2020
Each year, the NTU School of Art, Design and Media in Singapore organises the ADM Show, an exhibition that showcases the works of the graduating artist and designers from the BFA Media Art and Design Art programmes.
In a year where COVID-19 has rendered most physical experiences impossible, the show was inevitable cancelled in the midst of a nationwide lockdown. The challenge for us, was how do we design a solution to organise and showcase the wide-ranging work of 160 multi-disciplinary students whose practices span Digital Animation, Filmmaking, Photography, Visual Communication, Product Design, and Interactive Media? On top of that, how do we present their works to an important group of audience (leading creative industry experts and possible future employers) in an engaging way that has traditionally been showcased via a physical exhibition?
We conceived the notion of hybrid exhibition in two major components: the first ever ADM digital graduation show in the form of an interactive website and live streams coupled with the ADM Travelling Show, and a mailer package which contains all of the student works presented in various fashions according to what best-allowed viewers a unique experience regardless of the medium of choice.
Promotional video done in collaboration with Semicolon
The notion of bringing creativity to people was also a guiding principle for our design approach. To reflect the unprecedented situation, we created a bespoke digital font, one that morphed from the original typeface which meant for the cancelled physical exhibition as a reflection of the audacity and resilience of the graduating students as they pivot to a digital showcase instead. This concept is also reflected in the animated show branding.
The interactive website features an easy-to-access library of the graduating cohort’s final year projects and their CVs, sorted neatly across their area of disciplines. A nifty preview function brings up thumbnails of their works upon hovering over their names. A ‘Seen’ function auto tracks and tells users which works they have already browsed, reinforcing the show concept of ‘Unseen to Seen’. Furthermore, a bookmark function allows for later reference, especially useful for potential employers and collaborators.
Instagram filter done in collaboration with Serial Co.