Shih Yi-Teng and team won two awards at European Product Design Awards

Congratulations to Dr Shih Yi-Teng, Assistant Professor of PolyU Design and his colleagues Gana Xu, Jay Li, Vincent Mao, Ningbo MiroKids Toys Co., Ltd. on winning two awards at the 4th European Product Design Awards Professional Division!  Their Dough Hair Solon Playset is the Winner in Children Products. The design provides a set of colour doughs for children to develop a variety of hair styling for animals. The combination of animal shapes and anthropomorphic game-play allows children to turn animals into their favorite movie star styles. This helps children develop their own craft skills with lots of fun.  Another design named Dough Apple Playset won the team Honorable Mention Prize in the same category. By turning the handle of the caterpillar and using the Apple's brain, players can create many creative materials for making colorful dough works.  As sharing his joy with us, Dr Shih looks forward to opportunities to work with our students to win international design awards in the near future.   Dough Hair Solon Playset: https://bit.ly/30oRFw7 Dough Apple Playset: https://bit.ly/39SE7fC

Yuen Lau Kwan Angel named Outstanding Student of School of Design 2019

We are pleased to announce that Miss YUEN Lau Kwan Angel is selected as the Outstanding Student of School of Design in the PolyU Outstanding Students Award Scheme 2019. She is a year 4 student of our BA(Hons) in Environment and Interior Design programme, soon to graduate this summer.  Looking back at her university life, she concluded it as ‘the most stimulating, challenging and fulfilling time of [her] life so far’. She enjoyed the collaborative environment of studio learning and the interdisciplinary team work on a client project, and cherished the opportunity of joining the exchange programme for an eye-opening experience in New York. Taking this opportunity, Angel shares her experiences and friendly tips for her fellow students. Scroll down to read.  Congratulations to Angel on her achievement!  YUEN Lau Kwan Angel Year 4, BA(Hons) in Environment and Interior Design 2019/20 Outstanding Student of School of Design PolyU Outstanding Students Award Scheme 2019 Studying at the university is a journey. From the beginning to the end, it reflect our stories of growth and individuality. Every single experience and learning process has witnessed how we have reached or exceeded our potential. PolyU provides a platform for us to expand our knowledge, meet life-long friends, discover new possibilities and broaden our horizons. My university life is the most stimulating, challenging and fulfilling time of my life so far.  Memorable Studio Life Studio experience was one of the most memorable things and most intense periods of my university life. We had our own workspaces in the studio, where we learned, explored, experienced, grew and formulated our ideals about design. Our studio provided a perfect environment for collaborative and individual learning. The conversation with peers and tutors sharpened our creativity and innovation which motivate me to challenge myself for new possibilities. Studio was not only a workstation but also a social community hub. With the amount of time spent inside the studio, we got to know our classmates well. We formed an important support network that supported and encouraged one another to overcome all the tasks, challenges, problems and obstacles together. We were never alone. I sincerely believed that studio friends last a lifetime! Diversified Learning Experience Apart from lectures, School of Design offered us a range of learning opportunities including interdiscipline cooperative project, cross-year vertical studio, local site visits, mainland and overseas study trips, outboard exchange etc. I had a fruitful experience collaborating with students from multi-design disciplines on the cooperative project – HATCH Co-working factory, an impact purpose initiative by Social Ventures Hong Kong (SVHK). We created a series of design outcomes, including Promotion Video, HATCH Tag, HATCH to go, HATCH Patch, Display Rack and Guideline Booklet of Spatial Planning with Perfect Fit Puzzle, to share our ideas on the future development of HATCH. This project not only provided us with a chance to practice our design thinking and apply knowledge into a real-life example but also allowed us to work with multidisciplinary teammates. Achieving the maximum outcomes, it needed the commitment of all teammates. We worked out the overall strategies together; stimulated creative ideas from different disciplines; and delivered tasks according to our strengths. Any of us were indispensable in this project. The experience of working with SVHK also inspired us to give back to society with our knowledge and engage in social innovation to make the city a better place.  Fabulous Study Aboard Experience In 2019, I had a wonderful and memorable overseas exchange experience at Parsons School of Design, in New York City, the United States. New York City is well-known as a major centre of the global art market. I immersed myself under a different cultural environment while simultaneously broadening my international horizon and strengthening my professional abilities. Through leaving our comfort zone to a new host country, I experienced another culture with incredible new outlooks, customs activities, traditions, and social atmospheres. Every culture has its history and unique value. It is essential to cultivate sensitivity toward cultural diversity, especially for a design student. Our thoughts and behaviours are affected by what we see, hear and experience. The exchange experience opened fresh and alternative perspectives for seeing things and generating design ideas. It is so true that learning by experiencing is often more effective than reading books.  Friendly Tips for Fellow Students 1. Stay passionate about what you are doing. 2. Stay positive. Everything will turn out alright in the end. 3. Never limit yourself and your potential. 4. Strike a balance between your academic and social life. 5. Cherish the opportunity to step out of your comfort zone. (It may be difficult in the beginning. But believe me, you will adapt to it. When you look back, you will appreciate your courage.)  Time flies, it is hard to believe that I am graduating soon. The four-year university education at School of Design has enabled me to see things at a slightly different angle from how I used to, allowed me to gain fresh insights and inspired me to develop an optimistic attitude towards life and the future. I strongly believe that the undergraduate years are a turning point in every student’s life. About the PolyU's Outstanding Students Award Scheme Starting from the academic year 1998/99, PolyU's Outstanding Students Award Scheme is run annually to award full-time final-year students who excel in both academic and non-academic pursuits during their studies. A student is selected from each faculty every year to receive the Outstanding Student of Faculty Award; and among these awardees one will be further selected for the honour of the Most Outstanding PolyU Student of the Year. The awards are given to recognize the students’ outstanding academic achievement, strong leadership ability, active involvement in extra-curricular activities, substantial community service experience and exposure, and good personal qualities. 

