HKDI Gallery

In Germany, one litre of tap water costs, on average, 0.2 cents. For one euro, you get about 500 litres of tap water. For the sake of comparison: in the USA, one litre costs only 0.05 cents, which is about 75 percent less than the cost of tap water in Germany. What is more, with good packaging design, it is possible to achieve considerably higher prices.

Substance - H20: transparent and tasteless substance

Italian pasta is made from semolina, hard durum wheat. That is all. Nevertheless, there are seemingly endless types of pasta – it comes in myriad shapes and a variety of flavours. In many recipes, the taste can be influenced by the shape of the pasta.

Substance - Semolina: hard durum wheat

Dominance and Evolution of Form

An early milestone in the development of interactive design was the Sony Aibo. Aibo (meaning “pal” or “partner” in Japanese) is the acronym for “artificial intelligence robot”, a series of robotic dogs designed and manufactured by Sony.

Sony’s Aibo is a seductive piece of technology. The shape and form of the robot dog is so tempting that when in use, people forget its constructed nature, sensors and cameras, and artificial intelligence.

 The message is clear: Aibo loves you and you love Aibo. The affection to Aibo reflects human’s emotion need.

The Balance between Design Strength and Design Continuity

A look into the past is essential to learn from earlier successes and to integrate familiar forms or materials into new products.  The design strength of a company is determined by the degree to which it uses design to innovate in order to differentiate itself from the competition. This balancing act between design strength and design continuity is exemplified by such design icons as Coca-Cola and Dyson.

Dominance and Evolution of Form

“The 911 is at the heart of the Porsche brand. For this reason, the 911 has to be recognizable as a 911, but must always be the ‘new’ 911.”, said Michael Mauer, Head of Design at Porsche.

The Balance between Tradition and Innovation

This balancing act between tradition and innovation is exemplified by such design icons as Braun shavers, Philips shavers, and the Motorola Razr flip phone.

The first Nivea Creme was launched more than 100 years ago. The familiar small tins have been blue since 1925. This iconic Nivea blue has hardly changed and has been under trademark protection since 2007. The redesign of Nivea’s brand identity by designer Yves Béhar and fuseproject impresses visually, with its clear typeface and form that still preserve the brand’s original values. Both the round lid and the round logo are inspired by the aesthetics of the classic blue Nivea Creme tin – maintaining a strong visual impact with its plain blue and white colours.

“Just like the design, the colours and materials used are part of our brand promise. It is about empowering everyday creativity through purposeful design. This is the essence of the brand.”, said Petteri Masalin, Creative Design Lead at Fiskars.

“The colours give structure to the tools and are part of the non-verbal communication. As a result, we use them in a highly targeted way to achieve certain effects at different levels of perception.”, said Stephan Niehaus, Head of Corporate Product Design at Hilti.

“Kärcher is yellow. It is the most important colour of the brand, product design and corporate design. It is essential for the corporate identity of the company. Anyone who sees yellow thinks of Kärcher.”, said Michael Meyer, Director of Industrial Design at Kärcher.

“The colour blue symbolises air and water and is associated with intuition, imagination and inspiration. Design is always about material and its use through purpose-driven shape. In technical applications, be it components, automation, or robots, blue is often used on metal or plastic products to attribute a corporate colour.”, said Axel Thallemer, former Head of Corporate Design at Festo.

Material alone cannot constitute design. But good design can use the material to create a valuable product. Successful product design is reflected in the quality of the product’s function and material. The interplay of form and function, material, and aesthetics, is brought together through precise and high-quality manufacturing. Studio F. A. Porsche, Red Dot: Design Team of the Year 2021/2022, has implemented this design philosophy brilliantly in the Siemens Breakfast Set.

Nola Kaskad lounge chair designed by Björn Dahlström is made of simple steel wire. Its elegant form and flowing design lines offer a high degree of seating comfort and make the chair a valuable design object.

Kaskad (12.5 kg) - HK$ 4,500 | Steel wire (12.5 kg) - HK$ 900

The design of the Tendo Orizuru chair adopts the structural folding technique of origami; its shape is inspired by a paper crane. Like an origami design, which is folded from one sheet of paper, Orizuru is made from a single piece of plywood. The ten layers of plywood include two extra sheets of rice paper to absorb the glue used to strengthen the structure. Despite its visual lightness, the chair offers high stability and comfort for everyday use.

