CURIO

2024

CURIO is an art fundraiser organised by Rainbow Centre, a charity serving persons with disabilities, showcasing 45 works of art by talented youths who share their perspectives and observations of the world.

In a time when open-mindedness is more necessary than ever, this exhibition encourages us to see beyond the familiar and to value curiosity as a catalyst for understanding. Through their art, these youths reveal beauty in diverse perspectives, reminding us that inclusion is the path to a more vibrant, empathetic world.

Our work for this exhibition includes the branding, spatial design and the social media visual identity kit. Crafted under the guiding principles of 'A bold delight through art', we created a brand mark that is a combination of multiple typefaces and overlapping nodes, representing the spirit of curiosity and new discoveries, as well as the idea of beyond.

The spatial design for the exhibition leads visitors through the learning journeys of the artists with a generous use of colours throughout the space as bright sparks, bringing forth the excitement of curiosity.

Fern Wong, Natural Geometry

2024

Fern Wong is a self-taught artist visual with Down syndrome, whose interdisciplinary practice seamlessly blends drawing and paper-cutting techniques that resonate deeply with the inherent patterns in the natural world, echoing themes that have fascinated humanity for centuries.

In her first solo exhibition Natural Geometry, made possible after receipt of the grand prize at the inaugural UOL X ART:DIS Art Prize 2023, Fern presents a retrospective look into her decades-long practice. From the intricacies of her dot paintings to the fractal-like patterns of her paper-cuts, Fern’s art evokes the beauty of natural phenomena, such as the branching of trees, the formation of crystals, and geometric shapes that allude to flowers and fishes. Each work is imbued with a sense of joy and meticulous attention to detail, reflecting Fern’s personal journey and artistic evolution.

Our exhibition design intent revolves around the concept of "Introspection of Craft". It invites visitors to delve into the world of Fern’s intricate artistry through a masterful play of negative space and form. By using her recognisable silhouette set against the vibrant, complex patterns of her work, the exhibition branding visually narrates her introspective journey as an artist. The unseen spaces become as vital as the visible, symbolising the quiet moments of reflection that fuel her craftsmanship. This immersive experience reminds us of the delicate balance and interconnectedness of all living things, as viewers contemplate the beauty and intricacy of the natural world.

Curated by John Tung

ART:DIS Pop-Up Store

2024

We are proud to have collaborated with ART:DIS Singapore to design and fit out their very first pop-up store at New Bahru, a creative lifestyle destination showcasing a different side of Singapore.

The design concept we adopted centers around creating an inclusive, vibrant, and inviting space. The use of pop and fresh colours, combined with an open concept and breezy flow shapes an energetic environment and highlights the creativity of the artists with disabilities, featuring tapestries, furniture, ceramic wares, paintings and merchandise made by them.

NTU College of Humanities, Arts & Social Sciences Admissions Campaign

2024

To help position NTU’s College of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences (CoHASS) as forward-looking and contemporary, we aim to shift the perception from a traditions-bound institution to a dynamic, modern one with a vibrant academic community. Our strategy for the admissions campaign focuses on attracting prospective students interested in Humanities, Arts, and Social Science programs, while also engaging and connecting with current students, faculty, and alumni.

Our campaign, titled “From Today To Tomorrow” underscores the message that who students become at CoHASS can significantly impact the future of the world. We developed a robust content strategy tailored to our target audience involving two distinct approaches. Firstly, by identifying individual school personas, we targeted prospective students with clearer, more compelling messaging that highlights the unique reasons to enrol at NTU CoHASS. Our top-down approach includes school-driven a social media campaign emphasising program rankings, double majors, student life, alumni experiences, internships, and campus facilities. Additionally, we also collaborated with student clubs and alumni for Instagram takeovers, featuring monthly topics that showcase the dynamic aspects of life at CoHASS.

We also used a ground-up approach which utilises platforms like Reddit for scheduled AMAs to directly engage with youth and student subreddits under the #FROMTODAYTOTOMORROW chat topics. This communication strategy emphasizes the transformative journey students undergo at CoHASS, highlighting the interdisciplinary learning opportunities that transcend traditional boundaries.

