When we were told to create a zine link to the same location from our previous project. I was a little worry because like before, there isn’t much I could extract from Pasir Ris apart from it having alot of parks. Looking back at my infographic, I find it a little too (老人ISH-too old people like). Firstly, it contains so many heavy informations and would usually fit the like of older adult or basically elderly. So, I was thinking if I should continue with the same concept but work with a different style. But something new that I want to incorporate into this zine would be the idea of “Kong Guan Biscuit Tin”. Why “Khong Guan Biscuit Tin” is because grandmother likes to wrap their money inside a handkerchief or towel and then place them inside the biscuit tin, so the biscuit tin became something really important and precious to them.
But the problem is I have no idea how to link them to Pasir Ris:( So thankful for the consultation with Joy, she gave me a wonderful suggestion that I could create a zine like a diary style. Inside containing all the different stage of her(grandmother) life. Linking back to my previous infographic, Food, Chalet, Army and Changi Prison. They could actually fits into a grandmothers different stages and age or her life. Before the consultation, I have also look into different style my zine could be. Like previously Chinese? minimal? newspaper? cartoon? vintage? Searching through Pinterest I cam acrosss some Japanese magazine. I really love the clean and simple line work Japanese illustration looks and personally I am also a fan or Taiwanese comic illustration artist (台湾插画), no actually I really like Taiwan, Korea and Malaysia comic illustration. There are similarities between some of these artist is that even though they are from diffrent coutry. There is definitely a group of them uses very simple lines to create stories about their daily life. Some example are Cheeming Boey from Malaysia & WanWan from Taiwan
JAPANESE STYLE:
CHEEMING BOEY & WANWAN 彎彎
Confirming my style and concept I want, I went on to create a mini zine to help me understand how the booklet pages suppose to be print and also to draft out the layout of my zine. (As shown in my sketch book). After consulting with Joy and approving the layout design, Its time to draw, draw, draw…… (You may click on hem to view it larger:)) WATER COLOR
COLOR PENCIL COLORS & CHARACTERS
FONTS & TEXT
COVER I had to to create many drawings also making sure it doesn’t have any broken lines so I could fill in the color when i work with vector on illustrator. Appreciate sooo much that my grandma re-write the letter so many times for me because she keep insists old people handwriting messy:) HAHA. BUT AFTER ALL OF THIS I FINALLY HAD THE VERY FIRST ZINE I CREATED IN MY LIFE!!
Project 2 is gonna be a loooonggg project:) Honestly, I’m happy and also worried:( Happy because it is a new project, worry because if I didn’t do well on part 1 it might affect part 2:(
But anyway that aside, I got assign to PASIR RIS! Well actually not assign more of my “suay hands” pick. Why suay because I stay in Boon Lay. But this project is about EXPLORING so actually it’s ok!:) I believe it would be a great experience for me!:)
Before I visit Pasir Ris, I did some research. First I ask my class mate Chia Te who lives in Pasir Ris if there is any interesting place I could go to because all I know is Downtown East and Wild Wild Wet. She answer ” PASIR RIS GOT NOTHING ONE SIA! “. ok, die liao lo.
Then I went google, type ” Explore Pasir Ris”, the first result I get was Pasir Ris park. Apparently there is alot of things to do in Pasir Ris Park. So, my main focus was to visit the park and also exploring the estate.
When I reach Pasir Ris MRT, my friend and I have no idea how to go to Pasir Ris Park. So with google map, we got Pasir Ris Town Park.
PASIR RIS TOWN PARK!
We didn’t know that we are heading towards the wrong park we thought Pasir Ris Town Park is Pasir Ris Park. Inside, there is a HUGE Pond? For fishing and prawning. There is also cafe, bars and kayak rental for people.
Well, it obvious we are on the wrong park. It is Impossible to have Maze, Mangrove Walk way Or even horse stable here. Finally….
PASIR RIS PARK!
Pasir Ris Park is really a very nice place for family to chill and Relax during the weekend:) It got really great view and fresh Air. Beside, there is alot of nature entertainment for kids to enjoy like the mangrove walkway, bird viewing tower, kayak, bycicle, horse stable, spice kitchen etc. It is also a really good place to exercise!
Kids’ Playground
You would have to climb up this mini robe maze to reach the tip of the slide.