Orizuru (9.0 kg) - HK$ 13,500 | Plywood (9.0 kg) - HK$ 450

Tupperware Allegra is a timeless product with generous and elegant lines. Functionally, it pays homage to the first Tupperware products, a simple bowl that is airtight and waterproof and whose form and material is surprising. The bowls consist of two material/design components, one for the interior and the other for the exterior. The aim of the design was to make the components complement each other in colour and surface finish: a matt exterior and a highly polished interior surface.

The design of Samsonite Neoknit blends a strong sense for aesthetics and functionality with high environmental awareness. In the manufacturing process, the primary material is a knitted, fully recycled polyester (rPET) yarn. The knitting process and subsequent final assembly is almost entirely automated and programmed to reduce waste as much as possible.

The Kaldewei Miena washbowl is characterised by its particularly thin edges and soft contours. In combination with the round shape that gives it a remarkable lightness, steel enamel ensures stability. Steel enamel is a fusion of steel and glass. It is one of the best materials for bathtubs and washbasins as it withstands all external influences, retains its value, and offers long-lasting quality that users can see, feel, and appreciate time and again. In addition to the classic bathroom colours, the washbasin is available in a range of exquisite tones: matt or polished, coloured, or white.

“Every once in a while, a revolutionary product comes along that changes everything.”, said Steve Jobs, the late Co-founder, Chairman and CEO of Apple.

“Design is not just a cost factor, but an investment that pays off. Design can make a valuable contribution to a company’s success.” , “The best design companies significantly outperform the market. Publicly traded design companies perform significantly better than the competition and small and medium-sized companies achieve a high level of awareness even with lower market shares.”, said Peter Zec and Burkhard Jacob, authors of Design Value: A Strategy for Business Success. 

“Design creates value and strategic potential for any company which embraces and applies its true strategic principles: creative business strategies, better and more sustainable objects, smarter functionalities, easier-to-use software applications, and more inspiring, human-centric experiences.”, said Hartmut Esslinger.

Whether you are in the house or garden, when you see yellow cleaning equipment you think of Kärcher. Historically, Kärcher was not always yellow. Their first appliances were, in fact, blue. After the death of the company’s founder Alfred Kärcher, his wife continued operations, consistently aligning it with the cleaning equipment market and choosing yellow as the brand’s signature colour.

 “That was a deliberate decision,” says Michael Meyer, Director of Industrial Design at Kärcher and responsible for the Home & Garden Products division. “Kärcher was demonstrably one of the first companies to set a trend in this sector and continues to set the tone today.”

iMac, iPhone, iPad. This triad of Apple products alone represents an entire universe of high-quality design objects that have changed the world of work and communication. Few other companies have proven so adept at giving customers something they want before they even know it. It is the design of these products that counts. The shift from materials like polycarbonate to materials like glass and aluminum alludes to the quality of the products and the values they convey.

“We’re surrounded by anonymous, poorly made objects. It’s tempting to think it’s because the people who use them don’t care – just like the people who make them. But what Apple has shown is that people do care. It’s not just about aesthetics. They care about things that are thoughtfully conceived and well made.”, said Jonathan Ive, former Chief Design Officer at Apple

Dyson's product design has a consistent look and feel. Geometric shapes like the ring and the lozenge as well as the cylindrical base are used for different products, from the air multiplier to the air purifier. In terms of material, Dyson mainly uses ABS plastic, the same used in Lego bricks. ABS belongs to a group of highly impact-resistant copolymers.

“I don’t design down to a price.”; “You are only as good as your last product.”, said James Dyson, Founder of Dyson

Kartell was founded in 1949 in Italy by Giulio Castelli. In 1988, his son-in-law, Claudio Luti, who until then had been active in the fashion industry, took over the company. He turned the furniture manufacturer into a lifestyle brand. The breakthrough came in 1999 when after years of research and material innovation, Kartell became the first company in the world to produce furniture made of polycarbonate. The material still characterises the brand today.

Kartell’s collaboration with designers such as Philippe Starck, Antonio Citterio, Alberto and Francesco Meda as well as Piero Lissoni resulted in numerous iconic design. Material innovations, product quality and sustainability are part of Kartell’s design language and philosophy. Most of Kartell’s products can be used for twenty years or more. All products are made from recyclable materials. The new polycarbonate 2.0 reduces CO₂ emissions by 60 percent. The A.I. Chair is the first product made from this material.

Great design begins with an inspired idea. When ThinkPad was introduced in 1992, the design of Richard Sapper had been inspired by the beautifully crafted Japanese bento box. The ThinkPad and the Think series were acclaimed for their simplicity, surprising functions, and lasting value.

