Production Banner

As part of the publicity campaign for this year's production themed “悖”, my pubs team designed and painted a huge banner! For those who wants to know more about the meaning of “悖”, here is an excerpt from the description (written by Bin Hui):

This year we will feature three different plays, which seek to explore the concept of “Bei” (悖), a term which characterizes the maverick spirit. Our three short plays explore the transgressions of customary boundaries and how characters respond to the public's pervasive disdain for their actions. We hope that through our plays, the audience can glean equal measure of entertainment and insight into the schema of the maverick.  

“悖”，有混乱、冲突、违背之意。剧中人物或为了个人理想和追求，异想天开做出常人难以理解的行为；勇于挑战世俗观念，无视大众心理，是否才是解决问题，获得幸福的正确途径？三部短剧真实地展现了人性中复杂多变的情感变化，以及由此给生活带来的喜怒哀乐。

In the initial stage of conceptualization, we looked at different possibilities of presenting the banner specific to its theme and location - such as a two split banner, horizontal, vertical, and even non-cloth medium. After rounds of discussion, we all agreed that the conventional way provides most room for creativity while maintaining a standard of visual appeal.

The subject matter is our most debated topic...I will just summarise the rationale for this current design. The image of a man facing his own back in the mirror, is clearly inspired by and pays homage to the great Surrealist Rene Magritte.

In Magritte's Not To Be Reproduced, the seemingly improper reflection of the man naturally evokes one's curiosity on his face, perhaps how he looks or the message that it's masking. 

I felt that this image, by showing only one side of his face, was appropriate in portraying the lack of alternative viewpoints besides those that we immediately adopt, especially against actions or individuals who go against public goodwill. This banner was intended to confront the conventional and invite viewers to join in the exploration of the maverick spirit.

Here are some photographs of the banner-making process (~2 weeks):

1.Chalking outlines and grids

2. Painting

3. Chalking the texts (haha juniors)

4. Refining and adding texts and logo

5. Finally Bridge Announcement!

Credits to Lin laoshi, seniors Xuedi and Jie Ting, 行政总监 Bin Hui, 催场 Lionel and Jiayi and (...tbu), batchmates, juniors, other 黄城人s and my parents! (for their understanding when I go home at 11pm OTL) 

Thanks for reading!

typography practice

I have always wanted to try typography after I got to know this graphic designer - Aaron Nieh 's work (^m^) I like how he arranges shapes and symbols in such a simplistic yet thought-provoking manner! In his recent works,, unnecessary details are removed and the focal point is usually bravely enlarged in juxtaposition to another subject matter of choice, leaving readers to a large room of interpretation. He is really amazing!! I hope I can be as creative as him *-*

I have never done typography before so please pardon me for  tracing over my idol's work for practice x_d I took four random words that I know best of for this trial but do note that there is no direct link to it.

I worked from Adobe Heiti Std and made slight changes to the words to achieve the desired oriental, rough look. In of one Aaron Nieh's interview, he said that when he cannot find the right font that he wants, he will always craft the words from scratch. (So cool right!) But I am really new to illustrator so I guess this is the closest effect I can simulate for now :/

Raw Draft

The two straight dotted lines gave an incomplete and edgy look to the words. This is meant to bring out the characteristics of student productions - unpolished but bold. The rhombus-like shape is an attempt to add an oriental feel to it, as my CCA is under Chinese Society after all.

Edit 1

Used grey to visualise the meaning of "夜", which means night, and inverted the background colour to reduce the visibility of it -> creating a mysterious look.

Edit 2

Discarded the previous approach. Adopted the reference style with a slight change to "夜", in an attempt to make it less visible.  

Draft 3

Experimented with different tones of colour, with an addition of gradient to the rhombus.

Draft 4

Reduced the visibility of "夜" further, and adjusted the gradient in the rhombus to make it more natural.

Thanks for reading \\\\\\\

Drama Camp 2013

My friend and I were appointed the design I/Cs for a drama camp. The workload is highly demanding and stressful... Butttt I'm glad that we persevered and did a fairly good job in the end ^^) 

T-shirt

Front

Back A

Back B

Final

Programme Booklet

Cover A

Cover B

Back

Prototype

Wooden Jigsaw Puzzle

Participants were grouped and given a jigsaw piece to colour on without knowing the how the big picture looks, they are then tasked to assemble them together.

Simulation

Wooden Canvas

Thanks for reading!

Project Running Museum!!!

Hi all! I want to share about some designs for a hypothetical project my group and I have been working on previously. The aim of this project was to attract teenagers to visit museums and we proposed a game concept that would engage them in a museum environment. 

Note: This is a hypothetical project and the materials are made for self-entertainment.

Credits to Changi/Museum, National/Museum, Art/Museum, Peranakan/Museum and National/Heritage/Board for the photographs used below, I do not own any of them! The images are displayed simply for decorative and demonstrative use.

The first one is a brochure for publicity of this initiative, then the cover design for game instructions, and lastly an app icon for the game application.

