Kiki Yip


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PolyU Design Show 2023: Celebrating the growth of graduates

Jan-Jul 2023
Project typeCommercial
CategoryVisual identity, UI, motion design
Project role
Creative lead and designer
Client
The Hong Kong Polytechnic University

Awards

Macau Design Award 2023 - Finalist  
Hong Kong International Poster Triennial 2024 - Selected Entry
CreditsCreative Direction, Design & Motion | Kiki Yip & Rico Yip Show guide design | Kay Lee  
Wayfinding signage design | Polar Hong & Jennifer Lee

Overview

The PolyU Design Show is an annual highlight event of Hong Kong's creative and innovative industries, showcases over a hundred design projects by students from the School of Design. The theme for this year's show, 'Grow to Discover, Expand to Show,' draws inspiration from the universe's growth, paralleling the development of the design students.

Design concept

2023 marked the return of universities to physical classes after COVID-19, inspiring our choice of a vibrant, bold visual identity to celebrate this significant milestone. This approach also distinguished this year from the clean, minimalistic designs used in the previous year. 

We used a masking effect to symbolise how students initially enter university with hidden potential. As they progress through their education, they grow and develop, allowing their true talents to emerge upon graduation. Each circle represents an individual student, and as time advances, these circles enlarge and merge—mirroring how students collaborate to create the greatest impact together.


Website design

I developed multiple hover interactions and loading animations for the Design Show website that echoes the growing concept and text-masking visual elements in the brand identity.

Improving user experience

Since the show website has been operating since 2020, we did not need to start from scratch. We made small, targeted adjustments to improve the user experience. For example, previous years' student project showcases were only available in slideshow format. Users have to click multiple times to see the full project. We changed the project showcase to a scrollable page that gives users a quick overview before they click into individual photos that they found interesting. This design is inspired by Behance, the largest social media platform for creatives.

Reflections and takeaways

While working on this project with school's marketing team, I encountered communication challenges as they served as intermediaries between us and the website developer. and we remained unaware of technical challenges the developer encountered. Several design elements—including type sizes, margins, and component opacity—were implemented incorrectly without our awareness. This experience taught me the importance of maintaining direct and active communication with both clients and developers to ensure alignment throughout the process and prevent similar issues in future projects.
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