DI Post #010 – The National Museum

Our DI made a trip to the National Museum of Singapore last week to get a feel of the architecture between the old and the new building. Suffice to say, it had been an enriching experience and thanks to our lovely guide, Jane, she was able to tell us how the museum was built and of what purpose it was. I still can’t believe it was opened by Queen Victoria of England back in the old days.

Well we learnt a lot about the architecture of the buildings, especially the old ones where there were influences of Greek touches on the pillars and all. And the dome! It looked huge and marvelous under the scorching sun that day!

We too visited this exhibition about carrier bags and I thought there were very nice designs, albeit really old.

Well, hopefully I’d be able to visit more museums in the near future. ‘Till then, I’ll just revel in these memories for a bit

DI Post #009 – Threadless.com

I’m sure everyone who is anyone would know what Threadless.com is right???? It’s the world’s most favourite T-shirt online shop that sells designs that several budding artistes around the world have made! What’s best is their christmas sales where shirts are sold at $5 or more.

Well, our class had an assignment to create a T-shirt and submit it to Threadless in hopes of getting accepted and win big, big bucks to boot. So I was wondering why not. And this was what I created.

To be honest, it leaves a lot to be desired. There is so much more I could’ve done to the design (especially the wolf, it looks like a flat dragon, Threadless even agreed.) This is by far my most disappointing art work ever. But besides wallowing myself in self-pity, the idea behind this design was to show that Little Red Riding Hood isn’t a small girl that could be easily trapped by a wolf. After all, a wolf still has it’s doggy instincts.

So I submitted it, and it got rejected. But better luck next time! When I have the time I would definitely go create a new design and try my luck again on Threadless

Also, Congrats to MJ for entering and getting accepted by Threadless!!! I bet Ms Nga will give a HUGE ANG POW to him

DI Post #008 – Corporate = eew.

Back in one of my DI classes, we had to re-design a corporate advertisement that advertises….boring stuff. You know those kind of ads you see selling their business and what not? Using plain-like colours and their logos everywhere?? Yeah.

So we had to re-create this ad:

See? Boring boring boring!!!! D: I…wouldn’t even want to see it the second time.

It took me a while to create another design…

I wanted to give a direct commentary on what the business boasts about, together with a witty comment and picture to show that their ideas will not go to waste. Instead, I personally think it looks kind of…odd. Though the only comments I had was to shift the logo to the right. What do you think?

DI #007 – Mascots

I love mascots!

Those cute little things that bob around at fairs or stage performances. They just bring a lot of excitement to the audience! Mascots also, in fact, relates to the identity of the organisation or product. Just like the M&M mascots or the Mickey Mouse mascot for Disney products.

My favourite mascot of all century would have to be Pikachu, the mascot for Pokemon and a lot of Japanese stuff. It has been said that Pikachu is Japan’s answer to Mickey Mouse, a highly respective (and cuddly) mascot that is recognized in Japan and around the world.

Because the Pikachu mascot was so widely seen, they made merchandises of it from cars to toys to keychains. Besides branding the Pokemon series, it also brands Japan as a whole, bringing Japan to the world.

Mascots are sometimes the best way to brand a product. Especially those really really cute ones!

DI Post #006 – Sketch, Sketch, Sketch

Many people think sketching involves a bunch of doodles that doesn’t make any sense (which is true most of the time) but sketches could actually give you an insight on how the artist work and the thought process behind their final product. Just like the picture above.

Personally, I love to sketch. Whether it’s incoherent or not, on sketchbooks or my lecture notes, I love sketching anything and everything depending on what I feel on that day and what I’m thinking. I also find sketching a way to express and take note of what I’m trying to draw.

Even if your drawing sucks in your opinion, just keep drawing. The more you practice, the more you’ll get better anyways

DI Post #005 – What better way.

I met up with a senior of mine called Dexter Tay and he said the best way to create a portfolio for our internship is to re-create ads from anywhere. As for my assignment, that was what the given task was.

Note: Top is original, Bottom is my version.

So I had the intention to make this a nostalgic, post christmas season sale for Nanyang optics and that’s how I tried doing the whole vintage look. Just so you know, I had some help online through tutorials and stuff and I added a bit of my own preferences here and there just to create this whole look. I guess I’ll do more when I have more free time to re-create ads. Personally, I think it’s a great way to show your future employers the potential you have in design and advertising.

I hope you guys like it. I took the whole day to do this without any breaks and now I’m so shagged D: And great I have Korean homework to do right now. A student’s life never ends.

DI Post #004 – Singapore Design Festival

I know the design festival was like a month ago (or two, anyways I know it’s a really long time ago) and I haven’t found time to blog about it so now that I have time why not?

It was held on the 28th November 2009 at several places in Singapore like Suntec City and the old court house and it’s really intriguing to see the various designs that famous designers around Asia have created. I remembered visiting the Biennale last year and the a lot of the great art have really made a good impression on me. This time it was better. As abstract as the exhibitions were, I had fun figuring out what the designers were thinking. Here are some of my favourites from the exhibtions!

