Contents
2

Introduction

4

Living a Good Life

8

Pitching with Impact- Short Term vs Long Term

12

More than Design

16

Know Thyself

20

IT Solutions for Multidisciplinary Team24

Using IT Systems to Manage Your Business

28

Looking Behind the Numbers

32

Design for the Real World

38

Alumni Portfolios

48

Hong Kong Design Centre

48

CUHK Center for Entrepreneurship

Po Chung, Co-founder & Chairman Emeritus, Asia Pacific, DHL International Limited
Kent Chung, Executive Director, Jadelink International Limited
Tommy Li, Creative Director, Tommy Li Design Workshop Ltd.
Dickson Yewn, Creative Director, Life of Circle Ltd.
Daniel Ma, Director, Aoba Hopkins Information Management Ltd.
Bernard Suen , Project Director of CUHK Center for Entrepreneurship
Nelson Lam, Founder and Managing Director, Nelson Consulting Limited
T.C. Chow, Managing Director, Sunhing Millennium Ltd.

Introduction
The “Entrepreneurship for Design and Creative Business” is jointly organised byHong Kong Design Centre and CUHK Center for Entrepreneurship to stretch theboundary of creative and design education in Hong Kong to respond to the rapidlychanging business landscape.
All these changes demand Hong Kong designers and creative professionals toknow many things that they may have dreamt of knowing or touched upon in theirown work but never have a chance to learn systematically. In the coming decade,such knowledge will be a necessity for designers. They will not be able to succeed
with creative talent alone; they need knowledge of markets, business, financeand technology. To function effectively in the current environment, designers andcreative professionals need to get both sides of their brain working – the visual andintuitive right side and the logical and analytical left side.
Guest speakers featured in this book have demonstrated in their own ways how
they approach entrepreneurship, design, and innovation with passion and awillingness to learn and adapt in the face of change. I’m sure each one of us canlearn something useful from them.
Whether working for a design house or freelancing as a SOHO, designers willfind themselves collaborating more and more with people from different fields.
Tomorrow’s leading designers must have a T-shaped character: a work attitude
profile with principal design skill (the vertical leg of the T) and an empathic
understanding of other disciplines (the horizontal leg). These T-shaped individuals
are able to explore insights from multiple perspectives, leading to formation of
innovative ideas, products, and services.
The programme is built upon the above notion to help participants extend thehorizontal leg to broaden their business, financial, marketing, and technology skills.
By promoting interdisciplinary approaches, innovation and entrepreneurship, theorganisers believe that Hong Kong designers and creative professionals will bebetter equipped to compete and to develop promising careers in the future.

Bernard Suen
Chief Instructor, Entrepreneurship for Design and Creative Business2

Seven Modules+
One company Visit
29 Mar - 14 Jun 2008

Living a Good Life“To live the three ages feeling satisfied and accomplished,
one must proactively design and create values from one’s
own life with an entrepreneurial spirit.”- Po Chung, Co-founder & Chairman Emeritus, Asia Pacific, DHL International Limited

According to Po Chung, we are all designers. We
design all the time - when we raise a family, plan acareer, manage a department, or run a company. We
are all entrepreneurs too. Each of our life journeys is
unique and adventurous, in that no one will live thesame life. When a person experiences life - similar toan entrepreneur who engages in a business venture- he or she can design it, invest in it, finance it, anddeliver values and services around it. So, how can
one go through life as a successful designer andentrepreneur?
Po Chung says there are three ages in life: the firstage lasts from birth to twenty years old, in which
one learns how to make a living; the second age
lasts from twenty to sixty, during which one makes agood living; finally, the third age from sixty onwards,
involves living a good life until the end. In Po Chung’scase, he currently enjoys his third age by teaching,
painting, doing Chinese calligraphy, and working
with his wife on their charity foundation. All along, he
has maintained an ideal: to live the three ages feelingsatisfied and accomplished, one must proactively
design and create values from one’s own life with anentrepreneurial spirit.
Born in Macau in 1943, Po Chung changed school
six times within the first six years of his life and thenquit school for
two years, only
fishing. Later, hisfamily moved to Hong
Kong, and he was admitted to
St. Stephen’s College in Stanley. As
Chung’s father advanced in his career, thefamily moved to one location after anotheron the Hong Kong Island. The hardships ofa nomadic life taught the young Chung avery valuable lesson in spending his first age:making a living does not come easy and one
may have to earn it the hard way.
Po Chung’s second age began when he went
to the States to study fishery management.
Upon graduation, the only employer who
could offer him a job in the fishery industry
at the time was the US government.
Ironically, regulations stipulated that
employees had to be legal residents. As aresult, Chung was forced to return to HongKong. In 1972, Adrian Dalsey, one of the threefounders of DHL, came to Hong Kong tomeet Po Chung, who had become regional
operating manager at a toy company. His
daily routine with the company involved

5

Q&A
buying raw materials from Japan, shipping them to Taiwan for manufacturing,
and assembling the finished parts in Hong Kong. Such logistic management
skills were exactly what DHL was looking for. Adrian Dalsey wanted Po
Chung to help DHL expand its market outside of USA to include Hong Kong.
Initially there were only two banks and one shipping company to be servedwith a minimal shipping volume - only 20 kilos a day but Chung realised
its potential. He knew the banks, toy companies, and trading companies all
shared the same pain in posting their goods, with no guarantees of door-todoor delivery. So he accepted the offer on condition that he could have therights to the whole Far East territory. His request was met and thus begun DHL
International, a company that operated as a separate entity from its US origin.
In fifteen years, DHL International has become many times larger than its US
counterpart.
While designing his second age, Po Chung adhered to several designprinciples. First, everything in the world manifests as systems, whether it is afish colony or a courier service company. They operate within three concentric
circles - individual, group, and environment. Activities related to the systems
operating in the three circles often overlap with each other. Second, all theactivities have to be creatively integrated into new applications, serving theneeds or relieving the pains of customers. In short, actions from individual
employees and different departments (e.g. sales, engineering, and operation)
have to be aligned with the company’s mission, to create values amidst
change and competition in the environment. Next, a startup entrepreneur has
to wear many hats, at least four in Chung’s view those of team manager, driver,designer and technician.
Wearing the team manager’s hat, one has to raise the money, identify the
products, decide to whom products are sold, delivers the sales pitch, collectthe bill, and coordinate the team. The driver’s hat assumes the role of a line
manager who has to ensure that the execution is smooth and results aredelivered. The performance of the driver is the make-or-break factor of any
team project. Next is the hat of a designer, one who creates the company’s
identity, positioning, product and services, sales pitch, and the various
business systems and workflows. This hat is essential because it sets the
direction for growth and the capacity to deal with change. The last hat, which

6

is worn by a technician, covers all the dirty work thatneeds to be done such as the maintenance of thesystems and the repair of bugs.
In the early days of DHL International, Po Chungwas wearing all four hats himself. With no sales andoperation teams behind him, Chung had to do all thejobs by himself working outside of the office, leaving
the secretary, his only staff, alone in a claustrophobic
office to answer calls. On a daily basis, he would
travel back and forth between the ferries, airport,
and customers’ offices, simultaneously transportingthe 20 kilos of materials and giving sales pitches.
Amazingly, he could still find the time in the evening
to work as a subtitle translator and date two girls.
Po Chung remarks that the best kept secret of
entrepreneurship is “the ability to sell”. Fromconvincing his first secretary to come to work for
him through a job interview held at a Wan Chai bar
to growing DHL International into a global company,
he has demonstrated this tremendous ability.
However, he noted that an elevator pitch, a key tool
for selling, is not meant for everyone. It requires highorder cognitive skills that only a few rare individuals
possess. In addition, a sure sale has to be a pain
killer – it should not be an empty promise but a real
solution to a problem.

