Maritime Miracle
Maritime Miracle: The Story of Our City Since 1945 is an exhibition curated by the Hong Kong Maritime Museum, showcasing the evolution of Hong Kong from a modest fishing village to its current status as a world-class international city.
The exhibition identity stems from the idea of maritime being the driving force of Hong Kong’s history and development as a global hub. The creative direction is anchored in the main visual element of a three-dimensional transparent helm—a ship’s wheel used to steer a vessel and control the course of its journey. The transparent helm is superimposed on imagery and text, and rotates in animation—steering the viewer through the decades of Hong Kong’s maritime history. A vivid royal blue as the main colour encapsulates the richness of maritime history, whilst the supporting colours, ranging from dark to light and assigned to each section of the exhibition, signifies Hong Kong’s history of both dark and prosperous times.
The exhibition space is divided into five ‘islands’, each island representing a section and time-period. With the help of guiding floor graphics, the visitor journey is chronologically-ordered through the decades. At the same time, the island-like spatial arrangement allows for free-flow movement through the space, leaving room for visitors to chart their own route and experience of the exhibition.
The exhibition identity stems from the idea of maritime being the driving force of Hong Kong’s history and development as a global hub. The creative direction is anchored in the main visual element of a three-dimensional transparent helm—a ship’s wheel used to steer a vessel and control the course of its journey. The transparent helm is superimposed on imagery and text, and rotates in animation—steering the viewer through the decades of Hong Kong’s maritime history. A vivid royal blue as the main colour encapsulates the richness of maritime history, whilst the supporting colours, ranging from dark to light and assigned to each section of the exhibition, signifies Hong Kong’s history of both dark and prosperous times.
The exhibition space is divided into five ‘islands’, each island representing a section and time-period. With the help of guiding floor graphics, the visitor journey is chronologically-ordered through the decades. At the same time, the island-like spatial arrangement allows for free-flow movement through the space, leaving room for visitors to chart their own route and experience of the exhibition.
Colours used in the key visual are translated into the space as category markers of the islands, with each island assigned a unique colour indicating a specific time-period.
Title banners in corresponding colours are hung high above each section entrance, allowing visitors to clearly distinguish sections across the space.
Floor graphics used to guide visitors reference the symbols and visual language used in nautical maps; the design of the floor directory placed near the entrance is inspired by a ship’s magnetic compass.
Exhibition cartels echo the language of the transparent helm used in the exhibition identity and key visuals.
