Henry Steiner

p7-20.indd 7 8/4/08 6:35:59 PM RMM Special Issue Section A Henry Steiner

Interview with Henry Steiner

How do you feel about need sophisticated branding; unequivocally opposed to the The series of banknotes Alan Zie Yongder but he’s couldn’t, then you had no being named the ‘Father they cannot continue to practice. I do not start my you designed for Standard now in Shanghai most of the idea and thus no design. of Hong Kong Design’? thrive on low-cost generic taxi before the flag is down Chartered Bank is a time. manufacturing. Hong Kong is and the meter running. The classic. There have been 3. Design must contain I appreciate the recognition an ideal location from which fact that this is still an issue criticisms of the most In Hong Kong, the contrast. This can be contrast as long as I’m not held to serve them. in Hong Kong indicates a recently designed Hong prospective design of color, of expectation, responsible for the actions certain desperation in the Kong banknotes. What students always want psychological tensions, size, of my ‘offspring’. I’d rather What do you want to design community. should a good banknote to find out how to learn old vs. new, etc. be known as the Father of deliver to your clients in design possess? good design? And where Cross-Cultural Design; I your design? On the other How do you see the can they learn? Could you The awkwardness in which wrote the book (with Ken hand, what do you want development of Hong Thank you. Security is the drop them some hints? much current design is Haas) in 1995. the public to perceive Kong art and culture? For most important feature of stuck I call “CyberDeco”. from your design? examples: West Kowloon any item of currency. If it is Graphic design is going This is work dependent Why did you choose Hong Culture District and M+? not difficult to counterfeit it through an awkward phase, on style, on patterns, on Kong as the base of your Alan Fletcher said: “A has failed. Some indication of in my opinion. I studied ‘mood’. It’s an outgrowth of design career? designer tries to solve his I believe that plans to bring national or cultural identity painting with some of the desktop publishing, whose clients’ problems. A painter culture to the masses by is desirable. I think you are best artists of the New templates pandered to the It wasn’t necessary to make tries to solve his own building museums in distant, referring to the Government York School of Abstract lowest common denominator a choice until recently. problems.” I relish working largely inaccessible parts of issued $10 banknotes, which Expressionism, yet felt of talent and insight: H.S. When I came to Hong Kong with clients. My specialty is Hong Kong is a subterfuge are so universally disliked dissatisfied and alienated. photographs without skill or /p. in 1961, it was to continue brand creation and strategy. to support the construction and ridiculed that there is I had nothing I wanted to point, typography without working for a magazine for It’s satisfying to define a industry. There are already little left to be said. communicate through art legibility or meaning, which I had been designing client’s personality visually 18 shabby government-run and it wasn’t until I went to patterns and colors filling up in New York. The originally in a clear, compelling museums in Hong Kong, Is it a good atmosphere Yale for my Master’s degree uncomfortably empty spaces. agreed nine months period manner. When you get it mostly empty except when in the design industry? in design that I discovered You can see how my points 2. was extended to two years right it makes your clients’ patronized by bussed in Is there any designer or what made me tick. It was and. 3. can be violated. and then to a retainer which communication with their groups of school children project that we should carrying out problem-solving It is not easy to teach design enabled me to work for other market easier and more or retirees. These existing pay attention to? assignments; Alan Fletcher’s and there are not enough clients. There was no reason efficient. My branding for facilities as well as other formula, in other words. gifted design teachers. to leave Hong Kong since my HSBC is a good example. serviceable buildings, like There are more competent What is easy to teach is work was in demand locally. the Wanchai Market or designers in Hong Kong My credo is: software. Thus foggy, vapid Since 1997 however there What is your opinion the Central Police complex than discerning clients. photoshopped images and has been a downturn in the on the latest hot topic need little more than some Two exceptions to the latter 1. Design is done for others. meaningless, wandering market for quality design ‘Against Free Pitching’? whitewash and an inspired are Douglas Young (G.O.D) I have rarely done a design patterns. Voila: CyberDeco! and I had to decide whether Should the whole industry curator to supply the and David (Shanghai) only to please myself. The to stay on or move elsewhere. gathers up and oppose it? needs of our residents and Tang. Among the designers exceptions might include a My advice to aspiring I remained because Hong How to deal with those visitors. Unfortunately, our I respect are Sandy Choi, greeting card or letterhead designers: Kong is a convenient and incomprehensible clients? Government understands Stanley Wong, and Pokit for my own company. comfortable place to be development, not art. Poon. Not quite designers Think carefully whether you headquartered (low taxes, Being asked to give ideas Perhaps they honestly believe but of great interest are the 2. Design communicates an want to be a commercial ease of travel, freedom of the away in competitions for that, “If you build it, they will cartoonist Zunzi and the idea. said you artist and not a painter. Are press, rule of law, established contracts is unethical come.” abstractionist photographer should be able to write on one you interested in your clients professional services, etc.). and disrespectful to Norman de Brackinghe. I side of an index card what and their businesses? Mainland Chinese companies our profession. I am also appreciate the work of your design was about. If you You should get satisfaction

p7-20.indd 8-9 8/4/08 6:36:00 PM RMM Special Issue Hong Kong Section A Henry Steiner

