Cross-departmental cooperation gained recognition

We are excited to announce that Dr Shih Yi-teng, Assistant Professor of PolyU Design is recently awarded a funding from the one-off Collaborative Research Fund (CRF) COVID-19 and Novel Infectious Diseases (NIR) Research Exercise for an amount of HK$2.78 million. The funding provides great opportunities for Dr Shih as project leader to work with other universities' researchers. The project is named “The Effect of Distance Design Collaboration Necessitated by COVID-19 on Brain Synchronicity in Teams Compared to Co-Located Design Collaboration” and will last for three years.  This timely study examines changes in design behaviour (e.g., body language, thinking patterns, etc.) of design teams working remotely during COVID-19. The project outcomes are expected to contribute to academia and industry in the field of design.   The CRF is under government’s Research Grants Council (RGC) and supports Research Equipment and Research Projects for acquisition of major research facilities or equipment, and promoting group research across disciplines respectively.

Winners of HSBC Greater Bay Area (Hong Kong) Scholarship 2020/21 announced

Sharon Choi Yuet-sum, Year-4 student of BA (Hons) in Communication Design has been awarded HSBC Greater Bay Area (Hong Kong) Scholarship 2020/21 with other two PolyU students. The scholarship was launched by The Hongkong Bank Foundation to support undergraduates’ studies, internships or activities that can help fulfil their career aspirations in the Greater Bay Area (GBA). Each scholarship recipient was awarded HK$80,000 as an endorsement of their career development plans in the GBA. Sharon aspired to rebrand the GBA’s urban identity with interesting methods such as using 3D animation in the future. Other awardees of PolyU are students from BEng (Hons) in Electronic and Information Engineering and BA (Hons) in Social Policy and Administration.

PolyU designs ergonomic furniture to help kids in sub-divided flats

PolyU’s Jockey Club Design Institute for Social Innovation (JCDISI), in partnership with the School of Design, the Department of Biomedical Engineering and the School of Optometry, has designed a set of tailor-made ergonomic furniture for underprivileged children living in subdivided flats. The furniture set, including a table, chairs, stools, reading boards, leg rests and cushions, will be issued to 2,000 families starting from August, supported by Hongkong Land HOME FUND – a fund established in November 2020 to empower the younger generation, promote social inclusion and assist those facing housing-related challenges in Hong Kong.  “Thanks to HOME FUND, we have been able to refine the prototype furniture and produce an ergonomically designed set of furniture to enhance the development of children living in sub-divided units,” said Kar-Kan Ling, Director of DISI. “Due to limited space and natural light, children living in sub-divided units are prone to health issues, including eyesight and spinal problems, that can affect their academic performance. This set of furniture brings together the expertise of design, biomedical engineering, optometry and allied health specialists to improve the children’s learning development.” To learn more about this meaningful collaboration, please take a look at the recent news reports here (Pulse@PolyU, Jan 2022).

Students to promote carbon reduction through animation production

Following last year’s success, our collaborative project with The Hong Kong and China Gas Company Limited (Towngas) to promote the awareness of Environment, Social and Governance (ESG)  among school kids has returned.  This year, the team from BA(Hons) in Digital Media created an animation ‘Mission to Decarbonisation’ featuring a team of heroes which fights to eliminate 'carbon monsters'. It also includes a quiz designed to engage viewers to roll up their sleeves for carbon reduction missions.  Team members are: HO Man Ching Mandy 何敏菁 HONG Ka Lok Kenny 洪嘉樂 KO Hiu Yee Teresa 高曉儀 LEE Wing Lam Winnie 李泳霖 ONG Ching Yi Jenny 王靜兒 WONG Wing Tung Suki 黃穎彤 Tutor: Step Cheung Watch now: Green Flame: Greenspiration Vids for Caring Kids | Mission to Decarbonisation   綠火焰計劃 — 愛．綠．識「童」學天地｜《減碳任務》(Chinese Version 中文版) More about the project Facebook Page of Towngas

