By 1994 I was embedded as a design director at Springpoint in Islington, London. The studio had been founded in 1990 by Fiona Gilmore and Mark Pearce (who, like me, were ex Michael Peters & Partners people) and I’d been there pretty much since the doors opened. Our bread and butter was branding for Unilever, primarily in FMCG, but we had a solid reputation within brand strategy and corporate identity. We had a fantastic team of people and were able and ambitious enough to tackle any challenge.

Fiona had been working hard with her connections in the Far East and an opportunity had arisen in Hong Kong which would develop into a project of mammoth proportions as the world’s largest infrastructure project to date.

Project background

The international airport at Kai Tak and the Port of Hong Kong were far too small for the needs of the islands and the region. It was clear a new, significantly larger transport infrastructure was required. This had been proposed several times since the 1950s, but set aside because of cost, politics, disruption to commerce and the people of Hong Kong. But by the 1990s, it could no longer be ignored.

A new island for Hong Kong

Hong Kong has one of the highest population densities in the world. Obviously, a new transport infrastructure requires a lot of land, so the only option was to construct an entirely new island! This endeavour would entail the literal moving of heaven and earth: earth and rock equal in volume to 367 Empire State Buildings with land reclamation involving two-thirds of the entire world’s dredging capability.

Local knowledge, international experience

The Hong Kong Government appointed a combined team of brand consultants to create a project identity program which would capture the imagination of people locally and internationally. Alan Chan as a Hong Kong based agency had local cultural knowledge, and Springpoint offered international branding expertise and perspective. The goal was to establish a consistent image to promote the scale of the project; its grandeur, audacity and especially the benefits it would bring to the region and Hong Kong. ‍

Guiding hearts and minds

Springpoint conducted research to establish the needs and aspirations of people living in Hong Kong and of Southern China, as well as the international community. Based on our understanding we developed a communication and design strategy, to express the spirit of Hong Kong in general and of the infrastructure project in particular. We summarised the key strategic idea with the project name ‘Interlink’; as the infrastructure ‘links’ islands together, to mainland China, and ultimately the world. Metaphorically the project linked generations, economic centres, cultures, nations and ideology.

From one symbol, an entire language

The new identity created an unmistakable and unique visual language which made it possible to adopt nuanced tones of voice whilst maintaining a consistent visual approach. A flexible, cohesive corporate language made it possible to target different people whilst saying subtly different things within the same voice. Springpoint mapped out a Narrow Targeting Strategy which identified key target groups, their attitudes, beliefs, aspirations and needs; and the most appropriate medium, message and tone of voice for each communication.

Touching the heart of Hong Kong

A project on a scale this vast cannot help but touch the lives of thousands of people living and working in Hong Kong; everyone from school children to civil servants, restaurateurs to entrepreneurs, manicurists to industrialists. As such, it was essential to inform the people of Hong Kong (and the world) about the scale of work, and how the completed project would benefit everyone. In the earliest stages of planning the Hong Kong Government took steps to ensure everyone was well informed using material we had designed.

Interlink brand elements

It is essential to understand the cultural significance of symbols and images when talking to international communities. The Interlink brand design elements were carefully crafted; including logos, symbolism, colour palette and font selection to be sympathetic with culturally different groups. We developed a clear, strategically focussed design system which would ensure the identity would communicate clearly, and not merely decorate. This logo was designed to be meaningful, relevant and distinctive, representing the spirit, as well as the letter of the project. It was not just a good idea, but a useful idea, and an idea that could be readily assimilated with meaning and significance to the greatest number of people with different points of view and different languages, cultures, hopes, ambitions and beliefs.

Immediacy and simplicity

The adopted concept was chosen for its immediacy and simplicity. The three brush-strokes represent the ideas of takeoff, ascent and flight, of land-speed and swift water-crossing. The idea communicated a clear sense of direction, mobility and momentum with the calligraphic style creating a contemporary, readily understood marque with classical Chinese associations. The logo was reminiscent of the Chinese symbol for the numeral ‘three’ thus placing the transport infrastructure into the context of a trinity of air, land and ocean travel.

For the future of Hong Kong

The project resulted in a new airport four times larger than Kai Tak International meeting the needs of 87 million passengers annually. The new motorway and railway connected the airport with Kowloon and Hong Kong Island, along with the Tsing Ma suspension bridge (named by Springpoint) which was the world’s longest able to carry both motor and rail traffic, even in typhoon conditions if necessary. Beneath the Western Harbour connecting Hong Kong Island with Kowloon are two three-lane road tunnels enabling motor vehicle traffic to flow. The new container port supplemented the busiest port in the world and an entirely new city was built to support 200,000 people; including housing, open spaces, community and government buildings.

The Interlink brand united the people of Hong Kong behind the world’s biggest infrastructure project successfully engaging both local and international interest.

Acknowledgements

This project was completed by Springpoint a leading UK based international brand consultant in the 1990s, in collaboration with the award winning Hong Kong design consultant, Alan Chan. The team included the following: 

Strategy

• Fiona Gilmore
• Vanessa Lumby
• Fenella McCarthy
• Martin Firrell

Design

• Mark Pearce (Creative Director)
• Gary Broadbent (Design Director)
• Justin Banks (Design Director)
• Alan Chan
  

Production

• Dennis Furniss
• Aubrey Hastings-Smith ( - 2006)
• West One Arts