Hello(: Yesterday was our very last DI lesson! It was kinda sad in a way because I am terribly fond of this module, really. ): But! We had fun on our excursion to the national museum! (: I have always loved going to museums.

Upon reaching, I realised that I have actually been there sometime back to visit the Greek Masterpieces from the Louvre collection, and had explored the museum too. I remember being wowed too by the seamless blending of the old and the new in the architecture, the marrying of European colonial style and clean-cut, modern sophistication. It was really interesting to see the museum with a guide this time as she pointed out to us things we would have missed otherwise and explained about details that are often overlooked. I did not know that even things like the smooth flooring had such intricate designing that went behind it. It puts a lot of things in perspective and I’m glad to have seen the museum “properly” now.


The interior of the dome structure, containing….. a lot of stained glass panels.












Our guide, Jane, is a soft-spoken and well-mannered lady from London. I think she is beautiful.


*consults notes* Those are ionic columns! *knowledgeable grin*




The exterior of the museum is beautiful, really. Looking at this picture, it could pass off as an intricate Gothic architecture in a romantic place like Rome.


The dome is very difficult to build and the architect who started on it failed. The dude committed suicide because he couldn’t do it! Like, chill man. H’anyways, it was finished by another group of architects. yay!






This big tree is said to be the “protector” of the museum.


Light and dark. As Jane said, the ornate flowery balustrade do stand out beautifully against the different backdrops of a lighted and shadowed background, creating different moods and atmospheres in areas just metres away from each other.


Haunted spiral staircase w00t! oh the romanticism.








This is a very special part of the architecture, where special permission had to be sought to remove part of the building’s roof and replace it fully with looking glass. Here, there is a beautiful view of the dome structure outside and it is supposedly even more stunning when the sun light drowns it with its magnificence.


Reinforced steel, granite, marble and glass now. A stark juxtaposition from the earlier concrete stone, solid earthy materials and old-fashioned shutter windows. The contrast is so terribly sexy.




Now I understand the concept behind the mechanical swinging of the chandeliers. Chandeliers are a form of old-fashioned, quaint, colonial form of lighting that was used in the olden Victorian era. But the unconventional red colour and the slight updating of the design, coupled with the mechanism causing hypnotic swinging action, injects a dosage of modernism and technology. It is, again, a marriage of the old and the new. This is a feature that bridges the link between the old and new building, signifying the harmony of the two.


Ionic columns again!


6-metre gap between the old block and the new annexe, a requirement that must be fulfilled. It is however now a delightful corner to linger for a spot of afternoon tea.


The black panel thingy is supposed to represent the layers of Fort Canning Hill just a stone’s throw away.






I love the contrast of the steel bars against the azure blue sky. Technology brings the heavens into a building of Man.










This is an interesting exhibition on the evolution of carrier bags in singapore. I absolutely adore the vintage shopping carriers. I do wish that more shops have these kind of bags again. Moreover, there are so much more environmentally friendly!












Quest for immortality exhibition! I love the lighting, ambience and overall mood of the place. It had the right amount of chilling eerieness that always accompany egyptian mummification and the exhibits are all lit in a appropriate way, stark among prevalent shadows.








I was fascinated by this rabbit snake creature, until i realised it is actually a “horned viper.”






Folding pyramids together. Or rather, attempting to. I think it is a good idea for exhibitions to include an area for interactive activities such as these, to engage the participants in a multi-sensory way. It is a nice conclusion for an exhibition that had been largely visual.

All in all, the excursion was a real interesting and enlightening one. I would definitely go back to the museum sometime soon. (:

P.S. I found my old blog post about my last visit to the national museum. It was interesting to re-read it!

Quote from a past me:
“it’s surprising how these two styles don’t clash and instead blend together subtly into a perfect harmony. i know lor the designer surely intend to remind us that despite singapore being such a modern and contemporary society now, she used to have colonial roots, dipped heavily in british influence.”

Omg! i had no idea i thought of that. xD so chim sia.

Read it here if you wish! :)

Hello world :) I have just submitted in my threadless tee design (finally!) and i feel an immense sense of accomplishment. i know that this may not be my best work yet due to the lack of time i spent working on it (these few weeks very busy! heh :P). Anyway, i am pretty satisfied with how it turned out, and hopefully, it is good enough for threadless. (:

Here is the design process!

My first step, sketching it out!

Secondly, giving it colour.

Creating a compulsory gif thumbnail for submission!

And voila, the final artwork! :)

This is the description i wrote about my design.

And finally, proof of my submission. :)

That’s all for today! I am dead beat!
Till next time. :) tata~

Hello(: this post will be on my mascot for Soyalite Cooking Oil!

Here is my final mascot.

It is a traditional Chinese ribbon dancer, to reflect the rich history and culture of the very traditional brand Soyalite, which has been around for decades. The Chinese name for Soyalite: Su You Li is very feminine and conveys a notion of beauty.

as i have stated in my advertising strategy, i would want to rebrand the Soyalite brand into one that is classy and elegant, with just a hint of up-marketness minus the snootiness and arrogance. Just a simple, clean-cut campaign with lots of mood-setting and soft jazzy tones.

I actually did up another one before this, but ms. nga gave comments saying the skirt was too dramatic for the elegant, classy and sophisticated feel that I was going after. Hence, I changed it to a more flowy and understated one! I also tried to make her limbs more balanced and the colours a little more muted and pale, to communicate a sense of ethereal beauty.

