The late-1960s in Hong Kong is also regarded as ‘an intense era’ because of the great disturbance brought to the society by a series of riots. In response to this, the British colonial government launched the Festival of Hong Kong in subsequent years. Some commentators believed besides being a recreational activity, the festival was also the government's attempts at alleviating distress and fostering a sense of identity among Hong Kong people. Nevertheless, the festival was the first and the largest official entertainment event in Hong Kong history, which utilised different design elements and media to establish the distinct visual identity. The festival’s logo was a rubber ball with alternating and white stripes—a clever motif as its elasticity symbolised the resilience and extraordinary adaptability of Hong Kong people. This is the second exhibition in our ‘Designing the Spectacle’ series. Setting our anchor in Hong Kong, we will explore the intricate relationship between designs for Festival of Hong Kong and the society. Moreover, it is not the exhibition’s purpose to romanticise the good old days of Hong Kong, nor is it aiming to reconstruct the merry scenes of the festival. Instead, we focus on investigating the role of design, its application, function and influence in a turbulent society. It is hoped that this exhibition will inspire us to reflect on the limitless roles design can still play even during disturbances in our society today. On the occasion that this year is the 50th anniversary of the Festival of Hong Kong, let us look back on the ‘rubber ball’—an exemplar of our optimism and elasticity—to cheer on ourselves with some positive mindsets during this difficult time in our society.

Dr. Gary Tang is a lecturer in the Department of Social Science in the Hang Seng University of Hong Kong, who primarily conducts research in political communication and social media. He discussed that Hong Kong has always been a ‘city of immigrants’ comprising of residents from two waves of migrations—one from the establishment of the People’s Republic of China and one from the Cultural Revolution. These batches of immigrants attach their spiritual selves as Chinese generally, which is the reason why they name their clansmen associations after ‘expatriate in Hong Kong‘ and call one another as ‘expatriated clansmen’.

The British colonial government was only enlightened about the public’s discontent towards the government after the 1967 riots—the fact that the majority of residents took refuge in Hong Kong from the Mainland did not necessarily means that they had accepted to be ruled by the British colonial government. Therefore, the government re-evaluated its policy objectives and actively ameliorate her governance, such as establishing the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC), implementing nine years of free education and setting up statutory holidays, etc. The hosting of ‘Festival of Hong Kong’ was precisely a government’s bid after the 1967 riots to establish ‘a Hong Kong community’, which could not only let off the youngsters’ steam, but also showed the government’s determination to turn over a new leaf.

Nevertheless, the reason why promotions and movements during the governance of the British colonial government were considered effective and up to par can be attributed to the fact that British modern design after the Second World War focuses on functionality and it was applied appropriately to achieve the ideal effects. This design concept is a lot different from that of the Hong Kong government now—the former focused on people and interacted with citizens through organisations like the Urban Council in order to make people-oriented designs and aesthetics; while the latter one takes estimated costs and following rigid old systems as prerequisites, as well as only allow bureaucrats to be involved in decision-making, which leads to the disappearance of ‘aesthetics’ in public administration.

Sandy Choi is a renowned Hong Kong designer and creative director. Graduated from Saint Martin’s School of Art, London, he had worked in several international design firms before establishing his personal design consultancy, Sandy Choi Associates Limited Hong Kong, in 1997.

Among all designs of Festival of Hong Kong, the 1973 commemorative stamps were the most memorable to Choi. He recalled that collecting stamps was popular during that time, and some stamps’ designs had left quite an impression in his mind, including the tenth anniversary Red Cross commemorative stamp and the first year-of-the-rat stamp that was designedb y the godfather of graphic design, Kan Tai Keung.

Looking back on the contemporary designs during the 60s and 70s on a global level, and comparing the 1964 Tokyo Olympics and 1970 Osaka Universal Exposition with the use of fonts and layout in posters of Festival of Hong Kong, it can be seen that the visual identity design standard of Hong Kong was slightly inferior. Nevertheless, Choi believes that the overall identity of Festival of Hong Kong was fairly satisfactory. The success of the logo used in the Festival can be attributed to some very important elements — which is to provide the audience with a ‘good view’ as well as to give others a sense of positivity by the use of colours and shapes. In order to design a successful visual identity, designers must uncover the event’s characteristics or personalities and transmit them effectively. A well-designed logo must also possess the above qualities in order to be the center of a large event and to be applied in different times, formats and occasions.

John Wu is a Hong Kong designer and collector who holds extraordinary enthusiasm and insights to the history of local graphic design. All exhibits showcased in this exhibition belong to Wu’s valuable personal collection.

He is believed to own the most complete and largest amount of relics from the Festival of Hong Kong.

Wu recalls that he first came across the designs of Festival of Hong Kong in 2017. He discovered that the entire visual identity was constructed only by the simple combination of three colours — black, white and an almost neon orange, which was a rare choice of colour back in the 60s. These elements immensely appealed to his sense of design sense, which led him to embark on an almost two-year collecting journey. He has collected around 300 relics of the Festival of Hong Kong and found out about quite a number of stories behind them.

From the perspective of appreciating the designs, Wu gained multifarious inspirations for his own design work from his vast collection. For instance, through comparing the ‘first day covers’ designed by different organisations for the festivals in different years, Wu observed how designers interpreted the ‘beach ball’ in various ways, as well as how different colours, printing or processing methods were used to achieve the ideal effects.

Our society today, on the other hand, prioritises efficiency and speed over everything else, which in turn sacrifices the pursuits of aesthetics and quality. These collections not only serve as records for Hong Kong’s design history, but they also provide opportunities for current designers to reflect and learn.

Ken Li is a Communication Design programme guest lecturer of School of Design, HKPolyU. He has discussed the relationship between design and society on occasion in the media. He believes that graphic design has always played an indispensable role in our society and history, particularly when used as the government’s propaganda. For instance, by manipulating propaganda to boast about its achivements, the Nazi Party glorified its extreme agression as mere liberation in order to promote enlistments and donations.

Another epitome of the application of graphic design is the ‘KEEP CALM AND CARRY ON’ poster displayed on every corner of the country before World War II, which raised the morale of the British public speedily in a time before the emergence of the digital media. The successes of the posters, Ken believed, could all be attributed to the relatively straightforward and appealing visual elements employed. This may also be the reason why posters for the Festival of Hong Kong in the 1960s were all simple-designed, yet still effective in bringing out the joyful and relaxing atmosphere of the event

Arthur Hacker’s influence on the designs of Hong Kong Government’s campaigns was unprecedentedly remarkable. His forms of visual communication had effectively left a lasting impression in the minds of generations of Hong Kong people. His most well-known work of art was the wicked cartoon character ’Litter Bug’ (Lap Sap Chung) created for ’Clean Hong Kong’ campaign in the 1970s.

About Arthur Hacker (1932-2013)

Hacker was born in Wiltshire, England in 1932 and graduated from the Royal College of Art in 1958. Before Hacker served for 22 years in the Hong Kong Information Services Department (HKISD) since 1967, he had worked as an art director in a London record company and the London Evening Standard. As the art and creative director, and later a Chief Information Officer in HKISD, Hacker’s more famous creations include the fourth and fifth issues of Hong Kong Queen Elizabeth II definitive stamps, ‘Anti-smoking Campaign’ and ‘Clean Hong Kong Campaign’. He had also published several titles dedicated to Hong Kong’s history through stories of his works and personal collections, including The Hong Kong visitors book: a historical who’s who (1997) and Hong Kong in posters: a history of public service advertising (1989).