RW: How do you decide you need a partner?
PC: You need partners to fill in yourinadequacy. Most of the time, you cannot
be good at everything. The secret is: you
have to work on your own strength aswell as the strength of everybody on theteam. Don’t try to work on other person’s
weakness. My wife and I had tried to
do that to each other. That won’t work.
Instead, work on the person’s strength.
JK:

How do you handle risk? For instance,
when you first started DHL International,
you only had 20 kilos of shipment to make.
There was tremendous amount of risk
involved.

PC: Don’t try to start anything that you know
nothing about it. You have to know
something about the business before
you start. In the courier business, I wasa user myself. I knew the banks, trading
companies, and shipping companies allneed the services. It was a sure sale.
RW and JK – Russell Williams and Joseph Kongare participants in the Entrepreneurship for
Design and Creative Business.
PC – Po Chung

Most people see the third age as their time to relax
and retire. For Po Chung, however, it is the time
to share with the new generations the things hehas learned from his entrepreneurial journey - his
philosophy, business experience and insights, andobviously his arts. This is what he means by “living agood life”.

7Pitching with Impact –Short Term vs Long Term
“There are pitches that address the long term brand building
issues and pitches that address the short term deliverables.
At this moment, speed is the key to seize the opportunities for ourmanagement team. As a result, we are currently focusing on
design intervention that can bring immediate benefits…”- Kent Chung, Executive Director, Jadelink International Limited

After three years of fast-paced, hard work to secure a position in thecompetitive Shanghai market, Kent Chung thinks that the time is now ripe for
the Hong Kong based Jadelink to tie loose ends and move toward becoming
a major player in Jadeite. To achieve this, Chung understands he needs expert
advice.
Originally, Chung’s main focus was to develop the company’s infrastructure,with its own sourcing arm, manufacturing plant, design team, retail outlets
and even its own e-commerce website. During this intensive startup period,
everyone in the company worked on multiple tasks simultaneously to
reduce execution time. The multitasking team strategy worked
well, Chung discovered. It enabled the company todevelop all basic functions and capabilities required todeliver effective solutions to customers in a shorttime. Such core competence allows Jadelink to
distinguish itself from its competitors, raising
the entry barrier higher, with its alreadyenormous capital investment.
In order to ride the wave of a highgrowth Jadeite market, speed
is of the essence, says Chung.
With infrastructure in place, hiscompany is poised to advancein image and quality. He
believes design will make all
the difference.

9

It is against this background that six
designers from the Entrepreneurship for
Design and Creative Business offered theirexpertise in helping Kent Chung to create
this difference. Their pitches to Jadelink are
as follows:from other international and luxurious jewellery
brands - to articulate the company’s positioning
in the market. An integrated brand that unifies
these elements must also find the right symbolic
representation that can appeal to audiences
emotionally.

Chris Yin, a branding and packaging
designer, contended that Jadelink requires
rebranding - beginning first with its
corporate identity. As the name Jadelink
implies a connection between jade andits customers. Such a dynamic relationshipshould be reflected accordingly in thecompany’s logo. A three dimensional logo, in
Yin’s view, will strengthen the bond between
the Jadeite lover and the piece, thus making
the name memorable. Additionally, Yinthought that the colour scheme used on
the website clashes with the logo, thelayout is disorganised and the space is used
inefficiently. The navigation structure, layout,
and spacing should be redesigned to focus
on the product itself.

Jack Wong, Creative Director of Ondo Creation
Limited, suggested that Jadelink open a new productline: a series of twelve Zodiac figurines - popular gift
items of tremendous historical value - to address
the needs of new target audiences. The figurines
would be modernised to suit current fashion trends.
By riding on the popularity of famous icons suchas Hello Kitty, Kent Chung could create a cute,humorous crossover by mixing trendy items withtraditional artifacts. A customised product could
be engraved with the name of the owner or gift
recipient for personal value. Furthermore, newproducts can be conceived by combining popularcartoon characters and cultural icons with the Zodiac.

Design should align with business strategy,
said Jeremy Vinson, Design Partner with thefirm, Tandem Design. Aspiring to transformfrom a C-grade to an A+ company, Jadelink
must effectively use design - through visual
identity, stores, website and differentiation

10

Designer Christine Shum from Inoh Design believed
the design consultation process should begin with athorough need-analysis before applying any solution.
Branding should start with the basics - to help thecustomer appreciate the value of Jadeite. Choosing
the right designer for branding design service is only
the beginning. From there, Jadelink can open up
more possibilities.

and a jade for me” ails to tell the Jadelink story let
alone reinforce the brand name. He contended thatthe right approach to the design problem should
begin with a creative concept, which he suggested
could be expressed in three letters: L, M, and Q. The
letter L stands for traditional luxury, M for modern
design, and Q for quality guaranteed. With the threeletters, Jadelink creates a solid foundation uponwhich to address the needs of the users who are notfamiliar with jade and to set the standard for highquality products.
Unlike the other designers who suggested changes
to be made to the brand as well as the visual
identity, Rosanne Chan, the Director of CA Design,
thought that only time would tell whether a design
truly works or not. Any drastic changes to thestrategy, brand identity or image may not be wise,
especially when the company is riding on a wave of
success. Consequently, she claimed that the current
design effort should be focused on enhancing themarketing impact of existing strategies such as
designing a product brochure based on the existing
logo and colour scheme of red and green. The red,a royal colour in the west, and the green, the Jade
colour, represent well the meeting of East and West.

She further elaborated the East meets Westtheme by combining a sketch of a Chinese
lady and a Western lady - one wearing a
Jadeite pendant and the other a Jadeite
necklace - with the tagline “a jade for you
and a jade for me”. Finally, she added silver tothe mix, as most Jadeite pieces are mounted
on silver, gold, or white-gold pendants,
bracelets, or necklaces.
After hearing the pitches, Chung concurredwith most of the analyses and critiques madeby the designers about the brand, visual
identity, and website. “The management
team constantly seeks solutions andprofessional advice for such problems.
However, when it comes to execution, there
are many restrictions that prohibit us to take
immediate steps. As a result, we currently
are focusing on design intervention that canbring immediate benefits, “ Kent Chung said.

Russell Williams, an Assistant Professor in Digital
Graphic Communication at Hong Kong Baptist
University, thought that the tagline, “a jade for you

11More than Design“One needs to read not only design, but also Chinese history,
culture, and politics. To be knowledgeable about the client’s
world, to have opinions and a perspective on the issues most
relevant to him or her - this is as attractive (if not more) thanany design ability one’s company may have.”- Tommy Li, Creative Director, Tommy Li Design Workshop Ltd.

Very little about design actually involves design.
Hong Kong designer Tommy Li made that clear. The
27-year veteran believed in cultivating a library in themind; that is, one book, no matter how instructional,
will not completely teach somebody how to be a
successful designer. A good designer must have both
depth and breadth, both high and low knowledge,
simultaneously engaging the client in the mostrecent cultural gossip, while mentally considering
what forms, typographies, and styles would best
fit this client’s desires. Especially considering therecent trend of instability in the design industry, agood design company must always heed five main
qualities: design ability, salesmanship, businessdevelopment, team management, and financial
control.
Though one’s design ability is certainly reinforced byawards, Li did not believe that they ultimately would
make a large difference. One needs to be aggressive
and fearless. Li cited many occasions when he had
met nervous designers that often stumble andfumble, afraid they would not impress their potential
clients. He reiterated that a relaxed, poised andconfident demeanor is key during presentations;
one must always keep in mind the past successes - a
positive mindset that leads the designer to disregard
a little failure now and then.

