Campus Digest
Three creative designs by Visual Arts alumnus win five awards
23 Apr 2014
Three distinctive book and poster designs by Visual Arts alumnus Mr Ng Kai-ho won five awards in two design competitions.
At the Global Design Awards 2013 held by the Hong Kong Designers Association recently, Mr Ng’s work Civil Poster won the Gold Award in the Poster (Thematic) category, The Judges’ Choice (Graphic) award and the Hong Kong Best (Graphic) award. Another work entitled Zao Zi won an Excellent (Book Design) award in the same competition. In addition, a book entitled Catalogue of Parallel Vision: Japan and Korea Contemporary Photography Exhibition designed by Mr Ng won the Best Book Design at a book design competition jointly organised by Eslite and City Magazine.
Discussing the concept behind Civil Poster, Mr Ng said: “Political banners scattered around public spaces are normally produced to enable legislative councillors or political parties to build up their image, showcase their political stance and achievements. Unfortunately many of the posters are defaced or even damaged intentionally, changing their original function in the city. Each scratch reflects people’s voices. The posters became interactive objects jointly owned by people in society.”
Miss Naomi Hirabayashi, one of the judges of the graphic design category in the competition, said: “In international design competitions, overseas judges often find it hard to assess many entries for cultural reasons. However, election posters defaced with graffiti and stickers are a common sight in any city and as such this clever work catches the eye and makes an impression on the viewer.”
Zao Zi was published by local literature magazine Fleurs des Lettres. It contains a series of typographical work, based on selected poems, created by 12 designers in Asia. Mr. Ng said: “I hope the audience experiences the entire poetic concept behind the typographical works while reading the book. Before I started the project, the editorial team and I visited different libraries and second-hand bookstores. We found historical material from old newspaper columns and original works of fiction, including the covers of novels and graphic inserts. These old materials were reproduced as inserts printed on paper which is totally different from the paper used in the rest of the book Zao Zi. The use of different paper textures aims to envelop the reader in the historical poetic atmosphere.”
Mr. Ng designed the book Catalogue of Parallel Vision: Japan and Korea Contemporary Photography Exhibition based on the exhibition of the same title jointly organised by the Hong Kong International Photo Festival 2012 and the Hong Kong Arts Centre. Mr. Ng’s work was selected from among 32 nominated books after two rounds of assessment. Commenting on the work, one of the judges said, “I could feel the melody created by the combination of the text and graphics while reading … This book stands out from other photography books in the way that it varies in rhythm so that you won’t get bored.”