1 Up

It's one thing to be good at drawing.
It's another to have good concepts.

It's a whole new level if you have both.
Not many do, but many think they do.



I don't, do you?

Rants

Just had a whale of a time the past couple of days.

Caught Chicago: The Musical yesterday evening and I've got to say, I'm definitely appreciating Broadway and musical more now. I thought the performers were great, and the orchestra was immaculate. Yeah, I was taking notice of the orchestra more than the performers. Weird eh? Haha.

Oh South Africa defeated Australia in on helluva rugby match. RSA led 15-0 in only the first 10 minutes with 2 soft tries let in by a very lethargic Wallabies side. Subsequent tries by Bryan Habana was reaaaaally awesome. Australia fought back hard in the second half and Matt Giteau got himself on the score sheet twice. A last minute try by Lachie Turner summed up the Wallabies' night against a very on-form Springboks team.

South Africa 32 vs Australia 25

I think I might join Melbourne Uni's touch team.

hide's Psychedelic Pink Spider Guitar Pick

Create a label for a celebrity with the emphasis on typography. Do not use recognizable imagery. Background can take the shape of something but must be of a single solid colour. No tints, no shades. Using an existing font, match it to qualities inherent in your chosen celebrity and create a label that will market an item that might be a product from the chosen celebrity's own product range.

Didn't have much trouble choosing a celebrity. Those who know me will know its pretty much self-explanatory.

Hideto Matsumoto - aka hide.


Introducing:
hide's Psychedelic Pink Spider Guitar Pick.
(white areas to be trimmed out)
It folds down the middle so its coloured on both sides. Guitar pick goes on the space just under his name on the right hand side. I had to tweak the font sizes of the words "Psychedelic", "Pink" and "Spider" and track them inwards so that it doesn't look so... wrong. Anyway, no physical manipulations have been inflicted on the type, merely reflections, rotations, and changes in font size.

A prize for anyone who can guess the typeface.
(It's definitely one of your default fonts in both Mac and PC.)

*even though I exported it in RGB, the colours still don't exactly match what I have on screen. Hmmm... anyway the pink is definitely more concentrated - like hide's hair, and the yellow is essentially the same as his Burny Yellow Heart.

Photocopier

Just completed the financial layout page for Blair's project. Dang.. took me almost half a day. I hate inDesign. Ok maybe hate is too strong a word. I dislike how inDesign doesn't allow you to edit images like photoshop and they don't allow layer transparency. It was really irritating finding a way around the transparency thing. Well maybe there is a way, but until I find out I guess I'll just be doing extra work the hard way.

Anyway, I've realised that the current bunch of projects in Uni have brought out a certain "advertiser" in me. I enjoy advertising and marketing an object. Packaging it in a unique and special way. Maybe it's too soon to tell, but that is definitely an option for the future.

Kevin, if you're reading, leave Singapore! Haha. Ok I'm not a deserter, neither am I a traitor, and quite frankly, I've sworn before the flag that I would "dedicate my life to Singapore". But yeah, think about it. Singapore is so oversaturated with designer-wannabes. And I'm not saying that I'm even qualified to comment, but not half of them are even worth looking at. Consider, if it is within your means, an education outside of Singapore. Somewhere where you are not judged only on the outcome, but also your potential. The market is full of repeated designs, especially in Singapore, where people will take a liking to something, and mass produce. I'm sure you've encountered these clients - with a predetermined outcome in their mind, changing and changing to make the outcome suit their mental product. A brief should be interpreted by the designer. It shouldn't be something that explicitly tells you step 1 through to the end. A secondary school kid can do that. What you want to seperate yourself with from the masses is your ability to interpret the brief to produce something fresh and creative.

Verbal diarrheoa rant... haha. But yeah I guess I'm just very passionate about the state of design in Singapore. It's no longer a creative place, it's a photocopy machine.

Singlish

Limpeh ai kong singlish ah buay tahan want to indulge in super rojak engrish cham hokkien with malay and cheena. Wa ai kong a language indechiperable by outsiders because they tak boleh tahan this kind of thing.

Wah lan eh...

20th Nov '09

Mark this date, Shawn's going back to Singapore.

I'm going back to eat all the food that I am so deprived of.
I'm going back to eat bak chor mee.
I'm going back to eat char kuay teow.
I'm going back to eat fried hokkien mee.
I'm going back to eat lor tau kua.
I'm going back to eat $3 chap chye png.
I'm going back to eat roti prata
I'm going back to eat the chilli I so love.
I'm going back to eat REAL FOOD.

I'm going back to the sweltering heat.
I'm going back to buses that come every 5 minutes.
I'm going back to trains with 2 minute intervals.
I'm going back to cheap taxi fares.
I'm going back to cheap food.
I'm going back to cheap transportation.
I'm going back to buy my iPhone 3G(S).
I'm going back to get my Nikon DSLR.

I'm going back for Standard Chartered Marathon.
I'm going back for internship.
I'm going back for my neglected guitar.

I'm going back to family.
I'm going back to friends.
I'm going back to my own house.
I'm going back to my own room.
I'm going back to my own kitchen.
I'm going back to what's mine.

20th Nov 2009.
I'm going back.
Home.

Peer Review

Ok peer review done on the fringe festival item.
More reviews appreciated.

