With the rise of the creative economy, businesses are realising that money invested in design can add significant value to products, services and the employer brand.
Designers are increasingly in demand, especially designers with leadership skills. The Hong Kong Design Centre (HKDC) wants to encourage Hong Kong to enrich its future leaders and lead the change. This does not only apply to the young talent of today and tomorrow—Dr Edmund Lee, Executive Director, HKDC stressed the importance of professionals at all stages of their career to learn, unlearn and relearn, “Education is a lifetime experience, to better communicate with each other we need to understand where others are coming from.” Hong Kong Design Week, 3–8 December 2012, is a platform for professionals to understand the power of design and promote cross-industry learning.
Hong Kong’s young talent will especially be able to benefit due to the development of the city as an international hub of design creativity. Companies need to understand that money spent on design is an investment and a necessity. Where budgets are tight, creativity of design is not a place to stop investing, in fact constraint on resources is one of the greatest motivations for developing great things. Locally, the concern about the health and societal problems caused by the environment put to Hong Kong’s enterprising young minds could result in solutions never before believed possible, if given time, opportunity and support. Lee singled out two pinnacles of design in Hong Kong—the Octopus card: a design so simple which has found itself embedded into the day-to-day life of locals and visitors alike; and the city’s international airport: globally renowned for its ease of use and aesthetic appeal.
Paul Arkwright
Publisher
