedding, banquet, mahjong and pawn-service businesses.

(Source: creativeroots.org)

Dragon-based design for tourism

Hong Kong is often regarded as a hub for inheriting the legend of dragon.

The colourful patterns of dragons’ bodies are often adopted for postcard or bunting designs to promote tourism of Hong Kong among the foreigners.

(Source: creativeroots.org)

Paper-Cutting Designs for Chinese New Year

The beauty of traditional paper-cutting is often valued and its decorative patterns are revived by the digital illustration techniques.

The entire visions of the graphic designs can be clumssy, but it can be still workable for adding different innovative and cute iconographies that can harmoniously coexist with the peach blossoms, lanterns and dragons.

(Source: hongkongfixedgeargirl.wordpress.com)

“Seal-engraving-liked” contemporary logo

A Chinese seal is chopped through dying the engraved bottoms of the stones

The designer attempted to transform the Chinese-character base into a vision that different innovative and cute iconographies fabricate around the whole restricted area of the Chinese seal bottom.

(Source: blog.hermanmillerasia.com)

Ancient map with handwriting features

The ancient map used for navigation purposes is revived through digital means. The map of Hong Kong is composed of calligraphies and signboards.

The calligraphic typographies deliver the message that Hong Kong is a place stressing humanistic and neighborhood sentiments.

Red semi-hemisphere lamps

The red semi-hemisphere lamps are used by hawkers from the food markets for projecting the lights onto the frozen chicken wings, frozen sausages, frozen hams, seafoods, vegetables, fruits. Housewives can observe the details of these food products more clearly to ensure that they are fresh and of trustworthy qualities.

Such electronic appliances is very Chinese in styles. The designer made a breakthrough by transforming the hooked lights inside a contemporary-styled shopping arcade into a series of red semi-hemisphere lamps for creating a festive and auspicious atmosphere.

Western-styled designs

Electric-based fonts and playful icons to promote animations, digital products, pop music and playful appliances

Advertisement on jewellery, fashions and facial-treatments: Elegant cosmetics on models’ appearances to highlight a sense of royal feminism

Spacious composition that reserves room for mysterious imagination

Western-styled designs

Manipulation between monochromes and contrasting color combinations

Apply the concept of “virtual interface” to forecast the significance of that particular product to the social livelihood

Typographies with graffiti flavor – youthful and energetic spirits

Western-styled designs

Geometric patterns of layout graphics – simplicity implies a sense of beauty which reflects Caucasians’ pleasurable mood to all kinds of aesthetic leisure

Use astronomical episodes to uphold the legitimacy of that particular product in human lives

Proper spatial distribution to highlight the main focus

Western-styled designs

Overwhelm the universal obstacles

Uphold a utopian arena that brings hopeful forecasts to the current generation

Use marker-drawn comics to bridge the gap between entrepreneurs and youngsters

Stress the modernity of a particular product and its suitability to the up-to-dated interior environments

Western-styled designs

Mechanical counteractions between two contrasting subject matters

Spot-color as visual stimulation

Raise audience’ sensitivity to speeds

Duplicated illusions of tremendous alphabetical typographies in the virtual-interface background

Western-styled designs

Precise iconographies: concept-oriented expression

Honor the idea of cubism, three-dimensional expression and one-point perspective: a sense of visual concreteness

Intentional spatial distribution – rationale in idea development

Western-styled designs

The episodes of diving, flying, polar adventures, tropical adventures, mountainous adventures and desert adventures – stresses the tight coherence of that particular product with the unreachable boundaries: motivate people to obtain breakthroughs from impossibilities

Advertisement on concerts, orchestras or dramas: using black background to highlight the solemnity of achievements from that particular event / by that particular performer

Western-styled designs

Adoption of collage: delivering a sense of visual variation

Pop Art stylish: upholding the playful spirit of consumerism

Emphasize the pace of trend

Mathematical order is adopted in the visual expressions related to anatomical proportions

Western-styled designs

Masculine features: an identity with self-confidence

Fonts with musical rhythms: emphasized a warmhearted welcoming manner for a pragmatic experience in that particular cultural temperament (e.g. bars, spaghetti banquets, coffee gathering…)

Designs related to official documents: Idea of formalism and structuralism

Western-styled designs

Raising the awareness on public intellectuality

Experimentally manipulate the transformational effects of photography to deliver innovative concepts (mainly rely on Photoshop, Illustrator and In-Design to process the photos into graphics)

Digital collage with cute label clips

Nowadays, the art of label clips, with cute iconographies on their surfaces, are usually applied as magnetic chips for fixing the notice papers onto the surfaces of refrigerators.

