The designer Cheuk Kin-chi has co-founded a design firm called BEAMS Creative in his early thirties. On the day of the interview, he showed up in plain everyday attire, as a mature and reliable gentleman. It’s probably hard to believe that he didn’t take his design study too seriously in the beginning. But the care posed by an instructor at VTC gave him a wake-up call and inspired him to rethink his life. From then on, his motto has been “to take everything seriously” and the same applies to his design philosophy. Cheuk spares no effort to come up with good designs and strive for innovation. However, designers are bound by industry norms and prescribed way of working, so ideas can go down the drain. Therefore, he decided to start his own business and chose to join force with like-minded partners. Despite his refusal to pitch for jobs with full design proposal (commonly known as “free pitching” within the trade), he gained steadfast foothold in the industry with his minimalistic designs with profound meanings. Attracting new clients by word of mouth, he has also garnered countless awards in recognition of his design excellence. His marvellous achievements notwithstanding, Cheuk never feels complacent. Instead, he ascribes his success to his alma mater. “I’m thankful to be a VTC student. VTC changed my life.”
Enlightened by a good teacher
Cheuk got mediocre grades in HKCE exam, but he was not desperate to start working full-time. Right then, he saw the admission promotion of VTC and its design programme struck him as an interesting stream of study without the need to learn anything by rote. So, he applied for the higher diploma programme in Graphic Information Design. At that moment, he did not expect it to be a life-changing experience.
In the beginning, the playful young man did not care about learning. With his gift and quick wit, he could always get his homework done last minute and receive a passing grade. However, he missed so many classes that he had to repeat a year. “Worse still, I didn’t feel ashamed at all. My life was a total mess,” he said.
In his third year at VTC, after all the ups and downs in his grades, Cheuk was asked to have a heart-to-heart conversation with his teacher about his performance. The teacher did not blame him, but deeply cared for him. The teacher asked, “Do you want to just barely get by like this for the rest of your life? You’ll leave school one day and work full-time. Ultimately, you need to set a goal for yourself in life.” Cheuk was lost for words and he thought to himself, “I don’t know how to answer that question. I never put much thought into thinking about my life and I had no direction at all. The teacher’s words were like a wake-up call. It dawned on me that I couldn’t keep indulging in having fun forever. I couldn’t keep escaping society.” From that moment on, he started to plan his own future and turned himself into a student devoted to learning. He also adopted a can-do spirit, and an attitude of taking everything seriously.
Enjoying the design process creatively
After his enlightenment, Cheuk began to appreciate the fun of visual communication design. It was because in the course of design, he got plenty of chances to explore different topics, research widely for complex information and multi-disciplinary knowledge. That experiential learning journey gave him lots of satisfaction.
From a burden to a pleasure, Cheuk believes his drastic change in attitude towards life was all because of VTC. He especially recalled the lecture where a brand identity designer explained his concept of rebranding VTC, which coincidentally matched his own experience. “The new logo of VTC implies VTC programmes are major turning points in students’ lives. The letter V sending off light beams by refracting bright colours connotes that the learning experience at VTC lets students discover their goals, transform themselves and grow. VTC instilled in me innovative thinking and a passion for design which have guided me on my creative journey as a designer.”
Starting his own business; saying no to free pitching
In 2010, Cheuk graduated from VTC with flying colours. He was hired by an contractor specialising in international exhibition and stage design. As a designer, he was responsible for providing space designs to exhibitors and event organisers. Thanks to his diligence, Cheuk showed his design talent in full glory, achieving outstanding performance. Within his first year in the company, almost 40% of his designs ended up winning the tenders and were accepted by clients. As one of the most brilliant player in his team, he was promoted to senior designer in just one year. However, he was not overly excited because of the practice in the industry – free pitching. In order to win a tender, design companies usually need to provide thorough full design proposal for free in the bidding stage. Sometimes they may even need to detail the design for potential customers' reference.
According to Cheuk, such practice consumes lots of manpower and resources, and the result is not always worth the effort. Over time, only large companies can afford the immense costs associated with bidding. In addition, customers get used to seeing detailed design in the bidding stage, which makes it difficult for smaller companies to compete. The hard work of many designers is also likely gone unnoticed. He said, “Even though I did quite well then, 60% of my works still went to waste. Among them, there were quite a lot of meticulously completed designs that I was proud of. It’s not hard to imagine the kind of frustration other designers were subject to and how that undermined their enthusiasm.”
In order to reject the practice of free pitching, Cheuk quitted his stable job and founded BEAMS Creative with two like-minded partners in 2016. His company refuses to provide drawings and models in the bidding stage. Instead, they would present tailor-made space design solutions according to clients’ requirements. They would also meet with the potential customers to discuss how the purpose of an event could be achieved. The company also advocates minimalistic design to reduce waste where feasible, while making good use of space and resources without sacrificing aesthetics and tasteful outlook.
Minimalist designs garner accolades
BEAMS Creative’s first job was to design and manufacture display booth for an acquainted exhibitor. Knowing the client needed to participate in trade shows around the world, Cheuk designed a set of reusable display racks, that could be easily assembled and disassembled, so that new racks didn’t need to be ordered in every city. Coupling with thoughtful logistic solutions, his idea not only cut costs, but also avoided wasting invaluable resources and raw materials. His output was highly commended by the client.
The company's innovative design concept also exemplifies the feasibility of sustainable development. Cheuk and his two partners kept on building their connections in the industry and a positive reputation for themselves which turn into the competitive advantage and development potential of BEAMS Creative. As a result, the company was accepted into the Design Incubation Program (DIP) under the Hong Kong Design Centre. The Program offers professional guidance and business support so that BEAMS Creative established itself in the industry quickly, with numerous awards bestowed upon it, including the Champion of the Green Building Ideas Pitch at Hong Kong Green Building Week. The trade show booth design “Hip Valley Lights” also won the Silver Award for Interior Space and Exhibition Design Category of the A' Design Award.
Although BEAMS Creative has always focused on exhibition design, the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic pivoted its business in a new direction. “Amid the pandemic, the exhibition business came to a standstill. Fortunately, the local interior design business has grown significantly. The opening of many new shops, especially cafés and restaurants, drove the demand for design service.” As travel restrictions were lifted in the post-COVID era, Cheuk has been travelling overseas non-stop in anticipation of the major recovery of the exhibition design business.
Someone well-read makes a person of substance
In recent years, artificial intelligence (AI) has developed by leaps and bounds. AI can analyse data, write copy, and even automatically generate an image. It can indeed handle many tasks on behalf of designers. However, Cheuk doesn’t feel threatened. Instead, he encourages young people to make good use of new technologies to boost efficiency. Moreover, with AI as an auxiliary tool, designers can now focus on missions that only humans can accomplish, such as communication with customers, brainstorming, digging deep into possible problems and creative solutions therein repeatedly, and decision-making – all related to one’s thinking ability.
Thus, according to Cheuk, in order to become a good designer, not only must one be familiar with all kinds of software and master design skills, but also needs to read a wide range of books, e.g. literatures and books on philosophy, so as to approach a problem from various angles on various levels. He said, “Reading can change people’s disposition radically and give substance to their life. Reading also shapes people’s values and how they look at things. These factors always show in someone’s work.” Undoubtedly, design is closely related to people's lives. Good designs improve our quality of life boasting humanistic and artistic values. In the same line of thought, designers can never be easily replaced. Nor can their value be obliterated.
