Rose Jang, a New York-based Korean-American graphic designer, tells Coconuts HK that she tries to do something creative every moment she gets. And it would take a real creative to seek inspiration in something one in three Hongkongers dread taking everyday: the MTR.
Jang explains that she saw an MTR map, created by Justin Cheuk, that used literal English translations of each atop’a names instead of their real ones. Having once lived here for five years, she was inspired, and decided to “create something visual” with the alternative monikers – so she “emojified” them.
Admiralty, for instance, becomes “Golden Bell”, which in emoji translates to “shining stars” plus, well, “golden bell”. Others require a bigger stretch of the imagination: Mei Foo, which means “Gracious Confidence”, is illustrated by the “praying hands” and “flexing bicep” emoji.
She diligently completed the designs before she arrived on a recent visit and, on the last day of hert trip, took photos of the prints with the streets of Sheung Wan, her “old beloved neighbourhood”, as the backdrop.
“I really wanted to photograph each card at its respective station but with my packed schedule I was not able to (I almost missed my flight taking these around Sheung Wan!),” she wrote on her blog, Then Comes Color.
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“But I really hope these will make you smile and the next time you have an outing in Quarry Bay you should try saying ‘Hey, let’s meet at Goldfish Stream’, and see what confused look or text you get in return.”
Gretchen may have never made “fetch” happen (#MeanGirlsReference), but this just might…
Check out the rest of the emojified MTR stops:
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