The first draft:

That’s all folks! ^^

It’s been a while since I posted here! This is my CA 2 print ad for Nanyang Optical. I’m not entirely pleased with it but this is already my second attempt. I scrapped my entire first concept, of using an eye chart in the shape of a Christmas tree, forming the headline. It turned out really boring and ho hum. I wanted to do something deeper, with more emotional depth.

So I used this picture and based the ad on it. I think it has a rather dark and mysterious quality to it, which I like. It shows that Christmas is not always all faux festive cheer and shallow gaiety all the time. There is another side to Christmas, the side of insecurities, yearning, hope, regrets, tenderness and emotional depth.

I don’t think my ad fully conveyed what I wanted to express, that the words “Tis the season to see clearly” having a deeper meaning about seeing the important things in life clearly, knowing your focus and what really matters in the long run. There is a tinge of loneliness and apology in there somewhere too.

There are so many things I wanted to say using a single visual. I just hope some of it came through!

It’s already the sixth lesson past now! Time flies, or perhaps whizzes past our ear when we do not notice.

For this week, we did up a corporate advertisement in class. There were quite a lot of learning points this time, so I shall not tediously list them down here but rest assured I have them all copied somewhere! ^^

This is my first time doing a more “serious” and corporate sort of ad, so I was hard pressed for ideas initially. My mind was a complete blank as to how I was able to make the blah-di-blah ad we are supposed to transform, into something creative and engaging.

I don’t know if I did a good job! I tried to play on the word “partner”, as it can also mean a dance partner. I think it may work with the target audience because dance is something classy, appealing and artistic which would appeal to the creative sort, I hope. The tango is also a very sleek, sexy and dramatic sort of dance, and I wanted to transfer these qualities to the World Marketing Group brand.

I had stolen a peek at some of other people’s work, and they were all very snazzy and smart! It always makes me feel rather inferior about my own work, but I guess we are all our own greatest critic!

Before!

and

After!

[click to enlarge]

I don’t think it is perfect, but I think it will definitely capture more eyeballs than the original! ^^

Field trip! Field trip! I am one excited little kiddo when it comes to excursions. :D

I’ve always thought design is rather like art with a specific purpose, and I’ve always enjoyed visiting museums so this field trip to various exhibits of the Singapore Design Festival was really enjoyable and enlightening for me.

And there is a quaint old charm about the old parliament house, somewhat like a retired old gentleman now indulging in the arts and culture.

I am inspired by some, entertained by some, set thinking by some, and didn’t understand some. Took many picturessss! Read more under the cut.

Read More

After reading this article, it has further reinforced the fact in my mind that advertising is not just about pretty design. It is a communication process and the most important goal is to reach your target audience with the key messages you want them to take away. There is no use for any jarring images or any breathtaking graphic designs if they do not speak to the target audience.

I know now that before developing any ad, we have to first identify our brand’s target audience, the product’s unique selling point, and think up of strategies and tactics as to how we can convey it to them.

A quote from the article says, “Everything needs to work together to support the strategy: the media, the message, the visual, the tone of voice, the shell, and all other aspects of the ad. That is why developing any advertising or promotional materials before a clear strategy is established is premature.”

That is a rather succinct conclusion to everything!

Here are some advertisements I found that I think are on strategy and on target.

Targeting children, aiming to show how Lego allows you to stretch your imagination and use your creativity to create fantasy play worlds.

Targeting probably teenagers, people from the internet generation. It aims to portray M&Ms as a way to bring people together.

Targeting females who loves to please their partners or enjoys a little self-indulgence once in a while. It aims to show that this brand of lingerie makes you look so distractingly mesmerising that your partner will never notice anything else.

Targeting people who have untapped potential or who are unemployed. It aims to urge people to discover their talents and make the most use of them by finding a suitable job using this website.

[click to enlarge]

Our fifth lesson was spent first on CA briefing, and then presentation of everyone’s print ads and evaluating them.

Some reviews for mine:
- Looks professional
- The lines sort of form a lamp which is random
- The lines are too clean, should give a more scribbly feel to suit the old paper old type ambience
- Maybe use safety pins to frame each word to give them a link to “safe” rather than have them co-exist seperately

I am rather attached to this work of mine as I sacrificed a page out of an old dictionary to do this.

And I used up all my safety pins! ^^

We spent the first half of our fourth lesson evaluating each others’ print ads. It was fun. :) I’m very amazed by the sheer talent and creativity of my fellow classmates! They seem to be all very skillful at using the tablet and making the ad appeal to their target audience. I guess these are areas I must learn from them!

We then got started on the second activity, called Image and Type for Unity and Clarity.

The task: Construct a A4 sized print ad, to be published in a design journal which all creative professionals subscribe to.

Key: Practice what you preach, ad must GRAB ATTENTION.

Headline given: Practice Safe Design, Always Use a Concept

This is immensely scary as I think the ad will have to be dreadfully creative and… superior to work. Having creative professionals as our target audience is awfully daunting. We will be communicating to people who know all about design principles, who are fantastic at what they do, who will scoff at anything that is remotely lame or sub-standard.

Oh my! My brain is shrivelled at the notion and refuses to produce any creative concepts.

I shall chew on this more and
TRY MY BEST!

Here is my first draft for the product print ad.

Some comments from others:

1) Draw just the top half of the cow, not whole body so it looks more like wanted poster
2) Include the product inside, probably get the cow to hold in its other hand
3) Not enough colours to attract children
4) Change the Muahahahaha font to something that appeals to children more
5) Too cluttered at the bottom, can remove the “6 exciting flavours”

Shall make the changes soon, to be continued! ~