Locale | Mount Faber Zine

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Mount Faber

After much deliberation, I decided to stick with “selling” Mount Faber for its views. However, for the zine, I figure to add a personal touch. Hence, each page illustrates what I saw and felt as I enter and leave Mount Faber. The zine follows the narrative of my personal journey through Mount Faber.

Throughout the zine, I wanted to create a connection between the pages in a spread that showcases some parallels.

Spread 1

A full spread that combines together to form one image.

OFC (right): Displays the start of the journey through Mount Faber

OBC(left): Displays the end of the journey through Mount Faber

Spread 2

Page 2 (left): Displays the journey up Mount Faber

Page 7(right): Displays the journey down Mount Faber

Spread 3

The main theme for this spread is juxtaposition.

Page 3(right): Shows the juxtaposition of natural and man-made.

Page 6(left): Shows the juxtaposition of peace and noise.

Spread 4

One continuous spread that shows a timelapse of the view manipulated to reflect different emotions felt.

Outside Front Cover Page

To illustrate the idea of being in a state of confusion because I wanted to show how in the beginning, I had no idea what to expect from Mount Faber.

The first thing you see when you first arrive is the signage seen below:

Image from https://jalankopimakanpics.wordpress.com/2017/05/14/the-southern-ridges-walk/

I tried to replicate the shape of the sign to the best of my ability. The sign features 3 different fonts used that reflects the confused emotion.

Page 2

If you enter Mount Faber via the Marang Trail, you will first be greeted by a flight of stairs. In the beginning, climbing was easy. However, as it got higher and higher, the exhaustion starts kicking in. Unfortunately, that was when I started feeling giddy and nauseous (a sign that I would blackout soon).

To illustrate this experience, I decided to keep the stairs as a motif for this page. At the base of the stairs, we see a usual flight of stairs. However, the stairs start to warp into a weird configuration that looks impossible to climb.

The stairs on the left were created to look like steps that are rotated into weird position. Whereas the stairs on the right show how the steps are extremely uneven and going in weird directions. Both stairs illustrate the gradual increase in distortion.

I wanted to use as much of the site as possible, hence I used the texture from the stairs in Mount Faber to form the stairs. Textures were taken from this photo:

Page 3

Naturally Manmade – that was the theme for this page.

When you reach Faber Peak, you will see the building that holds the cable car station and restaurants. Interestingly, the building is surrounded by lush greenery and is a stark contrast from the climb up. Thus, I wanted to highlight the juxtaposition of the man-made building with nature.

I collected leaves, twigs, flowers, and tree barks to represent the nature aspect. Whereas for the man-made aspect, I collected litter that was left behind my humans such as food wrappers and cable car ticket. (I was contemplating whether to take the cigarette buds on the floor buuuuuuut, that is a little unhygienic)

I scanned all the items onto the computer in high resolution to capture as much details as possible. After which, I created a photo collage of all the images to form a pile of leaves with the wrappers and ticket hidden in between.

The background of this page was created using etching of a man-made rock. I thought that this blended well with the theme of the page because it demonstrated the idea of nature + man-made.

Page 4 & 5

Original image:

The center of my journey in Mount Faber was watching the sunset and the lights in the estates turn on at Faber Point.

In order to show the change in time, I decided to create a timelapse of the scenery. I stood at one spot from 7 pm – 8 pm, capturing the moment the sun goes down. I recorded the emotions I felt at the time the image was captured.

I incorporate the emotions felt into each panel by using photo manipulation and exaggerating the emotions.

Page 6

The theme for this page is the juxtaposition of peace with noise.

As I was going down Mount Faber, I was met with many noisy tourists, even though we are in such a peaceful environment.

Thus, I created a photo collage of noisy tourists peeping out of the trees (representing nature). I used photos of tourist that I captured while taking photos of the scenery.

I added the twirl distortion to add a dystopia effect. The image of the tourist and trees are framed through binoculars. I used the photo I took below as reference to create the frame:

Image taken from binoculars
Page 7

In this page, I wanted to highlight the journey leaving Mount Faber. Because I had to take a time-lapse shot of the sunset, by the time we left, it was completely dark and deserted.

At Faber Peak, the lights were still quite bright. However, when we reach the beginning of the Marang Trail, we realized that there were no lights at all, it was in complete darkness.

Instead, we decided to walk along the road. As we went down, it got scarier and scarier. At one point, we almost got lost, the signs lead us to a deserted road that was completely quiet. We were honestly worried about whether we were going to get out of this place.

The road on this page was reflected in a spiral fashion to illustrate the discombobulating emotions felt while going down. It was also designed to be thicker at the top and gradually gets thinner and thinner as it goes down. This is to demonstrate the constricting feeling where we got worried for our safety.

To show how we have no idea whether we will able to find our way, the road ends with a sharp dive and leads to a pit hole. I also added the lamps to represent the gradual decrease in the number of lights. At the top, there are more lights in normal white colour. However, as we go down to the middle, the colour changes to orange and the number of lights also decrease. Then finally, at the bottom, there were barely any lights, and the red light was used to illustrate a sort of sinister feeling.

I made use of a photo I took of the street lamp to create the light.

Outside Back Cover Page

Finally, to end it off, I used the same signage as the outside front cover page. However, this signage depicts clearer directional signs. This is to show how after leaving Mount Faber, I am now familiar with what Mount Faber has to offer. For example, where to get cold drinks, cheap food (vending machine, unfortunately), and where to find the best view.

