Tiong Bahru | f e l ❍

Hello humans!

Read more about my Ideation and Cover Development before you go on!

For content development today, I will cover the style and approach I took towards crafting my Zine. The area I am covering is Tiong Bahru, and with that, I decided to try a new style – Illustration!!!! We’ll see the outcome further down into the post. And yes, I am equally as excited to share my design journey.

Let’s go

MOODBOARD DESIGN:

LAYOUT – Making use of Repetition and layering of elements to set the foundation of the overall theme.

ILLUSTRATION STYLE –

COLOUR SCHEME – Blue because it is the colour of the porcelain bowl, a symbolic colour of olden rituals and traditions

INITIAL ILLUSTRATIONS:

My first ever set of illustrations!!! I’m so happy I took that leap of faith and try out illustrating. Have always been more of a graphic design kinda person but having picked up this new medium/skill IS LIFE CHANGING. It has been super addictive – and the feeling of digital illustrating differs so much from graphic art style.

LOVE.

PROCESSED ILLUSTRATIONS:

A monochromatic experience in the making

FAILED LAYOUTS

The initial layout was just mindblowing-ly bad. I then removed everything and started on a new canvas. It lacked visual hierarchy, theme and consistency which irks me 🙁

This time around, I hope to develop better cohesiveness and unity in my zine layouts, which includes a strong recurring style.

SUBSEQUENT DEVELOPMENTS

Realise that the strokes and squares lacked meaning, hence I took it out and swapped it for another shape that can better symbolise/represent cats in any way

Really liked this simplistic layout, but somehow, it still lacks layers

Initially, I wanted to settle with a full spread of repetition, like the example below. I asked around for a few opinions and ways I can improve my layout further, and one of the comments was to add in some form of typography, somewhere. So that was it! Typography seems to help add more meaning to a design.

testing out the shades of red

moved on from red to pink, and some repeated typography all over to mimic the idea of a wrapping paper

These are the (sorta) finalised layout, inclusive of typography! Thought the pages tie in better together now, with the use of typography design.

INDIVIDUAL SHAPES AND WHAT THEY MEAN:

The powerpoint slides (the same one I pitched) that come together with my lil‘ design booklet as seen below:

cute lil flip book i did but the file size is way too huge to upload onto OSS 🙁 so this small little thumbnail would suffice.

ADM YEAR 1

YOU’VE BEEN AMAZING(LY HECTIC).

Signing off now with my final ciao,

CIAOS!!!

In the ‘Zine’ – Tiong Bahru edition, I will be dividing the 8 pages into 3 main sections

1 – On birds singing tradition

2 – What’s a must try in Tiong Bahru

3 – Wall of fame for CATS

I will now present my research on the above 3 topics I have narrowed down to focus on.

Tiong Bahru Bird Singing

https://ourbigexpatadventure.wordpress.com/2014/03/12/tiong-bahru-bird-corner/

Yes, there are indeed many places locally where you can find bird singing corners. Some examples are Serangoon North Avenue 1, Tanglin Halt, Ang Mo Kio Avenue 10 and Bukit Purmei. Lo and behold, Tiong Bahru is the OG (original gangster) of this trade. It is the oldest and the first ever “Bird Arena” in Singapore.

In the past couple of years, many bird-lovers would gather at this spot bright and early, to admire all the exotic, beautiful birds sitting in their antique cages. One interesting fact is that it all started from an owner of a Kopitiam (coffee shop), with all intention to attract more business. But it led to more than just a business antic, it becomes a tradition worth preserving.

Credit: The Straits Time

Tiong Bahru bird corner was noticed by a Dutch reporter, who wrote about it in the late eighties. It was when this corner gained recognition, attracting even more tourists and reporters far and wide! Eventually, Dutch sponsor numbered hooks to facilitate more birds singing competition in the area. I find it relatively interesting since these are areas I would never have noticed even if I happen to pass by. The failure to realise its significance would truly be a waste! So glad I managed to dig out some of the forgotten treasures of Tiong Bahru.

Interesting Food Finds (TOP 3)

What’s good in Tiong Bahru, you ask? Come, let me show you!

Pastries and Coffees? They have Tiong Bahru Bakery.

I was a huge sceptic of this place initially. I thought it would just be another cafe that is totally overhyped since it is always buzzing with people and the cafe always seem to be on full house. I had my first try on their original croissant, accompanied by a warm cup cappuccino – Boy was I wrong to assume it would just taste like flour and sugar. It was on a whole new level of mind-blowingness!

I knew I had to feature this in my Eatbook spread! Light, buttery crisp on the outside, warm and soft on the inside – An excellent balance of sweet and savoury.

Next!

For a main, if you’re tight on a budget, fret not for there is Tiong Bahru Food Centre. For this section, there are a couple of recommendations –

Like Jian Bo Chwee Kueh, 238 Coffee, Ru Yi Vegetarian Bee Hoon and Tiong Bahru Teochew Kuehs. I’ll insert some pictures below!

Credits: Danielfooddiary

Wall of Fame for Cats –

YES! You heard it right, its Cats we’re talking about. Hmm, what about stray cats right? They are everywhere, isn’t it? Well, let me introduce you to the hidden gems of Tiong Bahru – It’s their cats.

The name star of today’s research is Bob the stray. He even has his very own Facebook page! (Click to find out more okay! I promise he is super chubby and cute) The page is still very much active now, and the latest update was made on March 25, 2018! You can see how much love he is showered with.

And this is the backstory of Bob: Click Here

Besides Bob the star, there are a couple of extraordinary places where we find traces of cats. One example is Books Actually. This is a local bookshop WITH FELINES.

http://evonnz.com/exploring-tiong-bahru-cupcakes-at-plain-vanilla-strangelets-books-actually/

https://www.booksactuallyshop.com/blogs/chowing-fat/interviewing-the-cats-of-booksactually

How often do you come across bookstores with cats? Here’s the funny thing. Sometimes when the shopkeepers are out, they leave their cats to tend the store. How amusing. I bet they keep out little mousey thieves!

Read their interview Here!

Another super funky fact: They even did casting calls for the cutest cats in Singapore, and one of our fellow Tiong Bahru residence made it! Here’s a video I found:

A Purrrfect Singapore Audition

It's not just people that paint the colours of Singapore, but also our many neighbourhood felines. Which kitty will emerge as the most legendary of them all? #YourSingapore #Cat

Posted by VisitSingapore on Wednesday, 13 January 2016

These will be my area of focus for the content of Zine, bringing very relatable and closer to hearts topics to you as a producer of my first location magazine spread! Thank you for reading!

Next up: Research on Layout Style 😉

Ciaos.

Citations:

http://joyloh.com/blog/?p=5916

Bird Singing Corners in Singapore

http://landscapeinthebox.blogspot.sg/2013/04/tiong-bahru-fading-history-forgotten.html?view=magazine

Tiong Bahru Bird Singing Corner

https://www.facebook.com/thestoryofbob/

http://tiongbahruestate.blogspot.sg/2011/03/bob-street-cat-that-glued-community.html

https://www.theonlinecitizen.com/2016/01/14/stb-auditioning-for-the-trendiest-cat-in-tiong-bahru/

f e l ❍

Tag Archives: Tiong Bahru

Zine: Content Development

ZINE: Content Research (Tiong Bahru)