Artist of the day: Artist of the day, May 19, 2020: Henry Steiner, an Austrian graphic designer (#998)

Tuesday, May 19, 2020

Artist of the day, May 19, 2020: Henry Steiner, an Austrian graphic designer (#998)

Henry Steiner (1934) is an Austrian graphic designer, best known for his corporate identity designs. He has created designs for some of the most identifiable brands, such as IBM, Hyatt Regency, Hilton Hotels, Dow Jones, HSBC, Standard Chartered, Unilever, and was commissioned to design the city's bank notes by the Hong Kong government in 1975. Steiner was educated at the Sorbonne and at Yale. In 1964, he founded his own consultancy firm, Steiner&Co, in Hong Kong.

Hailed as the "Father of Hong Kong graphical design" Henry Steiner pioneered the expression of identity through branding, particularly in Asia where his skill for incorporating Eastern cultural symbols into Western design has garnered international acclaim. Steiner was included in Icograda’s list of the Masters of the 20th Century in 2002, and was named a World Master by Idea magazine.

Steiner was born into an Austrian Jewish family as Hans Steiner. His parents, a dentist practising in Baden bei Wien and a seamstress, enjoyed "a nice bourgeois life" until the Anschluss in 1938, after which the family decided to flee the country. After many failures, his mother turned to help from a Hollywood film producer, Julius Stoeger, who agreed to assist in their escape as he mistook a young Steiner as a Chinese. When the family arrived in New York City in 1939, an immigration officer changed the boy's name to Henry, since Hans sounded "too German". The Steiners lived a hard life there and the couple divorced in 1940s.

Henry Steiner was admitted to Stuyvesant High School and then Hunter College, where he decided to turn his deep interest in scientific fiction into a graphic design career. He enrolled for a Master's degree in graphic design at Yale University to study with Paul Rand and won a Fulbright Fellowship to further his studies at Sorbonne in Paris, France. He then returned to New York City and worked as design director for The Asia Magazine, which was a pioneer as color-printed magazine.

In 1961, Steiner signed a nine-month contract for the magazine's launch in Hong Kong where he started Graphic Communication (now Steiner&Co.) in 1964. When Hong Kong saw an economic boom in 1960s to 70s, he settled in the Asian city and was inspired by its traditional aesthetics.

The Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation is a world recognized brand for banking, finance, brokerage, and insurance. In 1984, Henry Steiner developed a corporate identity for the bank based on St. Andrew's cross flag, alluded to the Scottish heritage of the bank's founder.

Henry Steiner designed the Hong Kong banknote for the Standard Chartered Bank between 1975 and 2016. He noted that banknotes of the city have a rare practice of not featuring portraits, therefore he incorporated mythical Chinese creatures in his designs on the observe side – the notes appeared in five denominations and showcased a hierarchy of aquatic, amphibious, terrestrial and celestial creatures. In 2003, Henry Steiner updated the designs incorporating the latest anti-counterfeiting technology, with the reverse featuring Hong Kong’s dynamic harbour from various time periods. In 2010s, he was commissioned for the last time to design banknotes which featured Chinese traditional and modern technology. He also designed an unprecedented 150-dollar commemorative banknote for the bank's 150th anniversary in 2009, which featured the Standard Chartered Bank Building and a group of people representing Hong Kong's history watching over the coasts of Victoria Harbour.

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