The first place that I saw when I reach the Park is the Kids’ Playground. It’s main attraction would be the red pyramid like rope maze for you to climb.The playground is really huge and not like the typical playground where you only have one main construction to play in the middle of the are. But this playground is split into alot of different section with many unique rides that you don’t really see in neighborhood playground. I wanted to slide down the long slide, then I realized in order to slide down, you would need to climb up the robe maze to reach the tip of the slide. Ok, Im too old for that, besides, I’ll probably stuck on the slide.
Horse Stable
The horse stable it on a mini mountain like ground. And it is located pretty deep inside the park. Most probably if you want to visit the different area of the park a bike would be recommended:) It also have a walk way barrier that is most probably for the horse to guide them while visitor experience horse riding. And if we take a close look the barrier are actually made up of water bottle! SO RECYCLE! However, we were really disappointed because we didn’t have a chance to see any horse most probably because they are renovating. But instead, we saw CHICKEN! HAHAAHAHA!!!!!!
Bird Watching at the Bird Tower
The bird eye tower is located a little infront of the horse stable, but still quite a distance. You can climb up the tower for birds watching. But honestly, I saw more bird on the ground level than climbing up. Professional bird lover also place their camera on the ground level. But we do spot couples up there though, Valentines Day mah:)
Mangrove Swamp
At the both side below the bird tower is the entrance to the mangrove Swamp. It is a long wooden bridge like walk way for people to look down and explore things like crab. To be honest it’s pretty silence and a little creepy because when you’re walking inside you have no idea what is going on outside. All you can see are tress and plant. Also also prepare mosquito repellent:)
Maze Garden
I was a little reluctant to go in atfirst because it just looks like there is alot of insect inside of something is gonna crawl out in any moment. Haha, but If you are here with kids I don’t know if it’s a good idea to go inside. The plants barrier are pretty high so is not a simple bonding maze for family haha!
ESTATE
Based on my research, Pasir Ris to me is relatively a new estate. All the new project and facilities that the government have created for this town is all mostly to serve the purpose of family bonding unlike places like Ang Mo Kio, Redhill, Bedok, Bukit Timah. that have alot of history and the usually their main focus is to preserve. But I still believe there is a certain traditional features that you can find in every location of Singapore, and personally I really love the retro elements in HDB probably because I grew up with my grandma in Bukit Timah with alot of old auntie and uncle from their old kampong. Or maybe I am just searching for that warm I used to get from them.
I went around the HDB trying to find these elements and I realized that is really really hard. In Bukit Timah you would see void deck full of ah gong and ah ma from your block gathering and chit chatting and it’s really really loud sometimes to the point noisy. But you would never feel alone or scare when you travel home, if you’re afraid of being home alone just stay at the void deck. But here in Pasir Ris, it is totally different, the void deck are so quiet and even if you see a family they are young couples. Not even little kids running around.
I manage to spot some traditional elements like the bycicle lock, new ones are two stroy high and some come with lock. Not all void deck have table tennis table for people to play and also the most iconic tiles table and stool. Or the hole in the pillars and also the metal tin dust pan.
I feel I should probably visit the place where resident buys their groceries or kopitiam to further understand the life of resident there:)
BACK HOME,
Back home, I went to do more research and I find places like,
A very beautiful Public Library. It is a reopen library cater to the public and is design very modernly with many new technology.
Then, I found a page about retro Playground in Singapore, I am very fond of retro and there isn’t much retro playground left in Singapore. So When I saw this I was extremely happy! But sadly I only found this on the internet after my visit so I didn’t have a chance to visit 🙁
On consultation day, Hao Ran also old me that Pasir Ris is a place for army boys to gather when they book in for Tekong, and there are many shops there cater for them!!:)
I didn’t know Changi Prison was near there, and there is a term call Changi Chalet?
On Pinterest I also link to places like:
The Pasir Ris Hotel, circa 1962-64. This book showcase activities happening in Singapore Housing Development Board (HDB) estates – Macpherson & Pasir Ris HDB estates Elephant @ Pasir Ris – Old Singapore Playground
Consultation helps me to set my direction more clearly. Now I needed to gather all the elements I need for the info-graphic:)
After showing two composition in the last consultation I completed the rest of the draft before I started doing out the final in order to guide me on how I want to arrange my illustration as well as how I want my illustration to interact with the type. I also put in a careful thought on what typeface and which part of my name to use for different composition.
