Revamp of The Design Society Journal
Worked on the revamp of this bi-annual on Singapore visual culture. This seventh edition is on "Representation", featuring interviews with artists Zhao Renhui, Michael Lee and Geraldine Kang, as well as a new "Seeing" section with short essays offering fresh visions. Other articles are on hair dressers' signage, cafe brands, the 20/20 design exhibitions, and design as historiography.
Campaign City: Life in Posters
We contributed a poster design to this art exhibition featuring works from 50 members of Singapore's creative community. Each is a response to one of the many national campaigns that have become part of everyday life in Singapore. Our work "National Language Class" reflects how we as writers have been shaped by the "Speak Good English Movement" and "Speak Mandarin Campaign".
2012
Thank you 2012!
It's been a crazy year for us, lots of opportunities to do good work and meet great people. We like to say a big, big thank you to everyone who has worked with us. Without your help and efforts, we couldn't have achieved so much. We have several exciting projects coming up early 2013, so we'll see you then!
The Design Society Journal No. 05: INDEPENDENCE is out
We marked our second year as Contributing Editor for The Design Society's bi-annual journal by producing an issue on "INDEPENDENCE". Besides interviews with 10 top Singapore graphic design studios about how they operate independently, read essays about the resurgence in Singapore-inspired souvenirs and what school crests' design say about our local education system.
New e-book on playgrounds: Mosaic Memories
Mosaic Memories: Remembering the playgrounds Singapore grew up in is our latest publication for the Singapore Memory Project. It features stories of four Singaporeans' memories of old Singapore-design playgrounds, and includes portraits by Zakaria Zainal and an illustrated map of the old playgrounds by Wee Ho Gai. Download the e-book and read my interview with irememberSG.
art4d 192: The alphabet cruncher in Thai
Thailand's art and architecture magazine art4d has translated our feature story on The New Paper's infographics and design chief Lee Hup Kheng for their May issue. We originally interviewed the Singapore visual journalist for The Design Society Journal No. 03.
Press coverage on INDEPENDENCE
Our latest publication, INDEPENDENCE: The history of graphic design in Singapore since the 1960s, was mentioned by Singapore's newspapers and media including Lianhe Zaobao, Channel NewsAsia and TODAY. Get your copy from The Design Society, BooksActually or Basheer Graphic Books for S$49.90.
INDEPENDENCE: The history of graphic design in Singapore since the 1960s
Join us at the launch of this first-ever book on Singapore's graphic design history. This publication commissioned by The Design Society has been two years in the making and features the work and ideas of close to 100 creatives in the city-state's graphic design community. Join us at The Design Society 2012 Conference as we commemorate five decades of Singapore's graphic design history.
The Design Society Journal No. 04: DESIGN IN A VISUAL WORLD
Completed another issue of The Design Society's bi-annual on visual culture and graphic design in Singapore. In this issue, creatives tell us how the visual world affects their practises, we reflect on the role of design events in mediating a deeper understanding of image-making, and investigate how design visualises death and traditional cultures, as well as bring Japanese anime characters alive.
Judge for WAN-IFRA Asian Media Awards
Honoured to be invited to judge the 'Best in Design' for the 2012 edition of the Asian Media Awards, organised by the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA). Saw some very good newspaper and magazine designs coming from the South-east Asian region and beyond.
What I Learnt About Online Writing
As part of the FIVEFOOTWAY team, we conducted a online writing workshop for the All In! Young Writers Media Festival. For two hours, we shared with young writers the possibilities of digital story-telling, including the use of narratives that involve time, user-interactions and social media platforms. We also got the audience to work on an activity that involved creating a story they could tell online.
Kaohsiung Design Festival
Thanks to The Design Society, we visited Taiwan to speak at the Kaohsiung Design Festival's Editor — Chief Editors' Forum about our work for The Design Society Journal and the upcoming book on Singapore's design history. Here's a slide we shared with the audience about the state of Singapore's design scene today. The trip there also got us thinking if Singapore design is Asian or Western?
2011
The Year in Pictures @ Platform
Here's the picture that represented Singapore for us in 2011. Come see this showcase event by documentary photography group Platform on January 5, 2012, Thursday, at the National Museum of Singapore.
Mapping our retro playgrounds
Featured as part of a Straits Times Saturday Special report (Nov 26) about Singaporeans working on projects about the country's heritage. We hope to turn our fascinating research about retro playgrounds in Singapore into something exciting really soon! Meanwhile, check out our map of where you can still find some of these playgrounds.
FIVEFOOTWAY: A magazine about Asian cities
Re-launched this online magazine about cities in Asia. The inaugural issue explored the theme EVERYONE in October and November. We are working together with Awesome Anything and Relay Room to refine the publication for 2012.
President’s Design Award 2011
Completed editorial and copywriting work on the commemorative book and exhibition for the sixth President's Design Award. This is an annual event organised to recognise Singapore's top design talents and designs. Congratulations to this year's 12 winners! Visit the exhibition in these places.
irememberSG Guest Feature
Invited to write about Singapore's visual culture for the official website of the Singapore Memory Project. Our essay was about the 'Danger - Keep Out' sign as Singapore's "national flag". Read all about it.
The Design Society Journal No. 03: DESIGN BOUNDARIES
Completed our first issue as Contributing Editor of The Design Society's bi-annual magazine. In this issue, we look at how design has crossed boundaries, entering Singapore’s general elections, hawker centres, nation branding, and even Dutch football! We also visit The Royal Press, one of the oldest printing press in Malacca. Finally, we talk to three visual practitioners pushing boundaries in their respective fields: up-and-coming designer Yong, veteran commercial photographer Chuang Lee Jen and The New Paper’s inforgraphics and design chief Hup.