Fringe Festival

Front

Back

Project 1 Brief
Fringe Festival Item

Define:
A. the overall "personality" of your hypothetical fringe festival.
B. the demographic audience that your communication item will be aimed at.

These will act as a basis and a guide to the development and direction of your conceptualizing and designing.

Your design solution must include the following components:
1. Hero image
2. Fringe festival title
3. Text that states when the festival is
4. text that state where it will be - location

Format:
A 2-sided print item that is no larger than A3.
____________

As usual I'm going to rant on in my rationale and explanation but bear with me.

Rationale

I have decided to work this fringe festival as part of a reoccuring annual festival held in Melbourne called the O.M.F.G - Official Melbourne Fringe Getaway. This hypothetical fringe festival is held annually and encourages participation with regards to its yearly theme.

This year, O.M.F.G is promoting Wrestling and Theatre. The similarities between the two may be greater than one may imagine as both are brilliant art forms in their own right and both are performed in front of a live audience. Wrestling is essentially violence-infused theatre and hence the reason for O.M.F.G to combine and promote the two as a fringe festival.

The fringe festival item is a flyer that is handed out to the general public that takes the form of a mask that can be worn on both sides. One side is a pure graphical representation of a Lucha Libre mask fused with a opera mask to bring emphasis to it’s theme for this year’s festival, while the other side is a myriad of paint splashes with the event title and event information. This side signifies the colourful performances that is wrestling aand theatre.
The mask is deliberately designed to perform independantly, hence the public can decide which side to wear the mask on to suit their mood/personality. It functions as either a crudely stuck together mask, or a colourful mask.

It is a flyer, mask, as well as a promoter of the vibrancy of the arts.

Reflection

Coming up with a theme was the most tedious as it involved lots of brainstorming. Ideas that came to mind included a cosplay festival, a rugby festival, as well as a power rangers festival. However, I recalled a picture that I have came across that featured a mask made out of crudely stiched parts and conceived the wrestling/theatre idea.

The idea of making the item as “fringe” as possible was quite a challenge as well. I wanted the object, whatever it is, to function independantly on each side (2-sided printed item that is no larger than A3).

I wanted the item to be something practical in which the user could see as fresh and different and hence want to keep the flyer instead of just throwing it away. Given that Melbournians are relatively into theatre (based on the number of people catching performances every night), as well as how they like to spend quality family time (bringing their kids to fairs etc.) I observed that children then to be very receptive to something in which they can wear (a hat, glasses etc), thus the idea of a mask shaped flyer.

Coming up with an event title was also an ardious task because I wanted the title to be an abreviation that would attract attention. Something like SEX, but it’s too overused. My initial idea of WTF was to capture the attention of the youngsters as they are all very exposed to internet lingo. However, considering the actual abreviation (What The F...) and the feel of the festival, I decided to go with O.M.F.G instead. When read as is, it conveys the message of excitement (Oh My F...ing God!), while it also stood for the Official Melbourne Fringe Getaway. I thought both abreviations were very relevant to the annual festival which aims to be alternative, fresh, and very exciting.
____________

Hope that wasn't too much of a read.

The Big Difference Between The Education Systems

Today's a great example of why I chose the Australian education system over its Singaporean counterpart.

We had a submission today for a project that involves us "talking to strangers" and then translating that experience onto an A0 size poster in black and white. Everyone had a different experience depending on the strangers they have spoken to and the outcomes were vast and diverse. Everybody approached the project from their distinct "designer" point of view and I dare say the solutions were all lovely.

My classmate Soli begged to differ and produced a solution that questioned the brief. A blank A0 sized piece of paper with a simple paragraph in the middle that stated something to the effect of "an experience between two individuals cannot be translated onto a piece of paper for it is priceless." It proceeded to criticise the brief and made it quite clear that if the lecturers wanted to know the experience, that they spoke to her directly.

Now, this kind of thing will definitely be frowned upon in Singapore. The student would most probably be thought to have failed the project. Soli, however, got the praise of the lecturers for challenging the brief and was told that was exactly what they were looking for. I think I can safely say that she aced that project.

I believe for Singapore to move forward in the design industry, one needs to accept the fact that design is not purely cosmetic, but functional. It is about designing what best suits the client's brief, and not what looks best.

If Singaporeans are ready to stop criticism and embrace design in its functionality, I would say that we are finally taking a right step forward.

A Good Day for All the Wrong Reasons

It's just one of those days where things just don't really go your way.
Thought I'd catch a tram down into the city so that I could save some valuable time walking. Who knew? Got busted by some undercover tram inspectors. And they blend in so well too. Guess you've got to give them credit. Don't F*** with the Melbourne tram system cos it's gonna turn right around and bite you in the ass. Anyway, there goes my $170. Nope, not a good way to start the day at all.

Guess I'd be dieting over the next week if anyone's looking for me.
Might be some good done anyway.
See.
There's a silver lining in every cloud.

NDP 2009

National Day's approaching and here's how important it is to most Singaporeans here in Melbourne.

So the live streaming was on Sunday and there are tickets to that event. Also, there's a pre-NDP mambo event and there are also tickets for that. It's so funny how all the clubbing tickets were sold out in mere days while there're still a huge bunch of NDP tickets left.

One question
WHAT'S THE BIG DEAL ABOUT MAMBO???