13

Q&A
Surprisingly, Li does not usually discussdesign at all when first conversing withclients in mainland China. Instead of
discussing design, he talks about otherthings - culture, politics, and gossip. “Thedesigner must be able to add something to aconversation,” he said. Therefore, the mental
library of a designer is of utmost importance.
One needs to read not only design, butalso Chinese history, culture, and politics.
To be knowledgeable about the client’s
world, to have opinions and a perspectiveon the issues most relevant to him or her- this is as attractive (if not more) than any
design ability one’s company may have. As adesigner, to be aware of such events reveals

to the client that you are timely, relevant, sharp, andsuggests that you will be able to aim that highpowered perception at the design job.

individual aspects of the production, as opposed to avague, artistic total sum. If you charge more you must
be prepared to justify why you charge more.

JK:

Up to now, what do you claim yourself as:a designer, a business man, or a designbusiness man?

Thus, Li stressed the importance of reading. Those
not well-read make shallow, clichéd and pointlesscomments. One should never underestimate
the impact of good reading habits. Those whoread constantly and diversely will be rewarded
with insights and knowledge to employ in future
conversations. This can be what makes or breaks abusiness deal.

One example that Li expounded on was his design
work for Bla-Bla-Bra. His approach was to develop an
attractive, unique image and culture for the brand- so that any product associated with the brand, nomatter what, would be desirable.

TL:

I don’t call myself a designer anymore.
When I first started, I used such title but
after so many years in the business, I havediscovered that my involvements withthe clients have less to do with design but
more to do with marketing and branding.
Design is now only a small part of myservices. The majority of my works involves
market essentials such as market research,a service which most traditional design
firms would not provide.

According to Li, business development is more
important than hiring large numbers of designers.
Often, design companies focus on accruing
manpower when they should instead emphasise
securing the client. A more successful technique
is to maintain a small core group (some top
design companies only employ four) - only oncethe company has received the client’s go-ahead,should they concentrate on hiring freelancers or
subcontractors to help complete the job. The deal
involves as much networking and socialising as it
involves actually designing.
“Financial control is also crucial, to ensure hire ability
and profit. Be rational and not passionate,“ said Li.
One must develop a system to allow for calculating

The mental library one builds must be vast - withtabloid magazines, thick novels and technical papers.
Li contended that we cannot limit ourselves to one
side of a brain. A designer must learn to utilise not
only his or her technical ability, but the whole of theknowledge he or she possesses, in order to be truly
successful.

CS: What do you put into the 15 minutes
presentation?
TL:

The purpose of the 15 minutes
presentation is to build trust. Many people
oversell in their presentation, putting off
the client instead of gaining their trust.

CS: You have had your business for eighteen
years, how do you plan for its expansion?
TL:

I do not plan for it at all. I just go for it,enjoying the process all along. When thetime comes, as long as you open your eyes
and keep your heart open, you’ll know.

JK and CS – Joseph Kong and Christine Shum areparticipants in the Entrepreneurship for Design
and Creative Business.
TL – Tommy Li

1415

Know thyself, we hear this proverb so often that we’ve become
insensitive to it. But this is not true for Dickson Yewn, a talented jewellery
designer in Hong Kong who whole-heartedly embraces the notion
as his motto in life and his arts. Despite his good academic results insecondary school, Yewn did not take up the science stream, a common
practice other students with good grades would do at the time.
Instead, he did the arts track, spending the next few years
in school reading martial art novels by Jin Yong andstudying Chinese culture and Chinese philosophy.
Although he later received advance educationin business and the arts, his true love has
always been the latter.

Know Thyself“Every designer or artist should ask the fundamental question:
who am I? A creative career is a constant struggle between
personal artistic expression and market demand.”– Dickson Yewn, Creative Director, Life of Circle Ltd.

In the beginning of his career, Yewn
wanted to become a film maker,
but did not follow the pathdue to his dislike of working
in a group. Nevertheless, hisworks in photography had
already opened the door
for the world to recognise
his artistic talents. He
also tried to pursue finearts once but did notthink the climate wasfavourable then. As acompromise, he chose
jewellery design instead-- a craft he thought
would allow him touse his hands and towork alone by himself.
In hindsight, his choice
was right.
In late 2002, Yewn opened
up his first shop on On
Lan Street, during a time
when SARS began to hit mostHong Kong people except therich and famous. At that time,these paparazzi targets would get
dropped off by their chauffeurs on the17

Q&A
less visible side street to avoid their predators.
Yewn’s conveniently located store became
a stop along the shopping route of these
opulent spenders. Looking back, Yewn neverthought of making it big by systematicallybuilding up his business empire, one shop
after another. He simply followed his intuition
and inner vision to where his destiny led him.
Throughout the next five years, Yewn went
through some difficult time during which
he almost pondered about giving it up.
In 2005, despite having stores opened atthree locations – Gateway, On Lan Street
and Peninsula – and a distribution channel
established in Japan, Yewn entered a very
turbulent period in his career. During thattime, his girlfriend was working in Taiwan
and he was all alone by himself struggling
to balance his roles as designer, owner,
salesman and operation manager. Tornfrom every directions, Yewn began to realise
the complexity and heavy demands ofshouldering responsibilities all by himself. He
knew he was spreading himself too thin.
Fortunately, Yewn’s knowledge and beliefin Chinese astrology devices like the Four

18

Pillars of Fortune comforted him during these dark
moments. He resumed his energy and started
promoting himself and meeting new acquaintances.
Later, he was introduced to a friend’s brother whojust returned from abroad with an investmentbanking background. Through this encounter, Life of
Circle, Yewn’s first branded venture, went public. Thechange gave him a temporary relief and brought inmore helping hands.
Since he began his career in jewellery, he has triedout different things to bring his design vision, aform of aesthetic deeply influenced by Chinese
philosophy and culture, into his jewellery collections.
Competing against the International brand names
such as Tiffany, he knows he has to strike a finebalance between what he personally likes and what
the market wants. In the early years of his jewellery
career, he would test out the market by mixing morecommercialised items that appeal to the west withthose he loved --jewellery pieces with a Chinese
favour. When things went well, he would add a few
more personal favourites to the collection. Whenthe opposite happened, he would replace themwith more commercial ones. As the rise of China
becomes an established reality on the world’s
stage, Yewn sees a growing demand for artists anddesigners who can deliver the Sino aesthetic. Yewn,

much like his predecessors Vivian Tam and Dennis
Chan, is revisiting his cultural heritage in search of
the Chinese elements that the world now craves.
When asked about his personal design style, Yewn
responded by saying that it is very feminine andcannot be easily described in words. However, there
is one thing he is quite certain about: the worldis buying his artistic expression, his brand. He has
to develop his business around such perception.
To extend this line of thinking, he positioned his
company Yewn to target a high-end, selectedgroup of customers, and Life of Circle to focus on
the more affordable fashion category that appeals
to a wider audiences. The classification allows him
to differentiate the two by style, price range andproduction process. Yewn is very hands-on withthe production, demonstrating his level of personal
craftsmanship. As for Life of Circle, he serves ascreative director, with a design team behind him
working on implementation to ensure brandconsistency.
In Yewn’s view, to succeed in any business,salesmanship counts. He admitted that he sells all
the time – to the customers, media, and even theleasing agents who work for the powerful landlords.
Do not assume any brand can get its shop into
IFC just because one can afford the pricey rent.
The space is so competitive that without goodsalesmanship and sometimes, showmanship, thelease is never secured. At the core of salesmanship is
make-belief creating the a perception that one hassomething special to offer a value that no one in theworld but “you” can deliver. Again, it goes back to
the fundamental premise that Yewn keeps stressing:know thyself!

JK:

What is the difference in design
approach between Tommy Li and you?
For instance, Tommy Li encourages
his staff to explore different designconcepts and approaches, giving themplenty of creative freedom.

DY: Tommy Li has to entertain different
design approaches as he has to help
different clients build their brands.
However, my clients come to me for
my works and my style. In essence, myclients are buying me. I am the brand.
IL:

What is your way to build yourbusiness?