My Home, Hong Kong

from the work and spend What kind of plans do you Where is your favourite if not subversive wit in the most of your time looking have in the future? place in Hong Kong? work of many Hong Kong for designs, or at signs, painters. Two examples are or thinking about an China cannot continue What is your least Wilson Shieh and Joey Leung assignment. Satisfaction indefinitely producing low favourable Hong Kong Ka-yin. To compare Hong must come from the work priced goods anonymously for culture? Kong and Mainland artists itself. Otherwise find foreign entities who make the is like comparing early Paul another line of work because lion’s share of profit through What would you like to Klee with late Joan Miro. practicing design is not the their own branding and say to Hong Kong? There were newspaper path to riches. marketing expertise. China articles recently warning of must follow in the footsteps of Sai Ying Pun is on the the disappearance of skilled What would you usually Japan and Korea in creating Western harbor shore of Hong furniture carpenters and do when you fail to draw branded products. My Kong Island. A militarily printing engravers. Another up any ideas? expertise in brand creation strict street grid laid out in story about the chopping off of is proven. So my future is, the 1840s now teems with century-old banyan tree roots When I’m asked “Where do I believe, branding Chinese busy people ambling happily can be seen as a metaphor for you get your inspiration?” my companies on the Mainland. in the middle of the roadways such loss of craftsmanship reply is “from the deadline.” shared with forbearing and indeed for many of the Without clients and drivers. They are civil and homely values which have H.S. deadlines, frankly, I doubt get through their chores with served Hong Kong so well. /p.10 that anything would ever humor and efficiency. It’s Resilient Hong Kong has in happen in my case. To answer like Hong Kong in the 1970s, its past much to be proud of. your question: ideas come it’s where I live, and is my It should now raise its sights from analysis. Interviewing favorite place. and standards with audacity. the client. Free associating Hong Kong people tend the problem, perhaps to be down to earth; ©2008 Henry Steiner redefining it. Sometimes, in accommodating yet panic, I look anywhere for persistent. For fifty years an answer and often they in the middle of the last come from an unexpected century they preserved and place. That uneasiness of protected much of Chinese not making progress on a culture from the ravages project is like constipation of civil wars, invasions and or pregnancy. The question revolutions. They have a is always with you and relief becoming modesty which comes only when an idea can often result in a ‘cheap clicks into place, most often and cheerful’ attitude. when you’ve stored as much Sadly, much product, data as possible and then graphic design, and the film step away from it. That’s why industry bear witness to this the most common times for easy acceptance of bargain inspiration are after sleep or basement standards. in the shower. There is a great deal of this humility mixed with subtle,

p7-20.indd 10-11 8/4/08 6:36:01 PM RMM Special Issue Hong Kong Section A Henry Steiner

H.S. /p.12

Standard Chartered Bank series 2004. Brands.

p7-20.indd 12-13 8/4/08 6:36:05 PM RMM Special Issue Hong Kong Section A Henry Steiner

1. 2. 5. 6.

H.S. /p.14

3. 4. 7. 8.

1/ Servus Hong Kong book cover 2004. 2/ Homage to Toulouse-Lautrec centenary France 2001. 5/ The Earth-Triumph in Plastic Japan 1997. 6/ Cross-Culture Design-cover and spread 1995. 3/ Hong Kong Print Awards 2000. 4/ Design98Show 1998. 7/ The Joy Luck Club-Shanghai 1993. 8/ Observatoire International des Prisons France 1992.

p7-20.indd 14-15 8/4/08 6:36:19 PM RMM Special Issue Hong Kong Section A Henry Steiner

1. 4. 5.

H.S. /p.16

2. 3. 6.

1/ Conserve Nature 1992. 4/ Amoy peanut oil package design 1979. 5/ Sing Tao newspapers 1972-73 annual report cover. 2/ Type Morisaua Japan 1991. 3/ Idea magazine Japan 1981. 6/ HSBC 1976 annual report cover.

p7-20.indd 16-17 8/4/08 6:36:26 PM p7-20.indd 18-19 8/4/08 6:36:28 PM p7-20.indd 20 8/4/08 6:36:31 PM