# Hong Kong East–West Graphic Modernism

> The studio design of Hong Kong from the 1960s, made for banks, developers, trade bodies, hotels and cultural events in a city that had to speak Chinese and English at once. Henry Steiner, a Yale student of Paul Rand, and a local generation taught by Wucius Wong, led by Kan Tai-keung, set compact symbols, sans-serif type and white space against quoted Chinese signs: ancient coins, characters, mythical creatures and, from the 1980s, ink washes and brush strokes, often staged as an East–West visual pun.

- Period: 1964–present
- Where: East Asia
- Origin: Hong Kong: Henry Steiner, posted there by The Asia Magazine in 1961, founded Graphic Communication in 1964; a local generation trained in Wucius Wong's design courses, led by Kan Tai-keung (at Graphic Atelier from 1968, co-founder of his own studio in 1976), served the city's banks, developers, trade bodies, hotels and cultural events
- Branch: Rational modernism
- Also known as: Hong Kong studio design, East/West design, Cross-cultural design (Henry Steiner)
- Page: https://stylogeny.com/styles/hong-kong-modernism/

## Use it with care

Hong Kong uses traditional Chinese characters, so do not substitute simplified forms, and have every Chinese word in a lockup checked by a literate reader, since image models often invent or garble characters. The style used real Chinese signs and characters for their meaning, such as the coin and 中 of the Bank of China emblem; do not fall back on brush-effect 'chop-suey' Latin fonts or random characters as exotic texture.

## How it works

- Give Chinese and English a designed place in one lockup: either match the stroke weight of a Latin sans and the Chinese characters, or contrast them deliberately in size and angle, as Progress Hong Kong (1975) skews a bold Latin at about thirty degrees beside smaller horizontal Chinese.
- Quote one Chinese sign, such as an ancient coin, a character, a seal or a mythical creature, and reduce it to a modernist symbol instead of scattering it as ornament.
- Build the idea on contrast: set an Eastern and a Western image side by side, or let one turn into the other, so the meaning lands as a visual pun.
- Stage ink and brush inside a modernist field: one wash, one stroke or a red dot against wide white space and a strict sans-serif.
- Keep to a few flat spot inks on a pale, grey or black ground. In the ink-inflected posters this narrows to ink black, paper white and one red dot; Steiner's posters admit bright accents, as in the punk's red, pink and blue in East/West Design Dialogues (1988).

## Its design choices

Defining choices make the style, characteristic ones are usual, occasional ones turn up now and then.

### Layout & composition
- [Dynamic asymmetry](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/dynamic-asymmetry/) (characteristic)
- [Isolated object](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/isolated-object/) (characteristic)
- [Modular grid](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/modular-grid/) (characteristic)
- [Central symmetry](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/central-symmetry/) (occasional)
- [Collage & layering](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/collage-and-layering/) (occasional)
- [Diagonal axis](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/diagonal-axis/) (occasional)

### Space & hierarchy
- [Generous white space](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/generous-white-space/) (defining)
- [Single focal point](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/single-focal-point/) (characteristic)
- [Extreme scale contrast](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/extreme-scale-contrast/) (characteristic)
- [Layered information](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/layered-information/) (occasional)

### Typography
- [Grotesque & neo-grotesque](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/grotesque-and-neo-grotesque/) (defining)
- [Brush & pen calligraphy](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/brush-and-pen-calligraphy/) (characteristic)
- [Rotated & vertical setting](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/rotated-and-vertical-setting/) (characteristic)
- [Type as image](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/type-as-image/) (characteristic)
- [Hand-lettering](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/hand-lettering/) (occasional)

### Colour
- [Limited spot colours](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/limited-spot-colours/) (defining)
- [Monochrome](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/monochrome/) (characteristic)
- [Light ground](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/light-ground/) (characteristic)
- [Flat fields](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/flat-fields/) (characteristic)
- [Dark ground](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/dark-ground/) (occasional)

### Form & shape
- [Geometric primitives](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/geometric-primitives/) (characteristic)
- [Non-representational](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/non-representational/) (occasional)
- [Stylised figuration](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/stylised-figuration/) (occasional)
- [Pictogram](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/pictogram/) (occasional)

### Surface & texture
- [Painterly brushwork](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/painterly-brushwork/) (characteristic)
- [Flat](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/flat/) (characteristic)

### Ornament
- [Folk & sacred symbols](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/folk-and-sacred-symbols/) (defining)
- [Emblems & badges](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/emblems-and-badges/) (characteristic)
- [Restrained accents](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/restrained-accents/) (characteristic)

### Imagery
- [Straight photography](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/straight-photography/) (characteristic)
- [Painterly illustration](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/painterly-illustration/) (characteristic)
- [Line illustration](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/line-illustration/) (occasional)
- [Photomontage](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/photomontage/) (occasional)
- [Icons & pictograms](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/icons-and-pictograms/) (occasional)
- [Typography only](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/typography-only/) (occasional)

### Medium & production
- [Offset printing](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/offset-printing/) (defining)
- [Pen, brush & ink](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/pen-brush-and-ink/) (characteristic)
- [Architecture & signage](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/architecture-and-signage/) (occasional)

### Tone & intent
- [Playful & witty](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/playful-and-witty/) (characteristic)
- [Authoritative & institutional](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/authoritative-and-institutional/) (characteristic)
- [Rational & objective](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/rational-and-objective/) (characteristic)
- [Calm & contemplative](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/calm-and-contemplative/) (characteristic)

Avoids: Horror vacui, Abundant decoration, Ornamented display, Fluorescent & neon, Gloss & highlights, Photocopy & distress, Rebellious & subversive

