The Salvation Army Annual Report 2009

The video is for The Salvation Army (TSA) Singapore for their annual fund raising luncheon. I was one of the producers and the video editor for the 9-minute video hosted by 95FM's excellent DJ, Yasminne Cheng. 

Links of the Day

1. Wiedan + Kennedy Got a New Website
2. Fontshop turns 20
3. So did the beautiful FF Scala (Martin Majoor) by the same foundry

Nebojsa Cvetkovic

Illustrations by Serbia based Nebojsa Cvetkovic. See more of his juicy illustrations over at Behance. Also, he maintains an excellent sketchblog and his website is here. It seems that he hates Celine Dion. On that admission alone, I like him already.

Better Things To Do With Legos

Use your Legos wisely instead of wasting them on some useless and emotionless national building campaign. Look at how Muji does it with the plastic brick maker that had the whole internet buzzing.

[Via Today and Tomorrow]

Being made for people 6+, it is just right for me and I can't wait to get them. But for now, here are just a few other better things to do with your Legos instead of wasting them on a useless and emotionless national building campaign (yes, I have to repeat it again):

Aisle One's Antonio Carusone On Grid

To suggest that only certain designs can benefit from using a grid is to suggest that a structural foundation can only benefit a certain type of building or that grammar is only useful for a certain style of writing. A grid is a foundation, and like with any architectural structure, it’s a vital part of the process.

Aisle One's Antonio Carusone clarification on the grid after he read this article which discussed like it is some sort of a trend that happened not long ago. I guess that is why I read Aisle One rather than that other website.

Links of the Day

1. Hellen Jo’s Lady Gaga [Via The Beat]
2.You Are Not A Gadget cover by Olly Moss [CR]
3. Interview: Universal Everything [Unit Edition]
4. Ayamari Bijin – Beautiful Girls Apologize Online [Via Japan Trends]

Mistake(s): Experimental Jetset

Even the best make mistake(s):

Now we see this poster again, we see our great mistake. While designing, some of the letters must have fallen off the page: as you can see, the alphabet in the right column misses the letters 'g' and 'r'. The strange thing is that, around that time, nobody noticed it. Not us three, not Gary, not the printer. It's such a stupid mistake, and we are fully responsible for it. It shows how blind you can be
while designing.

Experimental Jetset is an Amsterdam based design power house. I like that they provide in depth explanations about each of their work.

ST Engineering Safety@Work Entry Kit 2010

Safety@Work Creative Award is a yearly poster and animation competition organised by ST Engineering and Ministry of Manpower for tertiary students in Singapore.

Computer Back From the Dead

My computer just came back from the dead. I have so much stuff that I wanted to post. Stay tune.

Harry Clarke, Illustrations for Edgar Allen Poe

I always judge a book by its cover and, at Page One, one book illustrated by Harry Clarke, for Tales of Mystery and Imagination by Edgar Allen Poe, caught my eyes this time. Harry Clarke's art are really something sublime. A Journey Round My Skull via But Does It Float

Frank Chimero on Process

One of my favourite illustrators Frank Chimero share a bit of his creative process with us:

Fooling around is serious stuff, whether it’s for the sake of our work or for the sake of our sanity. Don’t get me wrong: design can be serious stuff, and every professional has the right to take their craft seriously. But, somewhere in the myriad of analysis and tight deadlines, we’ve revoked our permission to play around with ideas and experiment.

I think being serious (or being "professional and business-like") is a way to sell the creative business. Especially in Singapore where most people do not understand, and even fear, design.

However, a solution has become a problem as most client are not aware of a good visual communication. Most of the time we are treated like tools. Where does this leave some of the designers in Singapore? Jaded. Therefore, no play. Very unfortunate.

We own the world, you and I

I think serious shit whilst showering... and lathering. When I came out of the shower, so happened that I noticed a Facebook status update by my good friend, Nick “if the whole network grid fails, I might just go offline for once!” Foo. He asked: How would you measure your wealth? In other words, the condition (th) of your well-being (weal)?

I am always thinking about that in the shower. I answered the best I could from reading limited Nietzsche: By how much I can overcome the material and the spiritual world, and the acceptance of the joy of Eternal Recurrence. Or, simply, how well I can dance.

