Month: April 2017

Hi guys,

As a recap for my zine, I was given the location – Jalan Kayu. And from my previous research, I realised that I was really drawn to the history of Jalan Kayu. As mentioned, Jalan Kayu is rich in history, but not in the street itself, rather at both of it’s ends – Seletar Farmway West (kampong) & Seletar (colonial houses). I was debating between these two… and realised that I was much more drawn towards the kampong side of Jalan Kayu. 

So! My topic will be based on Kampong, in Jalan Kayu. Not sure how I’m gonna execute it but the first thought that came into my head was “How to Kampong”? The reason why I’m touching on the old part of Singapore is because, I’ve always felt so strongly against modernity (thou it benefits), as it slowly kills our own traditions and identity. I thought that maybe, if I were to bring back some bits and pieces of the kampong life / kampong spirit, I could preserve it in some ways. 

The first thing I thought of for my entire look and feel would be the old, vintage, oriental Singaporean look. Would it be cool to do various advertisements? Using the “advertising media”, to spread the message of preservation, I thought I could do that. But after consulting Shirley, she mentioned that it would be too… boring or too little if I were to just have spreads and spread of adverts, and it’s not as cohesive in a sense. But anyhow, I went forward with looking for inspo and hope that it might give me some ideas.

Design Trend
After doing the design trend research on the olden days, I realised that in the past, the colours that is mostly used would be red, followed by blue. Was it because other colours are not as developed yet or is red ink cheaper? Hmm. Anyhow I felt that the direction I was going for was more towards a oriental look hahaha (chinese girl here) But yes, besides the colour red, they also loveeee to have motifs and borders, and fanciful decorative header ribbons. So it’s kinda easy to spot them due to the colour & lots of motifs. 

I was quite stress about how to go about for this kind of specific style as it’s something that I’ve never tried before. Well more sort, I’ve never gone the oriental look before but always wanted to try it!!! My graphics are more minimal and I wonder how I am gonna try to wing this oriental look without making it complicated… BUT! I am totally looking forward to it, I hope it will work out in the end. *fingers crossed*