1. Chosen Space

I think this assignment is a very good excuse to hand out at your favourite place. Hence, I choose Tiong Bahru.

It’s a place I frequent almost every week because my Ah Ma stays there. To me, Tiong Bahru is synonymous to Ah Ma’s house.

While researching about the place, I found out that it literally means ‘to die new‘. ‘Tiong’ means to die in Hokkien and ‘Bahru’ means new. I felt that literal translation also accurately reflects the co-existence of old and new in Tiong Bahru. In comparison to the latter, this quote was less personal and able to be understood by most.

2. Photos

It took me 2 trips to get the right photos. I shall review the rejects first before showing what worked. During my consult with Shirley, I learnt that what didn’t worked could easily be explained with Gestalt Theory.

Left: If there is no border, it is harder to recognise it as D.

 

Right: However, when there is a white space around it, it helps to focus on the subject ‘D’. The border acts as a ‘closure’ for the subject ‘D’.

 

Left: the white building is bleeding into the white (overexposed) sky at the top and become a part of the subject ‘E’.

 

Right: The subject ‘E’ stands out when there is a clear distinction between the subject and background.

 

 

 

Both of these letter works. However, in different ways.

Left: We recognise ‘L’ instead of ‘i’ because due the peephole is too far to be seen as a part of the handle.

Right: Due to the proximity (and size), we can recognise an ‘i’.

 

3. Layout

So, these were 3 layouts I were experimenting. While the first two are rather neat and structured, I decided to go with the last one because it resemble a flying bird could possibly symbolises the revitalisation of Tiong Bahru.