Newly Onboard Charis Poon, Teaching Fellow

Welcome aboard! Charis Poon has recently joined the Communication Design programme at PolyU as Teaching Fellow. Born and raised in Hong Kong, she completed her undergraduate studies in New York at Parsons the New School for Design (BFA in Communication Design) and Eugene Lang (BA in Literary Studies, Writing). Since then, she established her own freelance design studio in Hong Kong creating work for a variety of clients spanning industries such as media, fashion, F&B, and fintech. She has played a key role at MAEKAN, a small independent publication in Hong Kong established in 2015, as a Managing Editor. Most recently, she worked as Master Storyteller and Creative Strategist at the Asian American agency Intertrend based in LA.  While her background is primarily in design, much of her recent work has been concerned with writing, editing, and audio. Charis earned her MA in Design: Expanded Practice at Goldsmiths, University of London in 2019. Her time in London included assisting on the MA program and engaging in research on fieldnotes for design alongside Juliet Sprake and Naho Matsuda. Charis is personally interested in exploring inclusivity and intimacy within groups and between individuals, poetics in communication, and spending time in consideration of small things.  You can find out more about Charis by visiting her website or listening to Making It Up, the weekly culture podcast she co-hosts.   Charis Poon, Teaching Fellow Email: charis.poon@polyu.edu.hk Office: V602a

Brian Kwok's book is Best of the Best in HK Publishing Biennial Awards

Congratulations to our Associate Professor Brian Kwok on winning the Best of the Best award of the Social Science category at the Hong Kong Publishing Biennial Award with his publication “City of Scripts – The Craftsmanship of Vernacular lettering in Hong Kong” 《字型城市 —— 香港造字匠》. The book was selected from the 10 best Publishing Books in the category. There were 400 books entered this competition and 9 categories in total. The Awards is a biannual event organised by the Hong Kong Publishing Professionals Society and sponsored by CreateHK. This year’s award presentation was held at the Hong Kong Book Fair in mid-July, witnessed by a number of judges, guests and members of the general public.  Furthermore, Brian’s dedicated work to the neon sign projects “Archive of neon sign artworks” funded by ADC’s “Arts go Digital Platform Theme” was launched in July. Click through the links below for the archive and details to learn more: 霓虹招牌手稿資料庫 (Hong Kong Neon Artwork Archive) 保存 700 張霓虹招牌手稿 理大教授建網上資料庫

Geeky Pet to encourage animal adoptions and improve welfare

'Geeky Pet' developed by students of our MSc in Multimedia & Entertainment Technology aims at increasing the number of annual adoptions and providing a more visual assessment tool to help animal welfare organizations select qualified adopters.

Neon signs witness the history of Hong Kong, says Brian Kwok from PolyU’s School of Design

Hong Kong has been renowned for its night scenery for many years, and one of the reasons is undoubtedly the neon signs that have lighted up the city in the evening. Brian Kwok, Associate Professor at the School of Design of PolyU, who is particularly interested in the neon signs, will share more about his research project on this subject.  Brian had his training in visual communication design in the United States, after which he worked in various multimedia design firms and advertising agencies. He then pursued further studies and obtained an MA degree in Design from PolyU and an MA degree in Visual Culture Studies and an MPhil degree in Communication from The Chinese University of Hong Kong. Brian started his teaching career at PolyU in 2006 and he is now the leader of the BA (Hons) in Communication Design programme and the Information Design Lab...   Read full story>>

"Private Banking and Wealth Management Futures 2030" by Jorn Buhring

Jörn Bühring, Assistant Professor of PolyU Design, has published a book "Private Banking and Wealth Management Futures 2030". This book engages the reader around different perspectives between forecasting and foresight in strategic design, drawing insights derived from a futures study that can be applied in form of a design-inspired foresight approach for designers and interdisciplinary innovation teams increasingly called upon to help envisage preferable futures.   Now available at Springer: https://www.springer.com/in/book/9789811633942

#IASDR_2021: Graduate Consortium, Workshop and Panel Deadline

#IASDR_2021: Graduate Consortium, Workshop and Panel Deadline

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Meeting with the PolyU CMT

All staff of PolyU Design welcomed the CMT in their visit to the School last Friday. The meeting was organized in both physical and virtual manners to communicate between the management and staff of the school. It covered different topics for discussions were covered including the review of achievements and challenges, feedback on the Planning Exercise Proposal and university policies, and more. Look forward to our next meeting in the future!

Daniel Elkin's Tai O Project won Smart50 Award

We are proud to announce that ‘The Tai O Village Pedestrian Traffic Monitoring Project’ has recently won the Smart50 Award! It is a collaborative initiative of PolyU School of Design and the Department of Applied Social Sciences partnered with the Tai O Village Rural Committee and various community groups to collect pedestrian traffic flow data in Tai O Village in Hong Kong. It monitors pedestrian traffic into the Village using infrared passage gates installed in eight major infrastructure connections. The project is led by Mr Daniel Elkin, Assistant Professor and Deputy Discipline Leader of BA(Hons) in Environment & Interior Design of PolyU Design. The Smart 50 Awards, in partnership with Smart Cities Connect, Smart Cities Connect Foundation, and US Ignite, annually recognize global smart cities projects, honouring the most innovative and influential work. This year’s winners came from nine regions including three from Hong Kong. Learn More >>

Dr Clifford Choy and his robot educational programme for secondary schools

Our Assistant Professor Dr Clifford Choy has been devoted to promoting STEAM education and maker culture in Hong Kong. He was recently interviewed by Ming Pao to talk about his robot educational programme for secondary schools. The programme includes the course, the robot training kit, and a training for instructors and helpers who deliver the workshops to 30 schools. 理大學者教初中生嵌機械人 動手學物理編程 (26 May, 2021, Ming Pao)