DY: Six billion people have six billion ways.
There is no single way. However, there
are two essentials: 1) you have to findyourself, and 2) you have to have astrong conviction to pursue your own
way.
JK and IL – Joseph Kong and Ice Lam areparticipants in the Entrepreneurship for
Design and Creative Business.
DY – Dickson Yewn

19

IT Solutions for Multidisciplinary Team
“Small multidisciplinary teams, enabled by CRM, DRM,
and web portal IT solutions, can collaborate acrossorganisational boundaries to compete more effectively
against companies often many times bigger than they are.”- Daniel Ma, Director, Aoba Hopkins Information Management Ltd.

Recent years have seen a trend of small and medium
sized businesses using IT based solutions to achieve
higher productivity through collaboration projects
against the so-called big leagues. This is the view
held by veteran IT consultant, Mr. Daniel Ma.
Designers, like other professionals, deal with projects– their babies.
According to Ma, all projects have one thing incommon: a timeline in which deliverables haveto be completed at specific milestones, on time
and within budget. When the number of projects
exceeds a certain level, most companies find thattrying to juggle them all can be an extremely
difficult task. When these projects span different
time zones and geographical locations with teammembers scattered around different places, it
can create especially tremendous challenges incollaboration. These challenges include the handlingof business correspondences, sharing of documents,
working with external parties, and discovering
useful knowledge. In this respect, Ma came into the
picture at a very good time to show everyone some

IT solutions which caneffectively meet thechallenges.
However, like mostsolutions, IT based
initiatives can become
extremely expensive
when they are customised.
Furthermore, the morecustomised a solution is, themore risky it will be. People
have different requirements andtrying to define them without preexisting examples would be too timeconsuming. Using ready-made templates
and systems to define the requirement will
reduce the costs and risks. The solutions thathave proven to work well in this regard, suchas Customer Relationship Management (CRM),
Document Management System (DMS) and web
portals, are good starting points, said Ma.

21

Q&A
With CRM, the system provides a complete
picture about the customer -- the profile,company background, contacts, etc. Thiskind of information is usually scatteredaround the organisation and often need tobe scanned or uploaded into the system
for filing. With the information properly
catalogued, the company can track all of the
documents related to a particular project, or
analyse how a customer has been served
and what transactions and activities
have been conducted with them.
To follow up on these actions,cross-sell opportunities,
pipeline management, email
marketing, sales calls,
promotion campaigns,
service items, andworkflow alerts may bescheduled.

Similar to the CRM system, the DMS is a central
repository of information that focuses on electronic
documents contracts, proposals, drawings, images,
spreadsheets, emails, etc instead of customers. Allregistered users can submit new documents to thecentral DMS and to their accessible folders. They
can check-in, make revisions to, and check-out
each document securely. A compliance control
mechanism ensures that the correct version of the
document is maintained and that only authorised
individuals may access or edit it.
Lastly, the web portal is a front-end for accessing
the documents managed by the DMS or CRM.
It opens up a window to portal members, bothinternal and external, to collaborate effectively andefficiently on projects and documents. Members
such as contractors and suppliers can submit
quotations and completed graphic works easily
at different intervals, whereas internal employees
can publish information, serve e-Forms, and assign
project tasks through the portal platform. Assigned
tasks and file submitted can all be tracked forstatus update through a familiar web interface.
Discussion forums established to facilitate sharing
of information and communication on important
issues will allow the virtual team to overcome
physical barriers.
After understanding these IT solutions andthe possibilities they bring along for themultidisciplinary team, what is the next step? Ma
reminded us of the importance of maintaining
an understanding of one’s objectives andbusiness processes. Furthermore, the costs andbenefits associated with the solution have to
be carefully analysed. Over and over again, Ma
emphasised the ongoing review of IT solutions.
The practical effects of these solutions can bemeasured against ones requirements to validate
their advertised functions. Design entrepreneurs
embracing IT solutions must be prepared to invest
a tremendous amount of time and effort into
evaluating their vendors through rigorous project
management processes.

CY: Do you know any smaller and lessexpensive solutions for small creative firm
with, say, two people that can provide thebasic collaboration features, somethingsimilar to what’s offered by the web-based
platform “Basecamp”?
DM: I think the concepts still apply. If you start
to work with other people, you shouldlook for solutions that fit your needs.
However, smaller systems tend to require
the company to adapt to their structureand features while bigger systems tend toprovide more customisation capabilities
that adapt to the situations of thecustomers.
JV:

Do the customers have to have their own
servers to host these IT solutions?

DM: No, they don’t. There is a hosting option
offered by many solution vendors thatenable customers to put their data into
dedicated or shared servers managed bythem. Salesforce.com, a sales automation
service provider in the US, is famous fordoing that and many corporate customers
are willing to outsource the hosting tothem. However, in Asia, most customers
out of security consideration are more
inclined to have the IT solutions installedon their own servers.
CY and JV - Chris Yin and Jeremy Vinson are
participants in the Entrepreneurship for Design
and Creative Business.
DM – Daniel Ma

22

23

Using IT Systems to Manage Your Business“Going with the gut or managing by the numbers is
not an either/or decision. Very often, we need bothto succeed in business.”– Bernard Suen ,Project Director of CUHK Center for Entrepreneurship

Can productivity be improved by IT for our SME
designers? This was the question raised by Bernard
Suen, the programme instructor from CUHK Center
for Entrepreneurship. In Suen’s view, IT can hurt
productivity instead of improving it when notproperly managed. Asking SME design studios toinvest the money and manpower on IT beyond therudimentary workstations and a shared server is likepulling teeth. To these companies, there are always
better ways to utilise their precious resources thanputting them into advanced IT technology thatthey cannot master. As the saying goes – if it’s notbroken, don’t fix it.

However, these design companies know thatthe problems won’t go away just because
they temporarily ignore them. Machines
have limited life span and will inevitably
break. When these circumstances arise, theowner-designers have no choice but to rely
on a techie-guru to show up to save theday. Does that mean there is no hope for thesituation? Suen thinks otherwise. Actually,
there are some25

Highlights from the Case Studies
good practices that small design studios
can follow to make IT a powerful weapon
in boosting productivity. The starting point
is to systematise the IT infrastructure andapplications that run on it.
The IT infrastructure is the foundation forbuilding automated and computer-assisted
business processes within the company.
Virtual Private Network (VPN) with secured
tunnels and SSL-encrypted web servers
are ways to construct a safe computing
environment for extending IT services tovarious stakeholders within the intranet
and on the extranet. The intranet serves
management and employees and theextranet serves vendors, distributors, andcustomers.

In a mixed operating system environment of both
PCs and Macs, hardware and software standards
must be established to serve any and every customer.
In a small organisation setting where employees
have to wear multiple hats, someone must be
responsible for coordinating the infrastructure of thecompany.This person must be empowered to carryout the IT policies endorsed by top management. If
this person is the owner himself, it would be evenbetter. The key is: the infrastructure building process
must be allocated the same if not more importanceand support as that of billable works.

deployment. Every company is different in terms ofwhich applications should be implemented and inwhat order. Some companies with relatively simple
project structure and fewer projects may not need afull-blown project management system. Simply using
Basecamp (i.e. a popular online platform for project
management) or Excel may already be sufficientunder these circumstances. For new companies,
the most important job is business development.
A system that can produce proposals, quotations,orders, and invoices quickly world be most suitable
for them.

The hardware and software standards and the
network topology scheme have to be properly
codified and documented. Trying to find whichcable or network interface card is damaged can belike finding a needle in a haystack if the network
topology and devices are not labeled correctly.
Inventory of computer parts with current records willsave money and time in warranty and replacement.
Furthermore, well implemented system development
and maintenance procedures can mitigate theproblems associated with an overloaded or
intruded server.

