Your message here? (AP Photo via The Daily Beast)

Without wanting to minimize the seriousness of the health issues at hand, the reality is that people around the world are considering how to protect themselves. The prospect of having to wear a face mask if Swine Flu continues to spread may be no big deal in Japan and Asian countries that experienced SARS in 2003. However, for consumers elsewhere unused to such things, the face mask poses a serious fashion dilemma.

The result is the mask becoming a canvas for personal expression. Individuals in affected areas who want to be victims of neither health nor fashion have begun to get creative and decorate their masks, as this photo gallery from The Daily Beast shows.

Mint Designs' cheeky chimp face mask

Some manufacturers like Kimberly Clark already put out limited numbers of colorful masks decorated with Disney cartoon characters for children. Japanese brand Mint Designs has fashioned a cheeky monkey-style mask, and artist Yoriko Yoshida was recently inspired to create a set of beautiful, witty and sometimes faintly morbid face mask illustrations.

Mt. Fuji face mask by Yoriko Yoshida

What’s next? The face mask covers the most important area of the body for communication, and the natural target of the eyes of others. So if face masks do become de rigueur in some places for a while (and it’s far too early to say that they will), the blank white space will become a unique marketing opportunity for the right brand with the right design and the right message.

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The recently opened Delay No Mall in Hong Kong.

The founders of a popular Hong Kong lifestyle store opened mini-mall Delay No Mall in the first quarter of this year, bringing innovation to typically stale mall atmospheres. Delay No Mall is already attracting a young, trendy and well-traveled crowd.

The name is a play on the slogan of the original boutique, G.O.D.: “Delay No More.” The phrase was a theme throughout the guerrilla advertising campaign conducted by agency Leo Burnett Hong Kong, who, in conjunction with Delay No Mall, wanted to jolt Hong Kong locals into getting their creative juices flowing.

The ad agency and the mall organized a mob-inspired street-side fashion show and had performers sit down for a picnic in the middle of a pedestrian crossing at rush hour while the green man was flashing away.

Delay No Mall, located in Causeway Bay, one of Hong Kong’s busiest districts, contains names such as gadget and lifestyle store Kartell, Japanese jewelry design brand Justin Davis and tattoo parlor Primal Ink, among other fashion, homeware, entertainment and food and beverage options.

The exterior of the mall is designed to look like the outside of an old-style cinema, with shop names in place of film names in the “Now Showing” boards. In fact, the mall is located on the site of famous 1950s cinema HOOVER.

Inside, the three-storey, 50,000 square-foot mall contains creative touches designed to inspire – such as an airport flight display-style board listing those shops now open.

Also on the cards is an exhibition space where local artists can display their works.

Tamsin Bradshaw