Hong Kong Design Centre

(Hong Kong, 13 Jul 2015) Since its inauguration in February, Happy "D" - a community outreach programme that brings happiness and inspires creativity through community art - has entered into a new phase after four months of intensive brainstorming. The project, co-presented by Hong Kong Disneyland (HKDL) and Hong Kong Design Centre (HKDC), will implement two Happy "D" ideas this fall shaped by more than 20 young, multi-disciplinary talents coming from architecture, exhibition design, landscape architecture and creative media fields, with the guidance and coaching of local design masters.

The direction of the Happy "D" Project is co-led by Mr Kelly Willis, Director, Creative Development of Walt Disney Imagineering and Dr Edmund Lee, Executive Director, Hong Kong Design Centre. Edmund explains, "The act and competence of designing is powerful. It is also essential to cultivate creative confidence in our younger generations and society. This meaningful project underpins our public mission to promote widespread use of design for creativity and innovation in the community." Kelly adds on, "Happy 'D' is about nurturing Hong Kong's young designers as they create art that inspires our community. With the help of Imagineers from Hong Kong Disneyland and top-notch local masters of design from various disciplines, we're working hand-in-hand to guide them through the creative process. The inspiration and experience we share helps them create works of art that express the joy and wonder of the park."

The project has adopted a co-creation approach in design thinking, which consists of a co-creation workshop, presentations and numerous meetings and coaching sessions with design and architect masters - Mr Hung Lam and Mr Eddy Yu in communicative design, Mr Chi-Wing Lee in product design and Mr William Lim in architecture. Students were also encouraged to obtain feedback from different demographic groups during the ideation process. In some sessions, young practicing designers have given their valuable input as well.

The design masters have appreciated the effort and creativity of the students. "The teams threw in many great ideas pinpointing observations and personal experiences in our community. We are impressed with the students' creativity in addressing the communication breakdown of nowadays' overwhelmingly digitised life." say  William and Chi-Wing. Eddy and Hung say, "The students have thought of a happy surprise for people's everyday lives. We appreciate their thoughtfulness in presenting a social problem and possible solution in a joyful and creative manner." The project has nurtured the young participants to be able to think of design solutions for the sake of social challenges - an important step toward being an innovative leader.

Following their final presentations, the students were invited to attend a special advanced screening of Disney-Pixar's highly anticipated summer release "Inside Out", courtesy of The Walt Disney Company Hong Kong. Two final concepts will undergo implementation in coming months and the outcome will greet different local communities in the fourth quarter of this year. Please stay tuned for our events!

For programmes and activities, please visit: www.facebook.com/HappyDProject

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About Happy "D" Project
To inspire young talents to connect the local community with happiness through design and imagination, Hong Kong Disneyland (HKDL) and Hong Kong Design Centre (HKDC) jointly launched the debut outreach programme Happy "D" Project in February 2015, with a HK$2 million grant from HKDL. Young talents from Disney ImagiNations have teamed up with local design and architect masters engaged by HKDC to create the Happy "D" Project.

The curatorial team is co-led by Mr Kelly Willis, Director, Creative Development of Walt Disney Imagineering and Dr Edmund Lee, Executive Director, Hong Kong Design Centre.

About Hong Kong Design Centre
Design for Society is the major undertaking of Hong Kong Design Centre (HKDC). HKDC is a non-profit organisation and a strategic partner of the HKSAR Government in developing Hong Kong as an international design hub in Asia. Since 2002, HKDC has been on a public mission to (i) champion strategic and wider use of design for creating business value and community benefits; (ii) promote and celebrate design excellence; and (iii) educate the professions and the community to be resourceful champions for sustained developments through design and innovation.

Media Enquiries Wendy Wo Tel: (+852) 3793 8472 Fax: (+852) 2892 2621 Email:   wendy.wo@hkdesigncentre.org

Programme Enquires Sam Lam Tel: (+852) 3793 8412 Fax: (+852) 2892 2621 Email:   sam.lam@hkdesigncentre.org

Participating young talents, design and architect masters as well as the project teams from HKDC and HKDL make "Ds" that stand for design and delight.

Mr Chi-Wing Lee (right) assists students in mapping out their creative thoughts in the co-creation workshop.

Core team members discuss their ideas with Mr William Lim (far left) and Mr Clinton Tsoi (2nd from left) in their office.

Core team members discuss their ideas with design masters, Mr Eddy Yu (far right) and Mr Hung Lam (2nd from right) in their office

Mr Kelly Willis, Director, Creative Development of Walt Disney Imagineering (far right) and Dr Edmund Lee, Executive Director, Hong Kong Design Centre (middle) are both very impressed by the final presentation.

Core team members present their ideas after the four-month-long co-creation process.