In application development, the general rule is: themore integrated the system, the more complicatedthe setup. Although system integration canlead to reduction in data entries and redundant
information storages, the time it takes to set up is
extremely demanding. For example, an integrated
Time and Billing system is a very powerful tool
for tracking productivity and customer payment
history. However, the prerequisite for setting upsuch a system involves establishing a systematic andcomprehensive coding scheme (e.g. billing rates,
chargeable and non-chargeable codes, and job
numbers) which appears overwhelming to designers.

Once the infrastructure is in place, there
should be a priority list for application

Going with the gut or managing by the numbers
is not an either/or decision. Very often, we needboth to succeed in running a business. In growing adesign company, the short-term objective is always
survival -- using whatever means to stay in business.
At time, quick-and-dirty tricks may be necessary. In
the long haul, however, the objectives are brand andsystem building.

PH: Spending time to entertain change
requests from clients and agencies
during the free pitching process is tough.
On one hand, I have to deal with thedesigners who have other priorities andare reluctant to make those frequentchanges. On the other hand, I have to
make sure the time spent will help toclose the deal and leave enough time forcompleting the project.
JV:

How do you attract and excite designers
if they know part of their works will begiven out for free?

PH: They’re used to it.
BS:

Have you considered passing some of therisks to subcontractors who are willing toplay along in the free pitching process?

PH: My in-house designers will not like it.
IL:

In my projects, I choose to go direct tothe client for the job or work on referrals
instead of going through a competitive
pitching and tender process. However,I always have to handle multiple
quotations and projects at the same time.
Complete control over the timing of theclosing is difficult.

BS:

From proposal to pipeline, there istremendous amount of uncertainty thatwill affect the capacity of a small firm todeliver multiple projects on time and on
budget.

PH JV and IL – Patricia Ho, Jeremy Vinson,
and Ice Lam are participants in the
Entrepreneurship for Design and Creative
Business.
BS – Bernard Suen

26

27

Looking Behind the Numbers“In a way, all businesses operate like banks - defer
payments to suppliers but expedite receivable
collections from customers to maximise the float.”- Nelson Lam, Founder and Managing Director, Nelson Consulting Limited“Our common sense can mislead us, “said Nelson Lam, a professional CPA
and CFA, who also joked that being creative is good for designers but not
for accountants. In Lam’s view, most people first look at revenue andexpenses for clues to determine the financial well-being of a company.
Accountants, on the other, would start by looking into a businessthrough its assets. As the revenue and profitability figures canappear rosy on the outside, but on the inside the company canbe cash strapped and near bankruptcy. The different focuses
between ordinary people and professionals are due to thediscrepancy in their understanding toward accounting.
The accrual basis, for instance, is a subject that marks thedifference.
In accrual accounting, the customer can get invoicedwith sales booked regardless of whether the service isfully rendered or not. However, as long as the customer
refuses to pay, the company can never receive a single
cent on the account despite the fact that revenue isalready recorded. In other words, the revenue entry
does not tell us anything about the liquidity of the
firm. To know what questions to ask, Lam suggested
that we familiarise ourselves with the basic tools in
accounting – income statements, balance sheets,
statements of changes in equity and cash flow
statements. These financial statements can serve one ormore of the following five objectives commonly foundedin running a business:
1. Return on investment
2. Liquidity
3. Valuation
4. Maximisation of profit
5. Minimisation of tax

29

Q&A
Among the different statements, theincome statement and the balance sheet
are the more basic ones. According toLam, they can inform us about how well abusiness performs and what is its current
financial position. The information can
inspire us to ask further questions and to
conduct field enquiries into the current
situation of the firm such as observing theemployees in action, talking to other third
parties, and checking out the inventories.
These observations are just as important as
the financial figures.
Although the income statement contains
the profitability figure, it does not tell us
how well the company’s assets are used togenerate the profit. To further understandhow the two statements work together,Lam explained that we have to understandthe relationships between five classes ofaccounts: asset, liability, equity, income,and expenses. The first three, asset, liability

and equity, are found in the balance sheet and theremaining two, income and expenses, are found in
the income (profitability and loss) statement.
To understand the relationship between the different
classes of accounts found in an income statement
and a balance sheet, the cash flow/operation cycle
illustrated in the following diagram can tell us how
the efficient use of assets (i.e. turnover) can make or
break a company.
Buy raw materials orinventory with cashor trade payables

Collect receivablesfrom customers

Pay tradepayablesSell goods tocustomers for cash ortrade receivables©2008 Nelson

In a way, all businesses operate like banks, said Lam.
They defer payments to suppliers but expedite
receivable collections from customers to maximise
the float. There is no reason to tie up our precious
cash in inventory or receivables. Consequently, theturnover of inventory, accounts receivable, andaccounts payable will determine how fast we canbuild up our equity and asset base. In accounting,there are ratio analysis techniques that we can use
to measure the financial well-being of one’s businessas compared with other companies in the same
industry.
For most design companies, the use of assets ratio isa powerful analytical tool to help a business succeed
in Hong Kong, a place where the receivable period

30

can last longer than sixty, ninety, or even hundred
and twenty days. In some industries, it can takeup to a whole full year for a company to get paid.
Under these circumstances, the company must be
financially prepared to endure the hard times.
In addition to ratio analysis, there are other financial
techniques that can be used to control the allocationof company resources. A financial plan is one suchtechnique. It consists of four major budgets: sales,purchasing, production, and administration. The
figures derived from these budgets can be used to
produce forecasted income statements, balance
sheet, and cash flow statements. As forecasts
always involve uncertainties, the use of sensitivity
analysis considers both “most likely” and “worst case”
scenarios. When the actual financial statements arecompared against the forecasted, variance analysis
can be performed to see how the actual deviatesfrom the budget. As a result, corrective and forward
looking actions can move the company back onto
the right course.

JK:

Do you recommend your customers to rentor purchase an office?

NL: This is not only an accounting issue but
financing, investment, and tax as well.
There are pros and cons to consider. Even
my mom keeps telling me to buy an officeinstead of renting. However, I have toconsider the down payment and cash flow
implications. In general, service companies
rely heavily on people, therefore keeping
the business operation flexible by renting
is critical as you can never be sure when
you need the liquidity to survive the next
economic downturn. On top of that,having a large chunk of asset sitting on thebook not only makes it difficult to cease
the operation when needed but make thegearing and return on investment ratios
look poor to investors. From an investment
point of view, the company may not buy
the property but the boss may.
TY:

If you look at this from a design businesspoint of view, I’ll say you shouldn’t buy
it because you never know what theprospect for your business is going to be
and the price for the property may go up
or down. However, if you look at this as aninvestment, especially during the past few
years when Hong Kong has experienced
a boom in the property market, there isa huge amount of money to be made if
you can buy and sell at the right time as awindfall benefit.

JK, TY – Joseph Kong and Timothy Yuen are
participants in the Entrepreneurship for Design
and Creative Business.
NL – Nelson Lam

31

Design for the Real World“I do my homework following a methodic productinnovation process … However I like to leave room for
playfulness as that is what creativity needs.”- T.C. Chow, Managing Director, Sunhing Millennium Ltd.