Nature’s Embrace

2024

Yeo Boon Khim Mind Science Centre (YBK MSC) is a research centre of National University of Singapore (NUS) and National University Health Systems (NUHS). MAELab, the gallery arm of the centre is an innovative space that showcases seasonal curations of mental health themes. Visitors will be in for a visual and cognitive discovery of how art, mindfulness and various transdisciplinary research areas can give rise to creative and integrative interventions for the community.

Maelab's third curation, titled Nature's Embrace seeks to offer an immersive exploration of the profound connection between nature and mental well-being. Curated by MAELab with support from National Parks Board (NParks), this exhibition blends creative exhibits with the healing elements of nature, exploring the transformative link between mindfulness and the mind-body-nature connection.

In the design of the exhibition, our goal was to transport visitors into a natural setting where they are encouraged to reflect upon their relationship with the environment and this serves as a catalyst towards embracing nature as a vital resource for mental wellness. The entrance makes use of hanging vines to create a serene arrival experience, akin to entering a forest pathway. Divided into thematic zones(A Stronger Mind, Mindfulness in Action and Restorative Zones), the exhibition itself is filled with abundant greenery that highlight different aspects of the nature-mental well-being connection. Sensory pathways are also created within the exhibition through calming forest scents amid the sight of towering trees and the sounds of gentle water flowing, to encourage mindful breathing and relaxation.

In collaboration with Hortherapeutics

OH! Kampong Gelam: Palimpsest

2024

OH! Kampong Gelam: Palimpsest (2024) by OH! Open House is a guided art walk that explores how maps have constantly rewritten the story of Kampong Gelam, also known as Singapore’s Muslim Quarter. Prior to colonisation by the British in 1819, the area was home to the Malay aristocracy of Singapore. 12 site-specific art installations leads visitors to understand and unearth stories within this neighbourhood.

Lines and boundaries, scraped and scratched into the surface over and over, until they blend into a palimpsest of fickle lines and faithless memories. For each road drawn, each building gazetted, each heritage plaque erected, there is a missing story that speaks of fractured spaces and communities long gone. This neighbourhood still holds its scars, scrapes and scratches, its dreams and tragedies.

The visual identity we've designed for this art walk centres around the concept of 'palimpsest', defined as something reused or altered but still bearing visible traces of its earlier form. The 'patchwork map' visuals draws references from the historical context of this neighbourhood, how maps, plans and blueprints have remade this place again and again, in spite of, and against the lived experiences of the community.

Along the road of Sultan Gate sites the ruins of Pondok Jawa, a former lodging house for the Javanese in Kampong Gelam. That was also the previous site of the famous Banyan tree, a community landmark which has since fallen. We've incorporated the cross section of a tree as a platform for storytelling, personifying the unfolding of the hidden narratives of these contested spaces and displaced communities. The visual language is applied across all key channels such as the field-kit, digital communication materials and way-finding prints.

S.E.A. FOCUS 2024

2024

S.E.A. Focus is a leading showcase and art market hub dedicated to Southeast Asian contemporary art. It aims to bring together a fine curation of established and emerging artistic talents to foster a deeper appreciation of contemporary art and artists in the region.

In the realm of information processing, the human brain stands unparalleled in its capacity for parallel multitasking, effortlessly synthesising colour, motion, and form. Conversely, computers, while exacting, operate in a methodical, stepwise manner. As automation continues its trajectory, the implications of Artificial Intelligence surpassing human cognition loom large. What implications arise in such a paradigm? And to what extent would this emergent technology embody our collective history and ethos?

Curated by John Tung, Serial and Massively Parallel presents a curated assembly of regional artworks, each offering profound insights into our intrinsic human identity in the midst of an impending technological confluence.

We are proud to have been commissioned as the official brand designers for the third edition running, for this anchor event of the Singapore Art Week 2024.

To visually express the this year's theme, we pulled motifs from the S.E.A. Focus's existing logo mark to communicate the ideas of how rapid linear adaptations form networks and forge new multi-connections through the merging of systems. It is purposefully cinematic, meant to evoke the world of possibilities in art as a result of its co-existence with technology. For this edition, we also refreshed the vivid colour palette to reflect an expanding audience group with more youths being exposed to the world of Southeast Asian contemporary art. The brand identity is then further expanded to other expressive states across all print, digital, and environmental mediums.

