BranD Magazine – Issue 39: Evolution of Materials

BranD is an international bi-monthly magazine, focusing on multidisciplinary communication design from Hong Kong.

BranD defines a new way to look into Communication Design by presenting, researching and manifesting excellent works amongst Visual Art, Advertising, Product, Graphic, Interior, Architecture, etc. Every issue not only expends around numbers of high-quality visual features to seek the real content and values behind different forms of communications, but also includes in-depth observation articles andcolumns from the industry’s leading organizations and individuals. The Community section brings the designers, artists, art directors, marketing specialists, and business strategists together to seek the multidisciplinary creative methodology behind communication design for businesses.

BranD 39 – Evolution of Materials

BranD 39 – Evolution of Materials. BranD has a brand New Design with New layout and New fonts.

Living in a material world, people often ask “What kind of materials should be used?” “How to use material to enhance the added values of design?” It’s not hard to find that people want to attract customers with materials. Sometimes they lead to good ideas, but sometimes not. They result in waste instead, in other words, meaningless design appears when we abuse materials.

As Mr. Taku Satoh said, “If you start your design process without a full understanding of the subject, and materials, you’ve only ‘added values’. And I don’t believe that in such cases actual value is generally embodied. People use that phrase a lot, ‘value added’. But since that has become an aspiration in itself, in my view, we’ve seen a deluge of essentially meaningless things and services based on it. If you take a careful look at what has been designed, think carefully about it, taking in social and other contexts, you get a pretty good feel for what needs to be done. Often it’s just a mild tweak that’s required. Judgment is what’s needed. And careful discussions, with clients, and the other shareholders. When you really include the larger framework of things, correct results are achievable.”

It is a challenge for us to discuss materials in this issue, for we don’t want to use too many materials to represent the characteristics and feelings. We only hope that we can provide readers with a comfortable experience to appreciate the works and interviews of designers.