Emergency button in the lift

why is the "emergency button" yellow? actually it is the best colour to be used in the lift... we have it red which say "use when in danger" or green which tells us "feel free to use it". it has the bell on it and bells should be yellow. :)

Design vs. Location

does location of design also influence its "quality"? a good design on a bad place - is it just the design on a place (or designs next to each other) or is it a brand new design? i would say that it may become a brand new design if the original design doesn't work... like here: good design, bad location... do not really believe many people use the "recycling" litter bin... but maybe they are different in hk, don't want to be unfair...

Floors

right, the floor naming is very confusing here. like the one with L, G and LG? which one is lower, LG1 or LG2? i just never know... it doesn't seem logical to me. like in the festival walk. i have been in the LG1 and they told me to go to LG2... eh? where? up or down? and no signs! they do not even have the big tables with "you are in this floor and you may find this and that here..." we usually have also the big boards which tells you what you find in the other floors by each entrance and by the escalators... and of course, we say it's floor 1, 2 and 3 up and -1, -2, and -3 down... isn't that much clearer?

Drawing

i could not be a monk... it would take me the whole life just to draw one page!

Taxi 2

how come they have 5 seats + the driver?

when i saw the sign "5 seats" for the first time i was so confused: why do they write there can get five people into the car? i could not believe there can be five passengers... and why actually are the taxis in hong kong red? is it so that you can see them clearly? or just "rich" and "wealthy" people can afford to go by taxi?

Hello Kitty

crazy about hello kitty? then go to hong kong! it is everywhere. and you cannot see just ordinary hello kitty things like schoolbags, pens and paper, t-shirts etc. you can also have hello kitty instant noodles... or even hello kitty mooncake...

...it is just everywhere...

actually, i saw both of the pictures in reality and just couldn't believe my eyes :D

Gestalt Psychology

i know one gestalt psychology joke (the convergence type). i'll write it here, hope you all find it funny :)

two policemen are walking on the railroad track. they are pretty tired already so one of them says: "hey, look, let's take a break there, where the rails converge." the other agrees so they walk and walk and walk and it's been a long time so they stop again, turn round, have a look at the railroad and take fright. "hey, guy," says the first one, "we missed that!"

haha...

Logos

funny how similar pictures can have different meaning. Like these two:

do not get confused! the first one is a former logo of a phone operator, the second one, although it looks like it comes from the first one, is a gesture typical for the czech 1989 revolution... use it in different countries, you may get different meanings and maybe even reactions :)

Letters

chinese characters remind what they mean. to read them, you can just involve your imagination and you find the meaning. like the "man" - this is how i draw it!and harbour (hope i chose the right one)? can you see the water drops and the boat there and the boxes for them? it's just amazing! although it is very hard to learn all of them :)

and the european languages? find them a bit boring? don't be so strict! we can imagine a snake hissing when we see "s"

or when you hear the "o", it may be visualised like this ;):)

Hong Kong Coins

WOW! i just love the hong kong coins! i am never wrong with them... they are so well done - each value is so different from the other, so clear. it also has connection with others, like the 20 cents has similar shape to the 2 dollar coin. and the most valuable one is the most different one! yeah, it is a good design job. it reminds me the gestalt theories we were just talking about - the asymmetrical balance. this is actually a good example. the coins are so different that you just need to know which one you're looking for and it grabs your attention immediately.

and do they really call them "hongkies"? that's great you can see the "hong" and "k" in it - i am crazy about nicknames made of abbreviations :)

Taxi

have been to Lantau Island and found out that taxis have different colour - light blue instead of red. i am really very curious whether they have different colour also on the other islands... hong kong and kowloon have the same colour :(

Language design

does language has a design? i do not mean the visual form of letters and words, i mean what you imagine when you hear the language... chinese? mandarin? hmmmmmm... i see colours. bright colours and bells, gold and silver metals which jingle. very nice, high, clear... cantonese? a bit darker colours in long waves, changing into lines going a slightly down and then up at the end and going a long way... and what about the others? is very hard to think of if you are already used to the sound like to the european ones :(

The Holy Grail

the best and most valuable things are the most ugly ones... we also say "the beauty is inside"...

look at the fairy tales! and all the adventure stories! Indiana Jones would never believe it's a treasure if it was sparkling and didn't have to wash the mud first. but the Holy Grail doesn't have to be ugly to be good, or does it?

what do graceless things tell us? maybe "have another look, there must be something hidden"... but that's a bit tricky. not alway must be something to reveal.

Chinese signs

did you ever think of how it works with chinese signs in google? there are so many of them, cannot all be at the keyboard... or do you maybe write the "phonetic transcription" and it finds what you need? does the "phonetic transcription" then change to the signs? do you see the chinese signs on the page? or is it again "phonetic transcription"?

Ads

hmmmmm... would you recognise it is a trasportation instructions ad? reminds "save money with monkey"... and that's what we call the cultural knowledge and experience. the locals understand, i did not catch it even though they explained that to me :(

HK - MTR

i just love this logo! so easy, chinese-reminding (does it actually mean anything?), can see it from a long distance... just perfect!

and i simply love it's red :)

...

weird how cameras change the space perception - looks like a quite big room, he?!

Dubai

i would call this a real a restroom... :)

pretty busy all the time...

Communication Design

Hello everyone,

this is a personal blog not only about my stay in Hong Kong, but also with some entries especially done for one of my courses, Communication Design. So if you have any question regarding communication design in Hong Kong, your comments are at most welcome! So don't be shy and write :)

Looking forward to your message!
Lucka :)