Local

Lim Qi Xuan is a graphic designer who is currently pursuing an Information Design Degree in the Netherlands in Design Academy Eindhoven. An alumnus of National Technological University’s School of Art, Design and Media, Lim is best known for her unusual clay sculptures that are intensely lifelike, creepy and strangely beautiful all at once. She mused that flesh is symbolic both of life and death, as something that can at once be capable of being alive and pulsing, but can in the next moment lose that very quality.

She started her sculpting journey through the youth arts platform, Noise Singapore’s the Apprenticeship Programme in 2013 but recently made waves online when works from her Instagram feed were picked up by international publications such as Vulcan Post, Italian Urban Contest Magazine and Taiwanese site ETtoday. As of now, she has over 100,000 followers on Instagram alone under her belt.

Qimmy Shimmy (PRODUCT)

Ella Zheng (GRAPHIC)

Ella Zheng is a Singaporean designer and illustrator who enjoys experimentation, craft, and the endless pursuit of self-improvement. Trained in both Fashion and Graphic Design, her unique illustrations about self-discovery, adventure, fashion, duality with psychedelic and satirical touches makes her work stand out from the rest.

Together with her husband, Ryan Len, also a graphic designer, she has set up “The Workbench Studio” which has embarked on a wide spectrum of projects from clients across many fields from all around the world since 2014.

She is also part of the “How to Ink” team with other aspiring graphic designers, as they strive to push forward boundaries and make craft accessible to anyone. Since inception in 2014, they have helped develop strong bonds and creative minds through printmaking parties and events, educational workshops and corporate team building sessions, through a variety of activities, such as silk screening, lino cutting, marbling, paper making and ink transferring.

Alexa Ong (GRAPHIC)

Alexa Ong is a Freelance Art Director with both digital and print background in branding and advertising. She is passionate about helping brands build their stories and enjoys working with a variety of mediums to craft the best campaign experiences.  Her illustrations aim to reveal a quirky space in this world – between dream and reality. Her works are mainly inspired by adventures while on a wild hunt for the best donuts, literature and lucid dreaming.
In 2013, she founded Wood&Lead, a design label that produces illustrated products for everyday use, with a vision to make art accessible to all by creating a series of illustrated products that infuse a dose of imagination and magic into the everyday.
In 2014, two of Wood&Lead zine titles were selected to be part of Print Lab: an Art & Publication exhibition curated by Grey Projects Gallery.
Wood&Lead products are currently on sale in various retail spaces and online platforms in Singapore.

International

Kim Jae Hyun (FASHION)

Kim Jae-Hyun is fast rising star of the Korean fashion scene, and is the Creative Director of two of Korea’s most exciting labels, Jardin de Chouette with handmade and unique creations made specific to each order and Lucky Chouette with visually stunning and stimulating clothes that are universally appealing.

Both brands are defined by funky garments with a rock n roll attitude, strong feminine silhouettes and lines. Classic and strong tuxedo jackets are mashed-up with edgy hipster dresses with plunging necklines, and all her designs feature a smart sassiness and ultra-cool sexiness. As a couple of relatively young labels, both Jardin de Chouette and Lucky Chouette look set to grow and grow into labels that will not just be major players on the Korean fashion scene, but the world fashion scene, becoming the go-to label for Korean pop-stars and hence their legions of adoring fans.

Kengo Kuma (ENVIRONMENT)

Kengo Kuma is one of the most significant contemporary Japanese architects. Born in Yokohama in 1954, Kuma studied at Tokyo University and in 1990 Kengo Kuma & Associates, based in Tokyo.

His poetics express the emotional content of materials, connected with their intrinsic characteristics in construction and with the teachings of Japanese traditions. He integrates his works with their respective surroundings to create a balanced natural product with human hands, expressing a graphic module in 2 or 3 dimensions with great emotional impact, as illustrated by Yusuhara Wooden Bridge Museum in Tarougawa.

The relationship between graphics and architecture is one of the key themes he has investigated in the course of his career.

Kuma currently teaches at the Graduate School of Architecture of Tokyo University.