Six Environment and Interior Design projects are IFI GAP 2022 Finalists

We are proudly announcing that six capstone projects from recent cohorts of BA(Hons) in Environment and Interior Design are shortlisted for the International Federation of Interior Architects/Designers (IFI) Design Distinction Award 2022. These projects are: Category: STUDENT (Design Projects by Interior Architecture/Design Students and Recent Graduates) Guerrilla Planter by Cheuk Sum Leung (Tutor: Anneli Giencke, 2020) Plastscape by Wing Yee Sardonna Leung  (Tutor: Peter Hasdell, 2021) Re- Re drawing Escher by Aigner Ngai (Tutor: Gerhard Bruyns, 2021) The Venn by Shuk Man Katie Shiu (Tutor: Anneli Giencke, 2020) The new type of community by Xiaoqian Ariana Yao (Tutor: Anneli Giencke, 2020) The Utopian Community by Cho Yiu, Yoyo Wong (Tutor: Peter Hasdell, 2020) The Award has received a record-breaking number of submissions for all categories this year - 640 projects from 51 countries across the world. A total of 156 projects were shortlisted across 10 categories – from these, one Gold winner, two Silver winners and five Bronze winners is crowned in each category. Among the 18 shortlisted projects in the student category, there are 6 projects from SD. Congratulations to the team, and we look forward to the final results that will be announced in February!

Creativity, Compassion and Passion – the winning formula for start-ups

Read the inspiring story of setting up a start-up company Spaceship shared by co-founders Chilam Lam and Stanley Wong on this month’s PolyU InnoHub enewsletter (December Updates by PolyU InnoHub). Among these passionate young alumni of PolyU, Stanley is graduate of our MSc in Multimedia and Entertainment Technology programme in 2009. Full story

TCL Award 2021 winning projects on show

Winning works of TCL Award 2021 are being exhibited at the Jockey Club Innovation Tower. The Award is part of the collaboration between PolyU Design and the global leading consumer electronics company TCL.

Education Corner led secondary school students into hands-on design experience

The Education Corner Workshop 2021 has come to an end early this month. We are happy to have worked with more than 150 student participants from 20 different secondary schools. PolyU Design organised two amazing workshops for Education Corner, with the first one being a workshop on the classic photo printing method, Cyanotype. All you need is sunlight, and beautiful patterns can be formed on sensitizer liquid! Led by tutor Sky Hui, the participants got to create their very unique art on towels and canvas of different textures. It was also a great pleasure to have dp2 sponsoring our BEIS Leather Workshop with denim bags to give our participants an opportunity to weave awesome patterns with upcycled denim-and-leather. Apart from that, they got to fasten snap buttons, buff and emboss on leather. Education Corner Workshop is held every year in December. If you've missed your chance or are interested in other upcoming activities for secondary school students, don’t forget to follow us on social media or send an email to us at sdmktg@polyu.edu.hk to subscribe for our email promotions!   View more photos  

Collective for Recognizing Impact and Transformations by Students

Ample entry and post-entry scholarships exist with PolyU Design for both local and non-local students.  For these opportunities, we express our heartfelt appreciation to our generous donors who have donated scholarships to help students focus on personal and professional growth.  We call them members of our CRITS:  Collective for Recognizing Impact and Transformations by Students. In this video series, our donors tell us why they chose to donate  scholarships to our students. The value of design has been shown through the Design Value Index.  Companies take corporate scholarships in design as part of their HR strategy to enhance business growth.  Contact us for details: sdmktg@polyu.edu.hk. Learn more about supporting design students at all levels of undergrad, postgrad, and PhD HERE.  

New Book: Hong Kong Neon Sign Artworks — Vol. 1 Restaurant by Brian Kwok

We are proud to announce that our Associate Professor Brian Kwok has recently published his fourth publication Hong Kong Neon Sign Artworks — Vol. 1 Restaurant. This bilingual book in Chinese and English acts as an introduction to the initial findings on vernacular aesthetics and visual communication design from Brian and his team of Information Design Lab’s observation and analysis on 218 food and restaurants neon sign artworks.   This book is one of the on-going neon sign artworks research projects funded by the Lord Wilson Heritage Trust in 2019, one of the competitive funds supported by the Hong Kong Government for preserving cultural heritage in Hong Kong. The research project has gone through 2.5 years from photo-documentation of more than 700 artworks to visual culture analysis.   The artefacts archived in the book might not be definitive enough to represent the local culture and history, but give us clues and useful references to the narratives of vernacular design and aesthetics, craftsmanship, colour theories, popular cultures, as well as the livelihoods and economies of Hong Kong from the 1950s to 1970s.    Special features: A 282-page book in Chinese and English with 4 + 1 spot vivid green colour printing and special ink printing effect. Coming along with a small UV torch enables shining on the specific artworks to reveal a fluorescent effect that resembles the neon light effect.   FREE COPIES! We are now offering 50 copies to the general public for free. Please sign up and read the Terms and Conditions at https://forms.gle/jCNJ4WTDP8ix7npFA. Registration deadline: 31 December 2021, 11:59PM.