Palette: #f3efe6, #151515, #c62a20, #8c8b86, #b08d4a

Typefaces: Sans-serifs for the Latin: Helvetica in Kan Tai-keung's poster for The Arch (1970); a bold sans skewed at thirty degrees in Steiner's 'Progress Hong Kong' (1975), Chinese set horizontally and smaller than the Latin, as the title 香港之進展 beside the skewed English of 'Progress Hong Kong' (1975), Single Chinese characters drawn into a symbol: 中 formed by the square hole and vertical strokes of Kan's Bank of China coin, and the character for longevity combined with a floor plan in Steiner's Hongkong Land H, Chinese brush calligraphy and ink-brushed strokes, which Kan Tai-keung, trained in ink painting under Lui Shou-kwan, brought into his posters from the 1980s

Known for: Henry Steiner, 'Progress Hong Kong' poster for the Hong Kong Trade Development Council (1975; M+ 2017.5); Henry Steiner, 'Henry Steiner: East/West Design Dialogues' poster (1988; M+ 2020.95); Henry Steiner, HSBC hexagon symbol, abstracted from the St Andrew's cross on the bank's original house flag (1983; a logo mock-up of c. 1984 was shown at M+ in 2024); Henry Steiner, Hong Kong banknotes for Standard Chartered Bank with mythical Chinese creatures (M+ archive CA31/27); Henry Steiner, Hongkong Land 'H' mark combining a Chinese character for longevity with a floor plan; Kan Tai-keung, poster for Cecile Tang's film The Arch (1970), black and white with Helvetica beside the Chinese title; Kan Tai-keung for Graphic Atelier Ltd, poster-pamphlet (1972; M+ 2017.11); Kan Tai-keung, Bank of China emblem in the form of an ancient coin (commissioned 1980, in use from the mid-1980s)

## Where it comes from, and what it’s close to

- Grew out of: [Corporate Identity Modernism](https://stylogeny.com/styles/corporate-modernism.md) (1955–1990)
- Influenced by: [American Mid-Century Modernism](https://stylogeny.com/styles/american-modernism.md) (1940–1970)
- Influenced by: [International Typographic Style](https://stylogeny.com/styles/swiss-international.md) (1950–1975)
- Alike in its design choices: [Japanese Postwar Modernism](https://stylogeny.com/styles/japanese-postwar-modern.md) (1950–1990), 78% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Iranian Modernist Graphic Design](https://stylogeny.com/styles/persian-modernism.md) (1960–present), 67% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Indian Institutional Modernism (NID)](https://stylogeny.com/styles/indian-modernism.md) (1961–1990), 66% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Turkish Modernist Poster & Graphic Design](https://stylogeny.com/styles/turkish-modernist-graphics.md) (1959–2000), 64% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Hebrew Poster Lettering & Early Israeli State Design](https://stylogeny.com/styles/israeli-state-modernism.md) (1934–1974), 62% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Minimalist Graphic Design](https://stylogeny.com/styles/minimalism.md) (1965–present), 59% alike

## Sources

- M+, Henry Steiner: The Art of Graphic Communication (exhibition, 15 June–10 November 2024): https://www.mplus.org.hk/en/exhibitions/henry-steiner-graphic-communicator
- M+, Henry Steiner Project Archives (CA31): https://mplus.org.hk/en/collection/archives/henry-steiner-project-archives-ca31
- M+, Poster, 'Progress Hong Kong' (1975): https://www.mplus.org.hk/en/collection/objects/poster-progress-hong-kong-20175/
- M+, Poster, Henry Steiner: East/West Design Dialogues (1988): https://www.mplus.org.hk/en/collection/objects/poster-henry-steiner-east-west-design-dialogues-202095/
- M+, Poster-pamphlet, Graphic Atelier Ltd. (1972): https://www.mplus.org.hk/en/collection/objects/poster-pamphlet-graphic-atelier-ltd-201711/
- M+, Hong Kong: Here and Beyond (exhibition): https://www.mplus.org.hk/en/exhibitions/hong-kong-here-and-beyond/
- M+ Magazine, 'Unboxing Henry Steiner's Design Archive': https://www.mplus.org.hk/en/magazine/unbox-m-henry-steiners-design-archive/
- M+, Hand fan, the Mandarin Hotel, Hong Kong (Alan Chan, 1971; 2020.327): https://www.mplus.org.hk/en/collection/objects/hand-fan-the-mandarin-hotel-hong-kong-2020327/
- Hong Kong Government press release on 'From Life to Mind: Kan Tai-keung's Design and Art', Hong Kong Heritage Museum (4 June 2002): https://www.info.gov.hk/gia/general/200206/04/0604145.htm
- AGI, Tai-Keung Kan: https://a-g-i.org/user/taikeungkan
- Wikipedia, Henry Steiner: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Steiner
- Wikipedia, Wucius Wong: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wucius_Wong
- Wikipedia (Chinese), 靳埭強 (Kan Tai-keung): https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/靳埭強
- People's Graphic Design Archive, 1980s rebranding of HSBC (Henry Steiner, 1983): https://peoplesgdarchive.org/item/18424/1980s-rebranding-of-hsbc-the-hongkong-and-shanghai-banking-corporation
- BP&O, 'HSBC by Henry Steiner, 1983' (Richard Baird, 3 May 2024): https://bpando.org/?p=119363
- Wikipedia, Traditional Chinese characters (official script of Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traditional_Chinese_characters

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From Stylogeny (https://stylogeny.com/), an atlas of graphic-design styles by Van Riel Online Services. How it is made: https://stylogeny.com/about/. Cite as: Stylogeny, “Hong Kong East–West Graphic Modernism”, https://stylogeny.com/styles/hong-kong-modernism/