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I was at Watson looking around for hair products when I came across this.

I tried reading the text on the label but failed due to the shiny reflection. Not giving up so easily, I adjusted my perception angle, thinking that might help in reading the text. Nope. The product packaging was well designed but unfortunately, the material choice for the sticker label was terrible. I could hardly read the text on the label. It’s definitely more readable on the photo, but it’s really bad when you try to read it with your naked eye.

The mistake mentioned above could happened to any of us. So let’s take this opportunity to do some self-reflection.

I think it’s highly unlikely that this product packaging is approved without a physical mock-up. With that out of the equation, there are a few possible scenarios of how such a mistake happened:

1. Trusting the recommendation of the printing or production company. Since it’s a recommendation, the person in charge might think it is not necessary to produce a mock-up.
2. The printed mock-up was done on a different paper material. The actual material might not be available for mock-up for some reasons.
3. The person in charge adores the shiny material. Everyone design taste is different and some are just unique.

For scenario 3, there’s nothing much you can do other than advising against it or go on a protest. But for scenario 1 and 2, it’s preventable.

The recommendation is to use the actual paper material for the mock-up. This seems obvious enough but there are always circumstances that prevent designers from doing the obvious. But whatever the reason is, it all boils down to one fact: the designer thinks it’s okay to compromise. For example, let’s talk about printed products that require die-cut, like paper craft toy, brochures/books with die-cut effects and packaging. Say, a designer is to design a paper craft toy and decided to use 310gsm coated paper for the end product. But the designer couldn’t get the required paper easily, so he decided to work on a 100gsm woodfree paper instead. Well, he managed to assemble the paper craft and it looked good, so he thought mission accomplished! But there’s a few pitfall to this approach. Does the 310gsm coated paper folds well? If glue is involved in the paper craft toy, does it stick well? There’s no unnecessary surprises when the mock-up uses the actual paper material.

Ani-Com and Games Convention in Hong Kong (ACGHK), happening from 28 July to 1 Aug 2017. The event took place at Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre. At ACGHK, the range of exhibits include animation, comics, games, toys and collectibles.

You also get to see Hong Kong iconic places and architecture in the from of Lego. There’s also an interesting contest. Guess the total number of Lego minifigures used in the exhibition and stand to win a travel package to Japan.

There are plenty of photo taking opportunities. And with a Nissin cup noodle because Iron Man and Optimus Prime is too mainstream.

Talking about mainstream, there’s your Marvel and DC superheroes. Thor, Hulk, Spiderman, Iron Man, Wonder Woman, Batman and Superman are the main spotlight as their movies were either released this year or are going to hit cinemas soon.

If you are not a fan of superhero movies, there are also figurines from other movies. The usual suspects like Star Wars, Transformers etc.

The Hong Kong Society of Illustrators have secured an area for their members, and this is the place to be if you are looking for local flavour.

Dragon Tiger Gate or Long Hu Men (龙虎门) is an iconic Hong Kong comic. This title was made into a live action movie in 2006, starring Donnie Yen, Nicholas Tse and Shawn Yue.

Look, there’s the lovable Doraemon and the irritating Shin Chan. We are not sure if we should censored the elephant but it looked innocent enough.

Of course, there’s plenty of  stuff for Japanese anime and manga fans.

There’s lots of Gundam models around, and below is just a small faction of what was exhibited.

For more information, you can go to Ani-Com and Games Hong Kong official site.