Mr. Chow Tat Chi, also known as TC, is a second
generation Hong Kong entrepreneur who has
tried very hard in the last 15 years to keep Sunhing
Millennium Ltd., a family business founded in 1957,
on the innovative forefront. Since 1993 the company
has ceased most of its OEM business to becomea design-manufacturer specialised in mediawarestorage organisers and digital lifestyle accessories.
The repositioning and innovation undertaken by
Sunhing has led to both market recognition andindustry awards for its CD rack products. TC himself
has earned the title of the “King of CD rack”. Behindthe scenes, commitment to a methodic design
process is driving the company’s success.

would struggled to respond. Next came atime in which process reengineering using
IT was the invincible weapon for building
competitiveness. TC seized the timely
opportunity to implement a company-wide
enterprise resources planning (ERP) system
linking the Hong Kong design studio with
the Dongguang manufacturing facility. The
result was a robust production infrastructurethat has paved the way for Sunhing toestablish itself as a design- manufacturer
with integrated design, engineering, moldmaking, injection molding, and assembly
capabilities. By continuously engaging in

Inspired by management thinking found in books
like “In Search of Excellence” and “The Reengineering
Revolution” published in the mid-eighties and earlynineties of the last century, TC and his company
went through two inflection points. The first time
was during the period when Japan rose to powerin manufacturing capability, product quality andeconomic growth. The US and the rest of the world
Participants in the Entrepreneurship for Design and Creative Businessvisited Sunhing Millennium Ltd. in Jun 2008.
33

OBM and ODM works,
Sunhing has designed,
manufactured, andmarketed a full range of
products world-wide.
In recent years, the company
stands by its motto “Design for
the Real World”, a statement inspiredby a book of the same title authored byVictor Papanek. This not only means thatthe company has to continuously comeout with innovative products that meetmarket demands but to lead and respondto sustainable social change. TC admits that
this is the mission statement that will guidethe company through its third inflection
point where Sunhing currently stands. To
achieve that, the company relies heavily
on continuous process improvement anddesign innovation based on information

34

collected from R&D, competitive benchmarking,and the ERP system. The information is then fed
to a multidisciplinary team headed by a designer.
The designer as team leader approach allows thedesigner to develop and refine a product concept
through interactions with other experts in mould
making, engineering, and production within its fullcontext. According to TC, this “holistic” approachallows the company to provide the best solution
to meet real world requirements and to make themost of materials, production capabilities, andinterdisciplinary skills and experiences. Furthermore,
flexible and practical customisation withsustainability consideration can also be integrated
into the process.
To the customers of Sunhing, the company is
exceptional in its manufacturing capabilities because
it has brought an additional level of attention todetails that can help resolved many design andproduction problems right on the spot. In addition,

this allows for flexibility in customisation that lets
customers realise the core competence of Sunhing.
With this as the background, Sunhing has clearly spilt
the responsibilities between its business partners
and itself. The business partners will focus on themarketing and promotion and Sunhing will bear all
the product development efforts and risks.
No doubt, process is everything at Sunhing. At
the heart of its product development is the fourstage-gate system (PD1, PD2, PD3, and PD4). Fromearly stage in ideation and extensive competitive
benchmarking to rapid prototyping in the second
stage, the designer comes to grasp with what isrequired to design the product. For those prototypes
a multidisciplinary team led by the designers
solidifies the design and prepares it for the fourthstage: production and market implementation.

Kent Wong, the ProductDevelopment Director
at Sunhing, could
not agree less withthe beauty ofthe designer-led
multidisciplinary
team process.
Being a designer
himself, Wong said
it is unusual to see
a firm with so manyin-house capabilities
such as engineering, moldmaking, injection molding,sewing, silk-screening, wood
crafting, and product assembly
all housed under the same roof.
For a designer, this serves as an
excellent environment for learning more
about the manufacturing process. The more
informed a designer is about the different

35

Q&A
aspects of product development andproduction, the more insights the designer
can bring to one’s design, said Wong.
In PD1 even sleeping to look for ideas. A
handy notebook for recording these design
inspirations should be close at hand 24 hours
a day. Competitive benchmarking such ascollecting competitors products can be
another source of ideas. Understanding thedesign problem and observing the contexts
in which the product is used and sold will
help validate the market.
After the ideation stage in PD1, the designer
enters PD2, a stage in which some ideas
will be picked by TC and marketing for
further exploration and validation. Learningfrom the renowned design powerhouse,
IDEO, Sunhing adopts a rapid prototyping
approach for coming up with quick-anddirty dummies. With this strategy, earlyproblems with function and form canbe exposed and preliminary feature set
defined. If paper prototype is not adequate,
then handmade wax or foam model will36

be made. The designer will collaborate with otherexperts such as engineers and outside vendors toderive the preliminary cost estimates. Comparisonof preliminary costs gathered in this stage withbenchmarked price points from marketing will
ultimately determine if the prototype can proceed
to the next phase.
The purpose of PD3 is to develop a productionready design. To ensure all the inputs and expertiseare completely utilised, the designer will act as
the project leader bringing together the best outof everyone on the multidisciplinary team – theengineers, mold maker, injection molding specialist,
and outside vendors. With 3D models and a CNC
system, realistic product models can be created,allowing team members to assess a product’sfunctionality, usability, manufacturability, andappearance. Which materials to be used and whatcosts to be minimised are also discussed in thisstage.

Finally, with the arrival of PD4, engineers and themold makers to tend to the manufacturing details.
This meticulous approach enables Sunhing tomaximise the reusability of parts and recyclingof used materials. The pilot runs will generate
the results for quality evaluation and subsequent
design improvements for another round of testing.
As the preliminary runs leave plenty of room for
improvements, Sunhing can continuously squeeze
the production time and optimise the product andmaterial structure. After completing all the steps, theproduct is ready to be launched.
A six to nine-month product development cycle
is common for Sunhing to complete the stagegate process. Most customers can confidently
give the design studio a brief and expect a real
product within the given time. Putting design into
manufacturing is what differentiates Sunhing fromthe rest.

JK:

Do you do user testing and market testing?

KW: We do both. First, the product is testedby the designer and a super user such
as TC. Next, we will let our customers
test the product out with their end users
during the pilot runs. Constant testingand improvement are iterated as often as
possible.
KA: How do you come up with all these ideas?
JK:

That’s why it is called “design”.

KW: That’s why you need to work 24 hours a day
asking all kinds of questions of why things
behave the ways they are and how that canbe improved.
JV:

It’s a mindset of never accepting theanswer and looking for more to be done.

JK, JV – Joseph Kong and Jeremy Vinson are
participants in the Entrepreneurship for Design
and Creative Business.
KA – Kevin Au is an Associate Director of CUHK
Center for Entrepreneurship.
KW – Kent Wong is the Product Development
Director from Sunhing Millennium Ltd.

37

AlumniPortfolios

Rosanne Chan
Director, CA Design
My Design Field: Graphic Design
My Education: Graduate
Website: www.cadesign.com.hk
Email: cadesign@pacific.net.hk
My Aspiration
Mission of my business:• Good design to benefit marketing developmentof our clients and add value to their products –this is our vision!
• Clients are just as friends to be served with careand enthusiasm – it makes a better world!
• Caring for our personnel’s performance andmorale, working in a loving environment build up
a healthy and happy team – produces good work!
• Give glory and thanks to God, respect every
chance and people we meet, fulfill and share in
the desires of our clients – our calling!

Established since 1982, CA Design have been
providing design service to a wide variety of leadingbusinesses, corporations and public institutions –both locally and globally, in Asia, Europe and America.
Ever since CA Design started their business, we havemaintained a close relationship with the publishingworld. We have produced many types of publications
for a broad client base. These include publications formuseums, galleries, art collectors, sale catalogues for
auction houses and art fairs. We believe that a good
publication needs to have not only good contents,
but also quality presentation and packaging tocontribute to its marketing success. Our expertise andcommitment in excellent quality at every step in theprocess is recognised by numerous awards, which wehave won in design and printing over the years.

40

Joseph Kong
Lecturer, Hong Kong Design Institute,
Department of Printing and Digital MediaMy Design Field: Graphic, Digital Media,
Motion Graphics Design
My Education: MA in Design; MSc in Multimedia &Entertainment Technology
Email: josephk@vtc.edu.hk
My Aspiration
Hong Kong needs talent designers but at the same time
we need more young designers with entrepreneurshipmind-set. A designer boss could create more
employment opportunities for local designers. Oneof the weaknesses of our students is that they are notwilling to take risk, they would never dream about thatthey could establish design business. I will share thedesign business spirit from those lecturers and guest
speakers with my students.
Hong Kong needs designers with entrepreneurial spirit.