His work has been internationally acknowledged and received prestigious awards such as the Spirit of Nature Wood Architecture Award (Finland), the Grand Prize for JCD Design Award 1995 among many others.

Final Fold:

I decided to go with this fold in the end, because the first fold idea’s die cut might be too fragile to hold itself together. Plus, I thought the graphics in my poster were pretty square as well so I thought it would fit well with the fold itself.

1st attempt:

I wasn’t getting anywhere for a long time because I attempted to break out of the square and triangle grids, by literally breaking everything down and place them at whatever spots I could fit to one side of the page. I had a hard time dedicating equal parts to the 5 artists on one page while trying to vary the arrangement to make it look more exciting while fitting into the folds. To summarise it was a whole mess.

So after that I had to clean up, which led me to dedicate each corner to each sector of the 4 design areas. So I had to swap some of the previous artists as most of the artists I previously found were all graphic artists.

I also decided to keep my graphics in varied grids as I found the shapes that I previously attempted to be too overwhelming.

Process:

Here I laid everything out accordingly, from with each corner dedicated to each sector of design, with the local artists on the top and the international at the bottom. However I find that the type I was using was not legible at all when printed small. I had to rearrange all the text boxes as choosing a new bigger font also created the need to make more space.

Therefore. I decided to make the graphics with a lowered opacity and I also wanted move the names to be seen on the folded corners so I decided to try a projection as well in my next attempt. I also tried to vary the text boxes to create more dynamics.

I also decided to swap out the slogan to the information in the centre as I find that it would make more sense to put the information along side the artists.

As for the back, I decided to avoid putting the textual elements in the folds that will appear when its folded. I also had the slogan placed in the center so that it can appear when it is folded.

Reflection:

For this project, I had a hard time with the laying out and creating equal importance for 5 different artists. I also failed to treat text as image as I found that I could only handle them as text boxes at this point, which would have had the potential for more surprise and visual interest. But it was still fun to learn interesting paper folds, and I think I can say that I definitely at least managed to put order into the final work.

Brainstorming:

1st Idea: Design Nation

For the graphics I wanted to created to create a little leaf shaped country with oversized objects from each from the 4 sectors of design, since here I wanted to implement nature and sustainability as part of the image.

2nd Idea:  Get your taste buds ready

For this, I wanted a kueh tutu shaped infrastructure on a leaf-shaped platform as part of the graphics, because I wanted something that is a part of Singapore culture and again nature.

3rd idea: RE: invent

As for this, I wanted to base it on the vintage radio that I saw back at the National design centre.

I decided to work on the first 2 ideas that I had, but it wasn’t exciting without any dynamic angles and seemed rather still and cold. And as for the 2nd poster, I kept emphasizing on making food graphics that it failed to look like a design festival. So I decided to carry on with my 1st Idea.

Since I’m working with the slogan Design Nation, I tried to incorporate the idea of discovery while trying to put in more dynamic angles, I came up with this where I have a girl looking out of her binoculars with greenery behind her. However, because of the graphic I created first, I had trouble finding space for my text and end up just squeezing everything in whatever space I had.

As for the graphics, again I was being a bit too literal, and I decided to take some of the advice given in the class; the binoculars could be swapped out with projects out of the eyes. I also really liked another suggestion from the class to change the slogan to “a 20/20 vision” instead.

Since I’m working with a new slogan to do with vision and projections, I decided to change the graphics again to create a game-y graphic like a virtual reality. I also left out all the leaves and instead replaced it with simple grids to imply guides for building anything to imply endless possibilities.

But, my font sizes especially for the  date and the festival, were way too small, when they are supposed to be important. It was also still lacking the playfulness, so I decided to give it some pop by changing the text to Isometric graphics to make it look more dimensions. And I decided to test out using different types to create more contrast.

One thing that I definitely learned from this project is to not let the graphics control the texts, like I was doing for many of my previous attempts. I learned to practice taking everything out and putting in text elements in first and put in more graphics later, although i still have some problems locking them in to create a balance and a sense of unity.

Although I still struggle with hierarchy and locking my elements in the graphics, I think I managed to come a long way from the beginning of this project.