Keith Tam

Consultant, Designer, Educator/Teacher, Idea generator, Project manager, Writer/Editor

Keith Tam is a communication designer and educator. He is currently Vice Principal and Deputy Academic Director at the Hong Kong Design Institute. He holds an honorary appointment as Distinguished Research Fellow at the Shanghai Academy of Fine Arts, Shanghai University. A seasoned designer, teacher, and academic leader, Keith has over 20 years of experience in higher education. He has held academic and management positions at University of Reading (UK), Hong Kong Polytechnic University and Emily Carr University of Art and Design (Canada). Prior to his current role, he was founding Head of Communication Design and founding Director of the Centre for Communication Design at the Hong Kong Design Institute. Keith’s research and practice focus on typography and information design, particularly in complex documents, multilingual typography, wayfinding and user interface design. As a designer, Keith has received accolades including a Red Dot Design Award, three Design for Asia merit awards, a bronze award at the China Print Awards and Hong Kong Design Association’s Best Design Educator award. He is also a frequent speaker at local, national and international conferences, and provides consultancy services to corporate clients such as Microsoft, HSBC, and Oxford University Press. He is Vice-Chairman of the Institute of Print-media Professionals, board member of the Hong Kong Open Printshop, member of the Design Trust Greater Bay Area Advisory Council and member of the CreateSmart Initiative Vetting Committee at CreateHK.

I'm passionate about higher education. I'm particularly interested in the development of soft skills for the 21st century so that graduates are prepared for a future that might be very unpredictable.

I believe that design is important for our future, particularly design that is human- and planet-centred. I believe that design – broadly defined – can be an antidote to the ills that the rapid development of technology such as artificial intelligence may bring about.

communication design, higher education, information design, typography

I was speaker at TEDxKowloon in 2015 and attendee at TED in Vancouver in 2023

singing (I'm a bass–baritone), piano-playing, cooking