Design to conserve nature and sustains local communities in action

The Xinyi Natural School is another project of the In-situ Project run by Kuo Jze Yi and Peter Hasdell of PolyU Design with their collaborators from the Paradise Foundation’s Lao He Gou Nature Preservation Centre and local community, completed in December 2019. The project is to provide a new model for nature conservation and education as an ongoing network of nature schools across China linked to other nature preservation areas under the foundation. This series of schools is aimed at integrating social and natural sustainability to promote and disseminate nature conservation knowledge and local culture values whilst generating revenue for local communities. The school is located in the Xinyi Valley, a wild valley and former hunting area in Pingwu County in north-eastern Sichuan, China. It consists of a meeting hall, kitchen and bathroom connected to an existing farmhouse that allows for live-in ranger training, nature conservation and nature education. The school will be operated by the local community under  the Lao He Gou Nature Preservation Centre's guidance. Since March 2019, the design team conducted five visits which included on-site asset-mapping workshops, and recording hunting stories and oral history, developing design options and making 1:1 construction tests of the log wall together with villagers and builders. Working towards low-impact construction has meant that over fifty percent of building materials have been collected within 200 meters radius from the site, including all of the structure timber and most of the log wall. This is also due to the remote location of the valley. A tilted roof allows more daylighting for indoor activities; the log wood wall provides better indoor thermal comfort compared with normal brick wall; toilet waste is diverted into septic tank for fertilisation of nearby farmland.     COLLABORATION FRAMEWORK In-Situ Project / The Hong Kong Polytechnic University School of Design Shenzhen University School of Architecture and Urban Planning Paradise Foundation (Lao He Gou Nature Preservation Centre)  FUNDING Paradise foundation (Lao He Gou Nature Preservation Centre) Xinyi Village Committee Pingwu County  DESIGN & COORDINATION In-situ Project: Tan Ming, Zhou Zihao, Peter Hasdell, Kuo Jze Yi COLLABORATORS Tian Feng, Paradise Foundation (Lao He Gou Nature Preservation Centre) Chen Xiang Hui, Chai Ting Ting, Chelsea Chan, Max Hsieh BUILDING MASTER 蒙华贵, 孟良壁 VILLAGER PARTICIPANTS 钟俊得, 杜林, 曾桂勇, 曾桂强, 蒙华贵, 孟良壁, 黄莲国, 周文斌, 刘波, 陈正军, 曾桂发, 唐朝军, 杜勇, 孙光荣, 孙光华   More In-situ Project's works can be found on Instagram.