The designer apply the similar “magnetic chips” concepts which they can compose a floral hoop for a youngster to uphold.

(Source: www.itc.polyu.edu.hk )

Digitally-composed wearables

The fashion codes inside a virtual reality can comprise lots of impossibilities without a consideration on textile and weaving matters.

From this concert poster, G.E.M is presented as a futuristic lady with digitally-composed wearables, decorative accessories and extravagant clothes. What the designer needed to do was to reserve G.E.M’s face not to be covered. For other parts of her physical body, they can be very robotic.

(Source: edge.neocha.com )

Genetically-modified biological lives

It will be an eye-catching gimmick that a duck has a rabbit-ear and a rabbit has a sharp duck-mouth. The functions of two animals are transformed.

The genetically-modified biological lives usually imply that the food chain can be recomposed for suiting the eating habit or nutritional demands of contemporary mankind, trying hard to ensure a harmonious coexistence among different hostile animal species, and resolve the problem of food shortages in the impoverished regions.

(Source: www.core77.com )

Putting four different images together

Digital “woodblock-printed” creative typographies, tram, a fashion model with a “Phantom of the Opera” mask on the dress, the horizontal cursive jewelleryand the acrylic bracelet are six different objects. But they can be randomly put together as snapshots and compose another meaning related to the endeavoring stories of Hong Kong.

Of course, the cored message is to promote the fashion brand by claiming that the clothes represent the cored values of original Hong Kong creativity, instead of copying the aesthetic ideas from the West.

(Source: www.icsid.org )

Two contrasting colours for illustrating the energy of sportsmanship

The sharp visual contrast between the fluorescent blue and fluorescent red makes people think about an enthusiastic pursuit on sport advancements. The typographies deliver a speedy vision.

The man playing with a dumbbell by sitting on an office chair and the man playing the hockey interlace harmoniously to show that each athlete must strive for a coexistence between competition-oriented training and personal muscular development. The designer seems to note that, sports is not just for winning awards, but for a persistence on maintaining our physical health as well.

Your choice of life direction

Everyone gets confused within the critical crossroads from different steps of his/her lives. But he/she still needs to make a decision for which turning point suits his/her future happiness.

The designer zoomed the camera len closely upon the piece of paper and the watercolourpainting tools. It makes people feel like planning for a treasure hunt or organizing a band concert. But, it is just a poster for a joint painting exhibition.

(Source: Stephen Yau Wing-kwong’s Facebook album, a watercolour artist)

Food-composed typographies

Using vegetables, bread, pizzas, fruits, melons, croissants and hot dogs for composing the alphabets is an innovative idea for promoting a self-sufficiency through local organic-food cultivations; whereas it stimulates people’s appetites.

(Source: www.inmedia.com.hk )

Case study: Joseph Tsang’s designs

Joseph Tsang (Nickname: Ah Pang) recently graduated from Immaculate Heart of Mary College. He participated in the Umbrella Movement and strived for a genuine Universal Suffrage with widespread Hong Kong citizen. He dedicated his extra time to the exploration of creative design projects no matter at his Alma Mater or from the academia.

The Simpson iconographies on graduation biography

Joseph Tsang wants to make the profile form from the graduation biography of his Alma Mater as interesting as possible. He hopes to make each piece of student’s literary dedication appear as similar as a featured column from a magazine or a piece of newspaper.

Tropical tutorship

Joseph Tsang dealt with a design project from “iCon - The Education”. He played with the paint-splashing effect through the Adobe Illustrator. He integrated the splashes with vibrant fonts and a coconut tree.

Joseph Tsang thought that, academic studies are filled with boredom. It is a torture for them to be requested for attending the tutorial courses in summer vacation and sacrificing their leisurely times. Thus, Joseph hopes to instill the visual elements of “tropical rainforest”, “blue sky” and “sunshine beach” to boost up students’ morale in encountering the challenges of HKDSE examinations.

Tropical tutorship

“Rock’n’Roll-liked” T-shirt

Joseph loves sports very much. He designs a T-shirt to search for the spirit of unity among his schoolmates in striving for external sports achievements and boosting up the reputation of his Alma Mater.

Acknowledgement to the sources of artwork photos and academic references

School of Design, Hong Kong Polytechnic University

Hong Kong Design Institute

DeTour

Hong Kong Trade Development Council

iCon – The Education

The Hong Kong Federation of Youth Groups

Inmedia.hk

Hong Kong Design Centre

Immaculate Heart of Mary College

The Mira Hong Kong

Hummingbird Music Limited