Brand Extension 

 Lenovo’s ThinkPad-branded laptops originally were the property of International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) and a milestone in the design history of laptop computers. In 2005, Lenovo bought IBM’s personal computer business for $1.25 billion. Consumers were loyal to ThinkPad and Lenovo succeeded in attracting new users and buyers.

 Lenovo has been applying the brand extension strategy very successfully in recent years. Today they produce and sell not only laptops under the “Think” brand, but also monitors, PCs, desk lamps, headphones and augmented reality headsets.

“God is in the details.”, said Ludwig Mies van der Rohe

“Time is one of the few things that may ultimately establish the true quality of an object.”, said Richard Sapper

The German company Canyon is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of road bikes, mountain bikes, triathlon bikes, fitness bikes, urban bikes and children's bikes. Like no other company in the bicycle industry, it stands for the combination of technology, design and quality.

Building the Best Bike

Canyon succeeds in applying one design and brand language to different bikes. Simplicity, precision and dynamics are basic elements of the design ethos. The company’s designers and engineers have achieved outstanding products and a fantastic brand. Equally fascinating is the unique and sustainable company growth.

Grohe’s Signature Elements

Three signature elements bring design continuity to the Grohe product portfolio. This visual DNA can be found in the product design and allows the customers to intuitively identify a Grohe product at a glance.

The ring serves to highlight the purpose of a product. It refers to a functional zone and orientation point for the user.

The angle of the tap handle and the spout is set at exactly seven degrees. Research reveals this subtle tilt enhances the user experience.

The lozenge symbolises the Grohe design philosophy of “Sensual Minimalism” and serves as an invitation to use the product.

Colour and Individualisation

Grohe has created a carefully curated range of colours and finishes for all touchpoints in the bathroom and kitchen.

“Colour is extremely important and effective. It creates the feeling of being in control of one’s choices and decisions. Thus, an emotional relationship to the product can be established.”, said Paul Flowers, Chief Design Officer at LIXIL

Function and Sustainability

Grohe offers sustainable product solutions not just to today’s consumer but for generations to come.

“We’re inquisitive, and we want to think. That’s where the value comes from. We are constantly questioning, ‘How can I do this better?’, ‘Why did we do it like that?’, ‘Can we do it in a different way?’ We have to think like this if we are going to add value.”, said Paul Flowers, Chief Design Officer at LIXIL

Form and Design Language

An intuitive design language offers Grohe the opportunity to create products that feel as if they were designed just for you.

“Our water technology brand is now well-defined, with a unique sense of purpose, identity, and value. That means we can attach things like different materials, colours, and finishes. This way, our brand can fulfil different consumer needs.”, said Paul Flowers, Chief Design Officer at LIXIL

“In many companies, design is still regarded as additional, unnecessary work which causes costs and does not pay. Don’t be afraid to innovate and invest in good product design. The products should always signal a high level of design quality in terms of form and function, usability, and sustainability.”, said Peter Zec, Founder and CEO of Red Dot

Inspired from the everyday Chinese dining experience, Yuen Sek is a set of modern tableware that takes into consideration of design aesthetics, function, and ergonomics. Each tableware set includes a soup bowl, a plate, a rice bowl, a pair of chopsticks, a spoon and a sauce plate to cater every details of experience of pleasant dining. 

HKDI Student Awardees: Alvin Liu Shing Kai (Higher Diploma in Product Design 2020)

Faculty Advisor: Beam Leung

In a rapid ageing society, an increasing number of people are afflicted with physical ailments that directly limit their mobility. Tri Cane aims to balance users’ sense of autonomy and their physical needs. Its slim and understated appearance projects an image of a life-style item instead of an assistive device.

HKDI Student Awardees: Jordan Lau Tsz Chun (Higher Diploma in Product Design 2019)

Faculty Advisor: Kelvin Kam Mang Chi, Damon Yau Wai Sang

The design comes with a projection device built into the faucet. When users wash their hands, the image of a lively fish will be projected in their palms. In relation to water usage level, the colour of the fish changes until it disappears eventually. It is a reminder to the users that they are using excessive amount of water.

HKDI Student Awardees: Lamb Tse (Higher Diploma in Product Design 2011)

Faculty Advisor: Bill Silent Chan

Birdgazer is a combination of telescope, bird watching machine, and camera with ability to access internet. Programed with bird watching software, Birdgazer provides relevant bird watching information from internet upon inputting weather and location. When users take photo of a bird, face detection function is activated for quick matching bird information.

HKDI Student Awardees: Alan Yip Siu Lun (Higher Diploma in Timepiece Design and Branding 2010)

Faculty Advisor: Daniel Chan