Rachel = Rachel’s very first Job
(Font = bubble, the very first font I use at that young age to draw every time)
Huang 黄 = Composition inspire from my dad and I am proud of him/he’s and my surname
(Font = Chinese traditional font showing him as a traditional and stubborn person, not rigid)
Jun 君 = Because the stereotype thought on this composition is due to traditional reason therefore Chinese name (Font = This is my dream job when I’m in secondary school, this is how I write jun in secondary school)
GIN = The name I use for design related work and given by my mom, she supported my design path
( Font = clean and more illustrated font)
I also went on to research on artist reference and color reference:)
I selected these artist as my reference because through Davide bonazzi andJohn Holcroft illustration they created simple yet impactful composition, using symbols images and semiotics they created it contains hidden message they are actually pretty harsh in tone. The color tone they use is also pretty much of a warm tone and use no gradient included but mae uses of differenct solid colour in each drawing to create the value and shadow. I also selected Laura Berger because I love how simple her illustration are to create simple drawing without taking much consideration of proportion and realistic on whether the drawing make sense or somewhat whether is it correct in form.
Other reference I took online would be:
After deciding on style and Color I now start constructing my composition
Jelly Bean Colour Swatch
While creating my composition I also invented something called the ” JELLY BEAN COLOUR SWATCHES” nah, its actually just colour I pick out form the artist reference and adjust it to fit my composition and then I would pick colour from the jelly bean colour swatches to fit into different part of my composition.
I also did test print on gloss paper just like Joy suggested. However, the gloss paper turns out rather yellowish and it doesn’t match my paper type colour on the back and so I decided to use thick normal paper printing which I think would makes the front and back composition more match.
After receiving our project, The initial idea I had was to list down all the job I wanted to do since young:
I want to be a Doctor
I want to be a Cashier
I want to be a Teacher
I want to be a Lorry Driver
I want to be a Mortuary makeup artist
I want to be a Designer
I want to be a Hair Stylist
After listing them down I decided to create the composition using the material use in various job:)
So I went on to do some research:)
Hairstylist-Hair
Designer-Tools
Lorry Driver-Diesel Oil
Cashier-Coins
Mortuary Make Up Artist-Make Up
I thought of using this Method to create my composition:)
Due to grandfather’s wake I missed out the first individual consultation, so after emailing Joy with my research. I receive feedback regarding the tone and message I’m trying to convey in order to avoid cliches in my work. and also how does these composition relates to me? For example, using tools for product designer doesn’t really tell what I think about the occupation, different types of tools will also be communicating a different message.
So I went on to brain storm on what these occupation means to me and what I wanted to tell people through these jobs. As we know Chinese new year is around the corner and I just remember having to face those aunties and uncle who constantly ask me what you’re doing and what job you’re heading to and when you tell them, they judge you. And so I thought why not use this as my inspiration, I believe as we grow up we face many opinion from people regarding our future, especially towards the design industry. However, we as designer do not agree to that. I decided to use the term:
Stereotype VS My Perspective Towards The Job
When researching on how I could convey this message in my composition I came across:
why not go into this format for my composition the tore out part would be what this job actually is and what it actually means to me. Joy suggested that I could go and try tearing different types of paper and explore its effect. (which can be seen in my visual journal). I also wrote down in my journal the different stereotype people have towards the job and also the thoughts I have towards the job to help me manage what I want to include in my compositions.
After exploring, I love how the thicker gsm paper gives a better and harsh effect due to the different layers in between. And also it would fit my message of being frustrated at how people think about my “dream” job. I also tried pasting a colored design paper behind a white one with my name tore out to see the effect:
I receive some feedbacks during consultation after I showed my draft composition regarding
-Instead of commercial font, create your own font ( using commercial font would bring in question like why I use this font? why I arrange it in this manner etc)
-From written font to more clean digital font (showing my job changes as i grow up)
-What I want my audience to see? (the link between the front and back (comparison)
-The tore also bring out a certain emotion (mine is too clean doesn’t show frustration)
-Chinese font for traditional stereotype
-Gloss printing surface for top(superficial), Matt at the bottom