Joseph Kong is a lecturer teaching creative
thinking, digital media and motion graphics
modules. Meanwhile, he is a course leaderof a 2 years full time Higher Diploma coursein Motion Graphics Design and Visual
Effects. He was the director of a graphic andadvertising studio for about 10 years before
he joined the IVE.
He always supports the promotion worksof the department such as the department
leaflet and DVD disc production. He is anactive member in joining local and overseas
design events, seminars and workshops.

Lam Siu Bing, Ice
Creative Director, Bezalel Design Communication
My Design Field: Graphic, Illustration,
Character Design and Brand Creation
My Education: BA (Hon) Graphic Design
Website: www.bezalel-design.com,
www.brightenthedays.com, www.baubaufamily.com
Email: icebing@bezalel-design.com
My Aspiration:
Mission: With our sincerity, professionalism andknowledge, Bezalel Design Communication do
guarantee high quality design works always - A design
solution of what client want and need.
Vision: Provide innovative professional design service.
Develop designer brand for licensing.

1. Book Design - art direction for photo shooting, bookconcept, design and script.
2. Illustration - An illustration for Moon cake packaging
design on moon cake box and insert card.
3. BauBau - One of the show at HK Licensing show “BauBau
is Lanuched!”.

Viola Pak

Creative Director, Eggshell CreativeMy Design Field: Branding and Advertising
My Education: Master of Design (Design Strategy)
Website: www.eggshell.com.hk
Email: vila@eggshell.com.hk
My Aspiration:
To me, design serves as a platform ofcommunication and should orient for people.
Any attractive design failing to suit users’ need ismerely soul lacking. In my experience, every design
possibility is always defined by its own limits. That’s
no short cut for innovation and the mission of adesigner is obligated to extend all these limits andact as a medium from clients and their eliberations.

Viola Pak, Creative Director and founder of Eggshell
Creative, started her career after completing a bachelor
degree in Graphic Design from the Hong Kong
Polytechnic University. With over 10 years experience inart direction, Viola has created numbers of character andgift line which show proven sales record both in the local
and overseas markets. Her other projects include “火柴人日記”, “我 我們 建築” which was rewarded as Merit of
the Hong Kong Print Awards and planning for numerouspress conferences and concerts. Viola was also teachingMarketing for the Yijin Project of City University of Hong
Kong.
Starting as a “one-man-band”, Eggshell Creative has now
transformed to a company with 8 personnel specialisingin Branding and Advertising. Viola was also awarded as“Young Entrepreneur” from the Young Business Hong Konglaunched by the Hong Kong Federation of Youth Groups
and “Incubatee” of the Incubation Programme organisedby Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks in 2007. Asa full member of the Hong Kong Design Association, Viola
has acquired a master degree in Strategic Design at theHong Kong Polytechnic University recently.
41Jeremy Vinson

Shum Yin Yan, Christine
Designer, Inoh Design
My Design Field: Graphic Design
My Education: BFA Graphic Design
Website: www.inohdesign.com
Email: cshum@inohdesign.com
My Aspiration:
I believe design should makepeople live in better life but not
purely for visual aesthetic. My
aspiration in graphic design is tocome up with a sustainable design
solution that could maximise
the effectiveness while minimise
the use of our limited resources.
Green design is not only applicablefor products and environmental
design. We as graphic designers
should participate and educate ourclients with more of this aspect.
Conceptual thinking with duality
is important in Christine Shum’s
design. It should be an interactive
communication with audiences sothey could have a room to think
while receiving information fromus. Design should be intercultural
as well. With the American design
education, working experience with
European and her own Chinese
background, she is glad to melt thesethree cultures and apply it in thevisual communication process.
42

Design Partner, Tandem Design
My Design Field: Brand and Identity
My Education: HND in Typographic Design,
Master of Business Administration
Website: www.tandemdesign.com.hk
Email: jeremy.vinson@tandemdesign.com.hk
My Aspiration:
The Design Advantage: At Tandem Design
believe that effective design has the ability
to change the way a brand does businessand ultimately change consumers’ attitude
towards it.
We’re thinkers and we’re creators. Using
our Inform–Create–Express process, we
get a clear understanding of the insights,
objectives and opportunities to apply themost effective design solutions to deliver
brand and business strategies for our clients.
Jeremy Vinson is one half of the founding duo at
Tandem Design. Starting his design career in London
in the early nineties, he arrived in Hong Kong in
1998. Since then, he’s been helping Asian brands
to create, grow and manage their businesses using
design as the core discipline. Over the course of his
16-year career he was most recently Design Director,
China at WPP’s Enterprise IG, now The Brand Union.
Clients that have benefited from his design solutions
include: The Asian Development Bank, Ayala, Bass
Leisure, Coca-Cola, Jardines, JP Morgan, Prudential,
Standard Chartered Bank.
Jeremy hold’s an MBA, from the University ofLeicester and is an active participant in executive
programs at Harvard Business School, Hong Kong
University of Science and Technology as well as
the Design Business Association. He has a Higher
National Diploma in Typographic Design from theLondon College of Printing, and is a member ofInternational Society of Typographic Designers.

Russell B. Williams

Jack Wong

Option Coordinator and Assistant Professor,
Digital Graphic Communication,
Department of Communication Studies,
School of Communication,
Hong Kong Baptist University
My Design Field: Design Education,Game Design and Communication Design
My Education: Ph.D., Mass Communication
Website: www.coms.hkbu.edu.hk./williams
Email: williams@hkbu.edu.hk

Director, Ondo Creation Ltd
My Design Field: Product Design &Manufacturing
My Education: Bachelor of Arts
Website: www.ondocreation.com
Email: jack@ondocreation.com

My Aspiration:
My aspiration is to prepare a
new generation of Hong Kong
communication designers for thebusiness opportunities which surroundthem. I also hope to bring non-violent
games to markets around the worldthat are still fun to play and are possible
to play in a variety of mediated forms.
Russell Williams’ primary product is his
students who are working throughout
Hong Kong in Animation, Advertising andCommunication Design. He is also designinga range of educational games that will be
coming to market aggressively in 2009.
These games are location-based and they
currently have designs for New York, Beijing
and South Africa. The concepts learned
through gameplay include geography, history,
economics, politics and navigation.

My Aspiration:
My aspiration is to introduce premium
designer products for couples, lovers
and youngsters to enjoy a healthy
lifestyle. Also, in the 21st century,
when HIV, STDs and unwanted
pregnancy are the major challenge
to all countries, we are committed topromote the awareness of practicing
safe and responsible sex.
Established in 2005, Ondo Creation is
the region’s leading lifestyle productmanufacturer/ distributor with thetheme “ Lifestyle Design for Lovers” which
includes romantic innovations, condom
manufacturing, HIV prevention andsafer sex education. Their products haveexported to North America, Europe, Japanand Australia. Also their flagship product“ONDOMUSIC” series have won numerous
awards including the internationallyacclaimed Industrial Design ExcellenceAwards (IDEA). Presented from theIndustrial Designers’ Society of America
and BusinessWeek Magazine.
43

Yau Yik Yuk, Anthony
Victor Tsang
Branding Director,
Ondo Creation Ltd.
My Design Field: Product Designand Manufacturing
My Education: Post-Graduate
Website: www.ondocreation.com
Email: victor@ondocreation.com
Established in 2005, Ondo
Creation is the region’s
leading lifestyle productmanufacturer/ distributor withthe theme “Lifestyle Designfor Lovers” which includes
romantic innovations, condom
manufacturing, HIV prevention
and safer sex education. Theirproducts have exported to
North America, Europe, Japanand Australia. Also their flagshipproduct “ONDOMUSIC” series
have won numerous awards
including the internationallyacclaimed Industrial Design
Excellence Awards (IDEA).
Presented from the Industrial
Designers’ Society of America
and BusinessWeek Magazine.