New Book: City of Scripts – The Craftsmanship of Vernacular lettering in Hong Kong

Mr Brian Kwok, Associate Professor of PolyU Design recently published his third book ‘City of Scripts – The Craftsmanship of Vernacular lettering in Hong Kong’ 《字型城市— 香港造字匠》which sets another milestone of his research team of Information Design Lab’s work on conserving various forms of visual cultures in Hong Kong. Hong Kong is a place filled with all kinds of type and lettering. They are the elements that strengthen our bond as a community, enrich our imagination towards places and construct the characters of our neighbourhood. There is a saying in Chinese: ‘Seeing one’s writing is like seeing them in person’. It can also reflect the details and cultivations of our city’s way of life. In this regard, Brian and his team visited local craftsmen to learn about their experience and lives working with vernacular lettering. Each of their craftsmanship has its own unique features, functions and different pursuits of aesthetics. Consider taking a closer look at them – the untold stories and thoughts shall be revealed behind the characters and figures of these humble craftsmen. Through this book, Brian wishes to provide more possibilities in understanding our city to those who are interested in lettering and type design as well as street culture.   The book is now available at bookstores in Hong Kong.          

MRC: Bamboo Uses and Benefits

Bamboo is our good partner in product design and architecture and is a sustainable and reliable material that we can apply in serving various design purposes! The PolyU Material Resource Centre will reveal the magnificent bamboo uses and benefits here to impress you. Click here to read (Source: MRC and CSO The Liberating Ideas)

Advertising Design's Co-op Project, 'Save Water – Mr Lee' won Kam Fan Gold

‘10L of water is wasted when you leave the tap on while brushing”.  A reflection of how we use every drop of water when brushing our teeth is brought to us through the online video commercial 'Save Water – Mr Lee' created for Colgate, a multinational brand that is known for its oral care products. Its products being used by two-thirds of all households worldwide.  The commercial was developed from a work-integrated Cooperative Project with Red Fuse Hong Kong led by Stefan Sonntag back in late 2015 and went on to win a Golden Kam Fan in the Digital & Social Category at the prestigious 2019 Kam Fan Awards.  Thanks for making us proud, team! Credits Agency: Red Fuse Hong Kong Students: CHEUNG Hoi Ki Joanne, HOPPE Christin, HUI Wa Sim Joyce, LEUNG King Sum, LEUNG Tze Ching Jeanie, MA Chareen, WONG Wai Fung Sam Tutor: Stefan Sonntag   Watch the videos

Watch Videos: Online Lecture Series on BA Programmes

Product Design Can a Product be Designed to Heal Relationships? 產品設計搞「醫」科? Mr Benny Leong, Assistant Professor, BA(Hons) in Product Design Programme Leader Digital Media Life is Motion 動態學 Ms Step Cheung, Teaching Fellow, BA(Hons) in Digital Media Deputy Programme Leader Environment and Interior Design Space with Emotion 空間與情感 Mr Michael Chan, Senior Teaching Fellow Communication Design Paper 2: Design 試卷二 設計 乙 部：設計創作? Mr Clive Ng, Teaching Fellow Social Design Designing with Community? 回到社群的設計故事 Mr Chan Kam Fai, Teaching Fellow Interactive Media Designing Interactive Media 互動媒體設計 Mr Alex Ho, Teaching Fellow Advertising Design Design Thinking and Advertising 設計思維與廣告 Mr Manto Yiu, Senior Teaching Fellow     Watch full series This lecture series is conducted in Cantonese supplemented with terms in English. Please like and share our videos! More videos in our Youtube Channel.

RTHK's Interviews with Award Winners

Four Advertising Design students, Cheng Tsz Yin, Cheung Chi Ho, Ng Wing Ki, Wong Chun Hei shared their wonderful learning experiences at PolyU and the design concepts of project ‘Meatless Meat Relocation’ which won them the 'Best of Show' award and a Gold from the prestige HK4As Students’ Award in the RTHK radio programme U秀幫. Click HERE and start listening to the interview (in Putonghua & Cantonese). Koko Tam, winner of many international awards with her final year project ‘S/ASH/IVING’, was also interviewed by the radio programme to share her life as a design student from her sub-degree study to the life in PolyU Design. Click HERE and find out what inspired her for doing amazing designs. (The programme is conducted in Putonghua and Cantonese.)

Micro movie of vanishing neon signs

Director of the award-winning short film ‘Horizon’ (地平說) Rony Kong (Digital Media, 2017) and his team recently launched a new work which talks about the vanishing beautiful neon signs in Hong Kong, as part of the promotion of our Assistant Professor Mr. Brian Kwok’s book 霓虹黯色 and his neon sign conservation project. Watch here.

MRC: Discover the materials and technologies for masks

  A summary prepared by the Material Resource Centre to talk about the materials and technologies applied in mask production.