Explore the dynamic relationship between design and urban life with Graphic Design in Public Spaces, a conversation event presented as part of the Identita: The Story of Czech Graphic Design exhibition project. This dialogue will examine how graphic design transforms and interacts with public spaces in Czechia and Hong Kong, shaping how we experience and navigate our cities.
Featuring leading designers and creative thinkers, the event will delve into the power of visual communication in public environments—from wayfinding systems and urban branding to murals and public art. Discover how design enhances accessibility, fosters community identity, and bridges cultural divides in public settings.
Join us for this unique discussion on the intersection of design, culture, and urbanism, and gain a fresh perspective on the impact of graphic design in the spaces we share.
Graphic Design in Public Spaces – Conversation
15 Nov 2025, 6:00-7:30pm
About the Speakers
Veronika Rút (CZ)
Veronika Rút has been working on cultivating urban public space since 2015. Through her non-profit Naše kultivovaná města (Our Cultivated Cities), she helps municipalities across the Czech Republic manage advertising in cities and collaborate with local shop owners. She has conducted field analyses, strategic projects, and design manuals for more than 30 municipalities, both large and small. She created the first Czech handbook for public space cultivation within a four-year election cycle. Starting out as a freelance designer, she founded her design studio Richtig, specializing in branding. She helped cultivate over 8,000 partner pubs of Plzeňský Prazdroj and developed an advertising manual for 1,500 railway stations for Správa železnic. She also connects local entrepreneurs with designers through the WINDOW POP competition for shopfronts. Last year, she launched a tactical urbanism project on Vachova Street in Brno, where local business owners successfully advocated for calming traffic for six months. Her latest project brings together 18 cities to develop a nationwide strategy for parcel lockers in public space.
Henry Yip (HK)
Henry graduated in Communication Design from the School of Design at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University. Within the diverse realm of communication design, his true passion lies in branding design and wayfinding design.
He is currently working as a graphic and wayfinding designer in an architecture and community design firm. His works span across wayfinding system design for public housing, exhibition design and branding design for F&B and engagement programs.
He is enthusiastic about recording and studying graphic design in public spaces, including city images, typography, and wayfinding design. His graduation project at PolyU designed a whole new unified transportation institute that integrated all modes of city transportation in Hong Kong as one. His project aimed to bridge the current information gaps between the competitive private-owned operators, providing a seamless experience and presenting a modern image of the city.
Vera Kleesattel (HK)
Dr Vera Kleesattel teaches Urban Planning and Design at the University of Hong Kong. Strategic design consultant. Architect and urban designer. Two decades of practice. Her early years in fashion and communication design still shape how she thinks about cities.
Educated at TU Darmstadt, doctorate from RMIT Melbourne, registered architect in Germany and the UK. She’s worked with Foster + Partners, UN Studio, Henning Larsen and others across Europe and Asia. Masterplans, transport hubs, cultural buildings. Places where people live and work.
Cities are for people. How we move through them. How we live in them. How they serve us.
She designs for climate adaptation. She challenges the next generation of architects and urban designers as a regular guest critic at universities across Hong Kong.
Gary Yau (HK)
Founder of Road Research Society and the founder of Prison Gothic Revival Project. Interested in transport planning and road design, and details such as road signs and its typefaces. Enjoys discovering stories and meanings behind every little thing. Author of “Hong Kong Road Study – Signage & Graphic Design”.
About the Moderator
Nikolas Ettel
Dr. Nikolas Ettel is the founder and principal of ZweixZwei Studio Ltd., a Hong Kong-based lab specialising in the creative use of emerging technologies. The studio explores visual storytelling by digitising cultural heritage with close-range photogrammetry and generative AI film tools. Nik has taught at several prestigious universities across Asia, including the University of Hong Kong’s Faculty of Architecture, where he served as the Director of the Faculty Interdisciplinary Courses (2020-2025). Currently, he is a Curator and Educator at HKU’s University Museum and Art Gallery. He is also the Director of the annual Infinite Frames Short Film Festival at Tai Kwun, which connects international universities through creative film projects to foster inspiration, engagement, and collaboration.