Creative Director, Locus Studio Co Ltd
My Design Field: Photography, Video Production and
Web Design
My Education: Master in Electronic Business andKnowledge Management
Website: www.locusstudio.com / www.alphafoto.net
Email: anthony@locusstudio.com
My Aspiration:
My art project, “My Collective Memory” isaspired by memories about culture, icons
and communities in Hong Kong. It is a crossmedia art and design project consistingof photography, videography, web sites,
publications, exhibitions and art educations,with a mission to build an electronicarchive and exchange platform of collective
memories of Hong Kong, and to develop
different design-related products in the
future. For more details, please visit www.
mycollectivememory.com.
Anthony Yau is a digital media designer
and artist specialising in digital
photography, video and web. He has over
12 years of experience in digital art design,development and education. He has been
providing consulting services on branding,system design and development of online
community and e-learning for different
corporations and organisations. He is also
a visiting lecturer of Polytechnic University
and resident artist for secondary schools.

Hau Ka Ying, Brian
Creative Director, My Expression Creative StudioMy Design Field: Branding/Packaging, Product Design
My Education: Double major in Industrial Design and
Visual Communication Design
Website: www.brianhau.com/portfolio/
Email: info@brianhau.com

Lok Lai Ming
Design Director, Winsome Fashion
My Design Field: Fashion Design
My Education: Graduate
Email: laiminglok@yahoo.com.hk

Brian Hau is certainly multi-disciplinary, no doubt about it.
Not only is he a designer/entrepreneur, but he is also an
independent singer-songwriter with two albums out instores.
Graduated from University of Alberta in Canada with double
major in Industrial Design and Visual Communication
Design, Brian has an ambition to set up a brand name all
to his own that comprises his designs, music and artistic
creations. He found his own company, My Expression
Creative Studio, to serve as his platform to express his
unique personality and life counter as a dual-cultured
individual. His products have a distinct taste of cross-culture
reference and range from greeting cards to necklaces toclocks as he would term them graphic-driven-product-designwith-a-sense-of-individuality.
Brian is a firm believer that a product must articulate theoriginal character of the creator, as he would treat each
design with the same heart he does on each poetic song
he writes on the guitar. Both his design and music indicate
how Brian transforms his robust yet sentimental nature into
cultivated artifacts creatively.
Brian is currently a freelance graphic designer under his own
company HB Pencil, designing leaflets, logos, websites andthe like, serving clients from a broad range of industries.

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45

Yan Yiu Fai

Ho Kit Ping, Patricia

Cressida Ng

Lead Designer, Timex Group B.V. T/A Mersey Manufacturers
My Design Field: Industrial Design
My Education: BA in Industrial Design
Email: yanyiufai@gmail.com

Business Director, Performa Ltd
My Design Field: Event Design and
Production HouseMy Education: Secondary
Website: www.performa.com.hk
Email: patho@performa.com.hk

VP Operations Hong Kong,
The Madden Corporation
My Design Field: I am not a designer,
but I work in the Product Development
Department with my designers to design
Hawaiian theme souvenir products, homedécor and bath and body products.
My Education: MBA
Email: cressida_ng@hotmail.com

Currently Lead Designer of Timex Group BV.
Specialised in digital timing design and responsible
for the Timex Ironman performance timing products.
Working closely with the US brand management
and Far East manufacturing from defining the Brand
identity, creating design concepts, developing
prototypes to supporting production.
Possess over 12 years of professional industrial
design experience and strong skills in 2D and 3D
design. Also experienced in setting product trends
and developing intellectual property includes
design / function patents and unique mechanicalstructures.

Fung Lok Wing
Senior Industrial Designer, Timex Group
B.V. T/A Mersey Manufacturers
My Design Field: Product Design
My Education: BA Industrial Design
Email: funglokwing@gmail.com
Responsible for the creative direction of theoutdoor sports watch line, The Expedition.
Specialised in both analog and digital products.
Working closely with the US marketing andbrand management to create design concepts.
Monitoring the Far East manufacturing tofabricate functional prototype products

46

Eric Lau
Operation Manager, New ProductInnovations Inc.
My Design Field: Product Design
My Education: MBA, MSc
Website: www.npi.com
Email: eric.lau@npi.com
My Aspiration:
Extend design service to Hong Kong;
having our own design products.

My Aspiration
My aspiration about HK after attending this class is tobe able to develop products with the fusion of the east
and west culture and thus have its uniqueness andwhich would be well received by the whole world.
My aspiration about my business is to expand it
worldwide instead of only running in the small
islands of Hawaii. Besides that, I hope to introduce the
Hawaiian culture to other nations by blending in some
Hawaiian elements into the design.

Yuen Tai Yan, Timothy

Cressida Ng produced products with Hawaiian designs.
They have all kinds of souvenirs products, dinnerware,glassware, and bath and body products.

CEO, iLearners Limited/ iLearners
Publishing Limited; Executive Director,
Pacific Commercial Holdings Limited;
Executive Director, Yuen & Yuen
Interests Limited
My Design Field: Publishing / Graphic
Design, Retail Design
My Education: Master in Architecture,
Bachelor of Architecture,
Bachelor of Fine Art
Email: contact@pacificcommercial.com.hk

Chung Wing Kan
Design Planner, Condor Production Ltd
My Design Field: Branding/ Packaging, Exhibition & Display
My Education: Post-Graduate

Ng Ping Chiu, Gordon
Trainee
My Design Field: Interior Design
My Education: BA (Hons) in International business
Email: gnpc@netvigator.com

Chris Yin
Designer, Chris Yin Design
My Design Field: Branding/ Packaging Design
My Education: Graduate47

About Hong Kong Design Centre
The Hong Kong Design Centre is a non-profit organisation dedicated to helping
local designers and businesses to realise their full potential. Our mission is to use
design and innovation to drive value creation and improve the well-being ofsociety. Our vision is to establish Hong Kong as a centre of design excellence inAsia.
The Hong Kong Design Centre was established in 2001 by the Hong Kong
Federation of Design Associations, the founding members of which are Hong Kong
Designers Association, Interior Design Association Hong Kong, Hong Kong Fashion
Designers Association, and the Chartered Society of Designers. Our principal
financial supporter is the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR)
Government.
We organise year-round seminars, workshops and conferences, on the one hand,to promote awareness of the value of design and use of design in the business /industry communities and, on the other hand, upgrade the business and design
expertise of design professionals and students.
www.hkdesigncentre.org
About CUHK Center for Entrepreneurship
CUHK Center for Entrepreneurship was inaugurated since 2005 and is a research
center under the Asia Pacific Institute of Business (APIB). The Group is aninterdisciplinary association of scholars united by the research, teaching andcommunity service in promoting entrepreneurship. The Center is leaded by
the cross-department core group, in addition to this core group, more than 15
faculty members from across nine university departments are involved in theCenter’s activities.
The Center aimed to understand, document and promote entrepreneurshipin the Greater China region and the world through research, education andpractice and, in the process, to establish the University as a global leader inentrepreneurship research and education.
The Center closely cooperates with the university’s Research and Technology
Administrative Office and the Center for Innovation and Technology (CINTEC),
the Hong Kong Government’s Department of Trade and Industry, Hong Kong
Science and Technology Park, the Shenzhen Academy of Social Sciences andmany entrepreneurs and venture capitalists in the Pearl River Delta.
www.cuhk.edu.hk/centre/entrepreneurship

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Published by Hong Kong Design Centre in Oct 2008

Enquiry:

Articles written by Bernard Suen.
Alumni portfolios provided by participants.

Elddie Yip
Manager, Design Promotion, Hong Kong Design Centre

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system,or transmitted in any way or by an means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying ,recording or otherwise, without prior written permission from the publisher.

Tel:+852 3586 3020
Fax: +852 2892 2621
Email: elddie.yip@hkdesigncentre.org