Reflection

Just like how the last page shows the end of my journey through Mount Faber, this marks the end of my journey through Graphic Forms.

This project was quite out of my comfort zone because I usually prefer working with vectors rather than images. This was one of those rare moments where I made use of photo collage and photo manipulation.

A comment from Joy was specifically to Page 3, where she mentioned how I should have added my own personal touch to it. That didn’t occur to me until Joy brought it up.

Throughout consultations, I found that Joy fervently mentions every consultation on how I should exaggerate it even more. That really pushed me out of my comfort zone because I usually like to keep things subtle.

Overall, there are certain things that I wished I could have done better such as the cover page and Page 6. But I did enjoy the entire process of making my zine.

Graphic Form will be greatly missed.

Locale | Mount Faber Research

Click here for links to other posts: Zine Process | Zine

Research Presentation

Unique selling point

Before this, I had never visited Mount Faber before. So I didn’t know what to expect. However, what captured me the first time I was there were the amazing views of Singapore. One of the best views I have seen in Singapore was from 1-Altitude, which had a panoramic 360-degree view of Singapore. But, the view from Mount Faber brought me back home. As compared to the view from 1-Altitude, I felt that the view from Mount Faber was in a sense more relatable because it showed the everyday humble side of Singapore, rather than the high-end luxurious side. It offered the views of HDBs, condominiums that we as Singaporeans usually see.

Hence, for this project, I decided to focus on Mount Faber’s views as its USP and how Mount Faber’s facilities and infrastructures were structured in a way that centralizes and highlights its view.

Background

How did Mount Faber come about?

Originally named Telok Belangah Hill, in July 1845, the hill was renamed Mount Faber in honour of Captain Charles Edward Faber of the Madras Engineers, who built a narrow winding road to the summit for the installation of a signal station.

Sources from: http://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/infopedia/articles/SIP_29_2005-01-25.html

What is Mount Faber?

  • Located in the town of Bukit Merah in the Central Region of Singapore. It overlooks the Telok Blangah area and the western parts of the Central Area
  • One of the oldest parks in Singapore
  • Covered by secondary forest – “consists of vegetation which have developed after the destruction of the original ‘primary’ vegetation”, definition from Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum.
  • Park size: 56 hectares
  • Elevation: 106m above sea level
  • Third highest hill (the highest hill being Bukit Timah Hill, second Bukit Gombak)
  • Opens 24 hours, park lighting times: 7:00 pm to 7:00 am daily

Sources from: https://www.nparks.gov.sg/gardens-parks-and-nature/parks-and-nature-reserves/mount-faber-park

How to get there?

By car:

The summit is accessible by Mount Faber Road or Mount Faber Loop via Morse Road

By walking/hiking:

The main paths are,

Marang Trail which leads from Marang Road at the Harbourfront MRT station (Exit D)

Southern Ridges Park Connector which connects you from Telok Blangah Hill Park, Kent Ridge Park, and Henderson Waves.

By cable car:

Image from: https://www.onefabergroup.com/singapore-cable-car-sky-network/

 

Image from: https://www.onefabergroup.com/singapore-cable-car-sky-network/

Board the cable car that will bring you to Mount Faber from either Harbourfront Station or Sentosa Station.

Additional Primary Research: The staffs at the Cable Car Counter mentioned that the best time to take the cable car is from 2 pm – 4 pm.

As a poor Uni student, I have not had the chance to take to the cable car to Mount Faber. I have taken the Marang Trail up Mount Faber and personally, for someone who doesn’t mind hiking, I enjoyed the scenery and experience. However, since young, I occasionally experience mild blackouts whenever it gets too hot and when I overexert myself. Unfortunately, I experienced it while hiking up. Even though I enjoyed the hiking experience, for a more comfortable experience, I do prefer the option of taking a car up.

If you take a Grab up from VivoCity, it would only cost you around $7 – $9.

Facilities

Pavilions

Image from: https://www.nparks.gov.sg/gardens-parks-and-nature/parks-and-nature-reserves/mount-faber-park

In total, there are 17 pavilions in Mount Faber. From my observations, these pavilions are strategically situated in locations that face the view. Here are some photos of the pavilions:

Restaurants

There are 2 restaurants at Mount Faber:

(1) Spuds & Aprons

Indoor Dining Area

Image from Faber Peak Venue Information

Outdoor Dining Area

Image from Faber Peak Venue Information

Private Dining Area

Image from Faber Peak Venue Information

Sources from: Faber Peak Venue Information

(2) Dusk Restaurant & Bar

The restaurant has been featured on Night Owl Cinematics on their weekly food hunt, called Food King. Interestingly, it was shown in the episode that featured romantic dining places with a view.

First Survey Results

 

 

After conducting the first survey, the comments given were that the questions may be too broad and that I should highlight a unique selling point. However, as we discussed, I figured that I can use my results from the first survey to figure out what was the pull of Mount Faber. After analysing the results, I concluded that the unique selling point should be the views that Mount Faber has to offer.

Thus, I embarked on my second survey that focuses on the views.

Second Survey Results

My experience

Sight: A lot of trees, nature, walking paths, observation decks, bells, infrastructures, pavilions, CAT

Smell: Fresh air, nature

Sound: Birds chirping, Cicadas, Leaves rustling, Noisy tourists

Taste: After the hike and being under the hot sun, we were really craving for some cold drinks.

Touch: There were so many nice views, that I found myself constantly using my phone to take photos. Here are some nice views I caught.