Organised by PMQ and the Japan Graphic Design Association (JAGDA), the exhibition “Graphic Design in Japan 2023 (Hong Kong Edition)” will take place from 10 April to 5 May at PMQ.

The JAGDA Awards have long commanded prestige within the Japanese graphic design profession. In collaboration with JAGDA, PMQ premiered the exhibition in Hong Kong in 2019. It returned glamorously last year, again displaying exceptional contemporary Japanese works to Hong Kong audiences. The past exhibitions’ successes buttressed this collaboration, enabling our third jointly curated showing.

PMQ is privileged to be the sole international venue for this exhibition which presents over 300 distinguished masterpieces spanning diverse applications, including but not limited to those by the 25th Yusaku Kamekura Design Awardees Tomohiro OKAZAKI and Haruka MISAWA, as well as JAGDA New Designer Awardees Kako FUJITA and Naonori YAGO. Furthermore, through participating in programmes such as design dialogues and designer-led tours, attendees may gain perspectives shared by practitioners from both Japan and Hong Kong, and engage in prospective discourse with such design professionals.

All events are offered free of charge and on a first-come, first-served basis. You may register via this link: https://pmq.hk/oUx3w

Events detail is as below:

【Design Dialogues】

1 / Design Brilliance: Spotlighting the Rising Stars

Join us for this design dialogue featuring Naonori Yago and Kako Fujita, the winners of the JAGDA 2023 New Designer Awards. They will be sharing their insights together with the moderator, Perry Leung.

They will discuss the inspiration behind their work, how they apply design thinking in their creative process, and even how they balance the creativity with client requirements in different cases.

The speakers will also explore how culture influences their design process, and how they execute inspiration to the target audience through innovative designs while achieving communicative value.

Don’t miss this opportunity to gain inspiration from these rising stars in the design industry!

Date | 13.4.2024 (Sat)
Time | 15:00 – 16:00
Language | Cantonese & Japanese
Speakers | Naonori Yago (Winner of 2023 JAGDA New Designer Award), Kako Fujita (Winner of 2023 JAGDA New Designer Award), Perry Leung (Deputy Head of the Department of Communication Design of Hong Kong Design Institute)

2 / Design Aesthetics: Spotlighting Design of Life

Have you ever had a moment where you “felt” beauty and found solace and strength in life?

Design exists everywhere in life, whether it’s a poster on a wall, the planning of a space, or the things we can see and the unseen experiences and ways of thinking that influence us from within.

Appreciation is not an innate skill. How do we appreciate design? What role does aesthetics play? The speaker of this design dialogue will discuss aesthetics and design, exploring whether even seemingly minor details can shed light on our understanding of the uniqueness of our own culture through both aesthetics and design.

Date | 20.4.2024 (Sat)
Time | 15:00 – 16:00
Language | Cantonese
Speakers | Keith Chan (Founder of Hintegro & HINT), Westley Wong (Creative Director of Wholly Wholly), Lo Chun Yip (Actor)

3 / Design Feeling: The Visual Storytelling of Advertising Design

When daily life is flooded with endless information, do you still remember any recent ads that left a deep impression on you?

In Japan’s creative industries, there are several advertising design awards that uncover ads with creativity and aesthetics in newspapers, magazines, and television – allowing people to see outstanding ad creations. There is even an advertising museum in Tokyo that exhibits excellent works.

In Hong Kong, the habits of audiences and forms of advertising, and even the entire advertising industry, have greatly changed over the past few decades. Through this discussion, let’s listen to creatives talk about how they balance visual aesthetics with practical business needs and consider how the future of advertising will develop.

Date | 3.5.2024 (Fri)
Time | 15:00 – 16:00
Language | Cantonese
Speakers | Rudi Leung (Founder & Director of Hungry Digital), Stephen Chung (Founder of BYFA Consultancy Limited), Topaz Leung (Director, Photographer)

4 / Design Guidance: Visual Exploration in the City

In recent years, the trend of citywalk has gained popularity, with many tourists “hunting for signs” on the streets. Those everyday road signs that were previously overlooked have become hot topics of discussion and social media check-in spots.

Public design (such as road signs) involves numerous considerations, and even a change in typeface can impact many users. The most common design requires collaboration across different professions. In this design dialogue, the speaker will discuss design, cultural observations, and psychological aspects, examining the aesthetics and inclusiveness of public design.

Date | 4.5.2024 (Sat)
Time | 15:00 – 16:00
Language | Cantonese
Speakers | Chris Tsui (Design Director of Trilingua)、Gary Yau (President of Road Research Society, Founder/Type Designer of Prison Gothic Revival Programme)、Peter Chan (Managing Director of TreeholeHK Limited)

【Designer-led Tours】

1/ Designer | Naonori Yago (Winner of 2023 JAGDA New Designer Award)
Date | 11.4.2024 (Thu)
Time | 15:00
Language | Japanese (with Cantonese Interpretation)

2/ Designer | Kako Fujita (Winner of 2023 JAGDA New Designer Award)
Date | 13.4.2024 (Sat)
Time | 13:00
Language | Japanese (with Cantonese Interpretation)

3/ Designer | Jonathan Mak (Graphic Designer)
Date | 21.4.2024 (Sun)
Time | 15:00 / 16:00
Language | Cantonese

4/ Designer | Leo Huang (Co-founder & Creative Director of SORA)
Date | 27.4.2024 (Sat)
Time | 16:00
Language | Putonghua

5/ Designer | Pan Tang (MIDWAY)
Date | 28.4.2024 (Sun)
Time | 15:00 / 16:00
Language | Cantonese

6/ Designer | Renatus Wu (Edited)
Date | 5.5.2024 (Sun)
Time | 15:00 / 16:00
Language | Cantonese