“DESIGN IS THE FUNDAMENTAL SOUL OF A HUMAN-MADE CREATION THAT ENDS UP EXPRESSING ITSELF IN SUCCESSIVE OUTER LAYER OF THE PRODUCT OR SERVICE.”

--- Steve Jobs

Nick Ng, a Macau local designer, same as many people, has his own dream, a dream that is part of his interest, his work and his life. With his talent in drawing, Ng started his first design work when he was in Form 3, and he learned how to use the graphic software by reading books and exploring himself.

Since Ng is a young designer, he didn’t join many competitions, however, he got awards in AGI (Alliance Graphique Internationale), an international competition in London in which professional designers in all parts of the world participate. Ng submitted eight designs altogether and six of them were selected. “I just try my best to do what I like, I never think that I am able to get any awards, these awards really give me lots of confidence and I will keep on working hard,” said Ng.

It’s not easy to be successful, for Ng, there is no exception. After graduation from his secondary school, he first went to study in Macau University of Science and Technology (MUST). At the same time, he got a job in a design company and he gave up his study. After one year, Ng went to study a design course in Macao Polytechnic Institute (IPM), since this was a night course; he had to work in the morning from 10:00 am to 6:30 pm, and then went back to school at 6:30 pm to 11:00 pm, then continued his work from 11:00 pm to 3:00 am. This routine life lasted for three years. According to Ng, this was his hardest period, every day, he worked for more than 16 hours and lacked sleep, sometimes he wanted to give up, but when he knew that he was approaching his dreams, he became motivated again.

“I know it’s hard to be a designer, each piece of our work consumes lot’s of our time, we work on it for day and night, sometimes, if the customers don’t like it, we need to work from the beginning again.” He mentioned that he and his team spent a month to create a logo for a company. However, the design was later rejected by the boss of the company. “I feel sad if being rejected, but I will stick to this career because this is the road I have chosen and I won’t give up so easily,” Ng added.

Professional designers need lots of creative ideas, for Ng, his inspirations come from the association of artifacts in his daily life with politics and especially Chinese characters. One of his favorite designers is Hung Lam from Hong Kong. He appreciates Hung’s ideas and attitudes towards design; Hung is good at applying the method of subtraction in his work, which is using the least elements to express the concepts. This inspired Ng a lot in his latest design.

In the future, Ng will continue to chase his dreams, he understands that being a designer is not easy and the road is tough. He works on designs and designs become part of his daily life, therefore, sometimes he feels lonely when he stops designing. He also has a high expectation on his work, “I want my design to have a little impact on the Macao design market,” he said.