THE Governor's Award for Industry recognises excellence and, to convey this message, a striking corporate identity has been designed for both the award logo and the trophy itself.
The concept is a juxtaposition of two separate elements - a pearl and a pierced jade amulet - to form a design which has happy connotations in the minds of both Chinese and Westerners. The pearl - zhu in Cantonese - is of particular significance to Hong Kong, which is an ancient source of the finest pearls in China and traditionally known as the Pearl of the Orient.
The jade amulet - or bi in Cantonese - represented heaven, according to Eastern Han scholar Zheng Xuan.
The pierced disc resembled the ancient calligraphic symbol for the sun and, on the Governor's Award, is represented with a stylised version of the traditional 'grain' pattern which decorated such amulets.
In Chinese, the two words together signify a perfect match. In a Western context, the two symbols together form the letter 'Q' - widely associated with the idea of quality.
The corporate identity for the Governor's Award for Industry was designed for the Industry Department by Henry Steiner's Graphic Communication Ltd.