Associate Artist Programme (AAP)

2023

OH! Open House is Singapore's leading art institution that develops curatorial programmes on site-specificity centred around the neighbourhood - people, places, stories - as the unit of exhibition and representation. In 2022, OH! Open House launched its inaugural artist residency, the Associate Artist Programme (AAP). Centred around the neighbourhood — people, places, and stories — the first edition took place in Kampong Gelam over a one-year period with five local and three international artists, connecting artists to local communities, businesses and historical places. This programme serves as an alternative model and offers neighbourhood immersion, curatorial support, peer-to-peer dialogues and engagements with communities.

Signposts are ubiquitous in the neighbourhood, guiding residents and visitors alike. They tell stories of where to go, what to explore, and what's significant in the area. The branding we've designed takes inspiration from these signposts, leveraging on their symbolism of direction and guidance, evoking a sense of navigation and discovery.

Typography stacks are used in a clean and organised manner across all branding materials. They create a sense of depth and storytelling, with each layer representing a different aspect of the residency - the artists, the community, and the neighbourhood itself. This approach invites viewers to delve deeper into the narrative, whilst the clean design aesthetic ensures that the messaging remains clear and accessible for all.

Event images courtesy of OH! Open House.

IMPACT 2023

2023

The inaugural IMPACT 2023 x Design Research Forum, held in conjunction with the Singapore Design Week 2023, explores the profound impact of design research and fostering meaningful connections between design researchers and industry professionals. It is Singapore’s first gathering of design researchers from 13 Singapore esteemed design institutions of Higher Learning, helping to define the role and potential of design research in Singapore and beyond.

As the creative partners of this forum, we created an identity that symbolises the transformative and ever-evolving impact of design research across diverse fields and industries. The brightly coloured look and feel evokes the visual world of design and the excitement of progress that research brings. The branding introduces a new modular word mark that is constantly evolving between the stages of rationality(square) and innovation(circle). The powerful key visual is crafted through this networks of squares and circles; animated diagrams morphed in as containers of information and also to create additional layer of depths. Beyond digital mediums, the adaptive nature of the key visual is further flexed across a hyper-interesting die-cut brochure that takes on a non-conformist form, where custom layouts help create pacing, space and narrative for the content.

C2A Creative Communication Awards 2024 — Best of Best 2024 / Branding / Brand identity

Esplanade Annual Report 22/23

2023

An architectural icon with distinctive twin shells, Esplanade is one of the busiest arts centres in the world. Since opening in 2002 as Singapore's national performing arts centre, they have presented more than 53,000 performances and activities, drawing 34 million patrons and 116 million visitors. We were commissioned by Esplanade to design their annual report for the 2022/2023 financial year.

The cover and main section dividers features Wax and Wane, an artwork by urban art collective Rscls that is commissioned in conjunction with the opening of the Singtel Waterfront Theatre at Esplanade and the centre’s 20th anniversary celebrations. As the name suggests, we took inspiration from the metaphor of the moon's phases and used it in a central role across our design motifs. Just as the moon goes through cycles of waxing and waning, the centre has experienced seasons of growth and change through the pandemic years till today. This metaphor is a powerful way to symbolise the theatre's journey over the past year.

Our primary goal was to create an engaging report that aims to be more than just a collection of financial data and statistics. We want it to be a reflection of the centre's vibrant spirit, rich history, and commitment to artistic excellence. To achieve this, we've employed a visually stimulating design that captivates the reader's attention from the very first page. The use of vibrant colours, dynamic layouts creates a sense of excitement and anticipation, much like attending a performance at the theatre. Drawing inspiration from the theatre's iconic 'durian' shaped architecture, we've also created many 'easter-egg' durian motifs shaped into characters and objects that are spread across infographics helping to convey complex information in an easily digestible format. All in all, the report's design aims to leave a lasting impression on readers, reminding them of the theatre's enduring magic and importance in Singapore's cultural landscape.

Read Annual Report here.

DNA Paris Design Awards 2024 – Winner