The basic idea was to package the project with a fun and trendy image but that doesn't seem to be apparent nor coherent throughout these designs... hahaha but I had a fun time doing it hohoho :D

Poster - Charity Christmas Event

It's the snowing season again! "How are you feeling? \(^o^_)" One year flew past really quickly...By this time next year I will be sitting for the biggest national exam in my life :| That aside, I will be introducing my poster design for SingYouth Hub's Charity Christmas Event today. I was asked to design a poster featuring descriptions of SYH and their beneficiary- ACRES, with some photos of the products they'll be selling. Sophee is the main contact person or more like my mentor for this poster :)). So let's start with some pictures! :-D

source: Google

source: pixiv

I wanted to base my design on Christmas tree/Santa Claus initially, but halfway through I was inspired by something else...

Nail pattern (source: Google)

Sweater pattern (source: Google)

I thought the sweater pattern was rather cute and simple, and most importantly, it can create the commercial Christmas feel which I suppose most of us can sense it when we walk past Starbucks or shopping malls :3 And tadaaa...! Here's some drafts!

Though I favored the cut-out patterns a lot, the bottom was simplified further to make way for more important features like logos. They were boxed up in green leaves which are meant to add onto the festive mood.

But they look... erhmm so I experimented with various color gradients in place of the green border.

Yellow actually looks pretty good as a complementary color to red but I chose pink in the end. The aim was to avoid creating too big a contrast between the top and the bottom, such that the title & logos are emphasised more than the main subject at the centre (in this case the description and photos).

I tried integrating the text with a photo of Santa & Santarina sent by Sophee; is it too messy? :P Perhaps the slanted title could have been enlarged to restore its dominance in the composition...haha maybe I'll do that in the next draft if this is not the final one/ :>

Lastly...thanks for reading! and I will be really glad if you'd share your thoughts with me, after all I'm still learning and knowing the presence of an audience could really light up my day ^o^)) 

Pawooo~ it's been a while since I last wrote such a long post. Hope I'd continue to keep my holiday fruitful and productive. ^-^

workscreen preview

Working on a poster recently. :D Wish I could perform well for an upcoming exam, and I'm really excited to update on some recent design works for this subject! 
Please stay tuned to our main proposal I mean my next post. xD

Card - Huang Cheng Game Booth

This is a simple token card designed for Huangcheng's game booth on Mid Autumn Festival during the September holidays. They were printed on paper and pasted on hard boards manually :)

Banner - 会庆2013

这里是缘分的起点也是尽头。
如果能让你再一次回到原点，你还会选择向往缘分吗？

This is my interpretation of 缘点! This banner was designed for 黄城夜韵's event - 会庆 (something like homecoming)! <:D Credits to 黄城人s, my seniors and councilors who painted/ gave advice/ washed my brushes/ cheered me on/ bought me insect repellent (haha!)/ and stayed back to paint with me! 黄城 feels really warm when you guys drop by to help even in the simplest way! :D

So here's the completed banner! 

Acrylic on cloth
3.0m by 1.2m

Tower B
Photo taken by me

If you could see the similarities between this photo and the banner---you're right! I'm painting the Tower B in my school as the subject matter! Sadly only a few friends of mine could identify what's in the banner. The blue sky was not in my original plan as seen in the drafts, it was an additional idea agreed upon between the two directors and me when the banner was about 70% done. 

At that point in time, some comments for the banner included "MRT station", "fence", "strawberry cake"...etc. We have no choice but to add in a last-minute sky so as to make it less abstract for the majority. I've always been rather personal and self-centred when it comes to creating artwork. In fact appealing to the masses was a difficult decision on my part...haha but oh wells. FYI, the blue draft is my favourite. :3

Thanks for viewing! :)

Poster - Charity Bazaar at Thomson Plaza

Another poster made for SingYouth Hub! Please support them this weekend if you happen to drop by Thomson Plaza! This poster was done the night before my vectors lecture test :o but I finished it! ---with some pre-existing materials and online vectors (haha not that vector!)



screenshot of SingYouth Hub's FB page featuring the posters :3

Poster - Charity Sale at CWPoint

I can't wait to upload this!!!!!!!! because I've just spent almost 24 hours on this poster alone *感动落泪* This is my first official volunteer task with Sing Youth Hub :D It's a simple charity sale poster, but I didn't want it to be simple! So I took lots of reference from the Internet (not necessarily a bad thing :P)

Here's is an example of their previous poster!

Although it looks rather simplistic, lots of hidden work actually goes into editing the font size, color, aligning the text spacing, re-sizing the logos and trying out different compositions!!!! It's not simple at all!!! T__T

Draft 1 (*v* so embarrassing!)

This is my first time working with an organization, and I guess I still have so much more to learn and improve :OO One thing that surprised me a lot was...the officers at SYH actually work on weekend nighttssss!!!!!! They reply my email almost instantly at 10.30pm with a list of amendments for me to make on the next draft ._.) 

Draft 2 (looking okay!)
Font used for 'Charity Sale' : http://www.myfonts.com/fonts/schizotype/ollie/

Anyway, I also get to learn that the most important thing in a poster, for organizations, is the logos at the bottom -> followed by description -> photo of products -> date and time -> font size -> then design. (^_^;;;;;

Final draft :D (hopefully)
Water drops Brush Set: http://emelody.deviantart.com/art/Water-Drops-Brush-Set-74533348

The editing process was the most exciting part hahahh; though it's disappointing sometimes when my design was rejected with comments like "you need improvement"... it was extremely rewarding when everything was approved at last. Many thanks to Sophee and Ellen for continuously reminding me to submit my next draft and giving me advice ^-^) 

Thank you for viewing too!