Especially liked the one about character design with all the little mascots from MTV and other advertisements. As a huge Korean fan, I’m also amazed at all the product designs from the exhibition at ION. Sheer genius.

That was a very eventful day with my design class, sad that we missed the one at Suntec and we had to go off as soon as it started.

DI #003 – Bullseye baby.

I read this excerpt from an advertising book called ‘Street-Smart Advertising’ by Margo Berman and I was especially curious at the topic on ‘On Target and On Strategy’

Beautiful visual arts and pretty colours aren’t going to impress anyone these days as mankind have turned more skeptical about advertisements in the industry. So I guess it’s only right for advertisers to switch their plan and go for something more personal and thought-provoking. That’s where On Target and on Strategy comes to play. It basically means focusing on the main objective and explaining the benefits, all while using the appropriate language to communicate to your target audience.

Yes, it sounds like something you’d see in a textbook but if you think about it, it kind of makes sense.

Take these ads for example:

Dove

The Dove’s campaign for Real Beauty was one of those kickass campaigns that definitely touched the hearts of their target audience. Specifically aimed at normal women, a series of print ads were displayed in public showing real women and their pretty flaws instead of stick-thin women and their unhealthy image. This fresh look gives appeals to women as they are as ordinary as any female out there. Even as a guy, I’m very impressed with the take on real beauty and their campaign as it definitely struck the hearts of many women out there who lacks self-confidence in their own image. And look at the design, it’s clean and impactful, which rare designers out there could actually pull it off.

True Blood

If you think it’s an ad for a luxurious car model that you’re thinking of buy for your dad (or mostly for yourself), look again. This is actually True Blood, HBO’s newest vampire drama that hit your television screens, campaign in drawing in viewership for this exciting new show. This ad fits perfectly with the whole concept of the show where vampires are now able to live side by side with humans. Poking at normal car ads and changing the copyrights and headlines of the ad, it gives off a very clever and smart design that attract the target audience, teenagers and hardcore vampire fans.

While colours and artsy design gives people a chance to take a second look at your print ad, it’s not always the case for most people these days. What I’ve taken away from this was that the best way to attract someone’s attention is to go straight to their desires. Hmmm…I might be able to find a girlfriend now…

DI #002 – Monkey Business.

So I haven’t been updating for a long time. And I apologize for keeping you guys bored out of your mind. With school projects and tests, it’s getting quite difficult to keep up with my online social life. But fret not, I’ll do my best to blog more these days!

In my previous Design and Illustration class, we were tasked to use or designated animal mascots and create a print ad on a specific product that were given to each group. My animal was a monkey and I had to advertise bananas. Yes, cliche as it may sound it’s probably one of the more fun products to experiment with. But bananas seem like a really boring product to advertise for so my partner and I negotiated with out tutor to change it to something more delectable: Banana Marshmallows.
Before and After

Credits: Main picture isn’t drawn/design by me as I got it off Google so if it’s yours please leave a comment and I will credit appropriately!

Got the idea from a Where’s Waldo book I’ve been hearing so much from. I’ve played the Pokemon version before and it’s one of my favourite past times when I was a kid. My target audience was active kids aged 10 and below and in hopes of creating an interesting print ad that could be seen at playgrounds, cereal boxes or even the school cafeteria, the kids would be enticed to buy these fictional yummy treats.

I did have a lot of fun designing this ad, although it made me hungry for 85% of the time I spent designing it. Got a lot of positive reviews from it as even teens my age enjoyed searching for Mon Mon. I had to change the design of the packaging and the tagline as it sounds tacky and used and the packaging doesn’t really reflect that banana-ish flavour so I hope it looks good enough!

For my next assignment, we’re doing on typography design and I’d have to come up with a design on a headline our tutor gave us: “Practice Safe Design, Always Use A Concept.”

Does anyone have any suggestions?

The face behind your lovely superheroes.

Mark Waid came to SP for the first time ever as part of Singapore’s Writer’s Festival and as soon as I saw the e-mail about it, I immediately jumped on the party wagon. As a comic geek (or a geek in every context), one would be excited to see the person behind all your favourite comic books: Batman, Spiderman, X-men, all the other man man man.

A little bit of background information on Mark Waid here. He wrote for the many famous comic books that we all know today such as The Flash, Captain America and Superman. Now being the editor-in-chief of BOOM! comics, he continues to show his many talents as an Editor and a Writer in this new company.

It’s safe to say that I wasn’t disappointed at all about the dialogue session as he brought many insights into the industry of comic books and writing. Sure, it’s not all just creating a character out of nothing and giving them super powers because besides playing God to these people, it’s more on creating ideas that would sell and inspire.

Still, I don’t understand how he can kill off Captain America just like that, but I guess that’s what writers do sometimes. While characters could last a lifetime in the comic world, there’s always an end somewhere in this whole mess.

Like what Mark Waid said, “Comics are their own stories.”

P.S Got his autograph on my Fantastic Four comic!!! *jumps around like a douche*