In the olden days of the hunt, tribes people intoxicated themselves after a hunt. They danced around bonfires. They sang songs of the wild. They worshiped the likeness of their hunt. I guess it was fair. Life was hard then. So much depended on Mother Nature. So much depended on the weather. No one’s life was guaranteed during the hunt. It was hard and unpredictable. And the harder their lives were the harder they dance.

But of course, things evolved. Situation improved. Lives got better. Farming began, yada yada yada, enter intro from Big Bang Theory.

How much better and different though. Let’s examine. People dance harder than ever but for recreation now. Bonfire is replaced by disco lights. People fill their waterhole with Bourbon and Vodka until they barf. People fill the karaoke lounges to sing their lungs out. Now, most people anyway, do not pray to those filthy animals anymore. We devote our lives in blood to the likeness of ourselves. We depend on the policies of people who we gave power to and depend on the economic climate. Oh boy, so much better.

I do not intoxicate myself. I do not sing. I do not pray to my likeness (more like praying to me though). And, I, definitely, do not dance. What I meant by how well I can dance, is, of course, metaphorical. You see, I am a keen reader of Nietzsche. Then, the real questions are: Is my life better? Am I better?

Realistically, everything is arguable. That kind of question is academic. Humanity is layers of layers of historical changes. What could be thought was wrong is now right and vice versa. Everyone is searching for happiness and well-being. It would be extremely hypocritical of me to even start to argue that my life is better. For I do not know if I am happy. I just know I want to be aware of/conscious every second of my life because I feel that it is just so amazing, and it just is what it is without having to give any narrative to it. And, my request is for everyone to just think the opposite of what you believe is moral, what is right and what is happiness, and ask yourself: Is it wrong? Remember, we own the world, you and I.

Academia vs. Business

Applicable to most other professions including design.

Immediate Attention

Ah Lady Gaga. You will continue to shine as long as you keep up with all those masonic allegories and those A Space Odyssey: 2001 references. The little girls had some attention for a while and now the woman is back. I am glad.

Distrito Capital Hotel by Joseph Dirand

Clean, modern and minimalistic interiors,  that I absolutely adore, designed by French architect Joseph Dirand, the 30 room Distrito Capital hotel is located in Mexico City. Check out more interior photos at the Contemporist. Check out the hotel's stylish website too.

Links of the Day

1. Mr. Beaks chats with 2012's Chin Han [Ain't It Cool]
2. Growing penis tissue in the lab (I wish I have an image to show.) [BoingBoing]
3. Google Street View Captures Fire Truck Hit and Run With an Old Lady On a Bike [Gizmodo]
4. Starbucks, but not as we know it [Moving Brand]
5. 21 Writing Prompts for Design Students [AIGA]

Weekly Cool Videos Release Week 46/09

Three great videos this week. Let me start this week with the trailer of the movie based on a book by Christopher Isherwood, A Single Man. Directed by ex-Gucci CD Tom Ford and starring Colin Firth and Julianne Moore.



Immersion: Porn by Robbie Cooper. It is quite interesting to listen and watch people talking about porn and masturbation. It is amazing to see their expressions and actions while watching porn and masturbating. Especially, when you can observe the difference between how the male person and female person does it. One is focused at the porn images while the other is more focused on the masturbatory experience. NSFW. Via Wallpaper*



Something about this Leo Burnett poetic Macdonald's UK ad that is so emotionally good it is just wrong. Via AdFreak.

Workspace by Joseph Holmes

I love chaotic scenes of workspace or humanscape without the human. I am glad I am not alone on this. This image of an industrial office space is a series called Workspace by photographer Joseph Holmes. More at here. Via A Continuous Lean.

CMYK 3.0: The Redesign Story

CMYK Magazine is where aspiring creatives showcase their talents to an industry driven by inspiration and new ways of creative problem solving.

CMYK magazine is getting ready to launch its redesign issue. Check out a preview. And, hey look! Another Christoph Niemann article.

Christoph Niemann 99% interview

"The problem is when people have too much time on their hands. Because then at some point everybody’s going to question, “Why did you make it red, not green?” and “Could we try it upside-down, or left to right?” and then at some point it becomes arbitrary."

Christoph Niemann is an illustration god. Blogs for the New York Times in his free time when he is not illustrating for them and others such as The New Yorker. Via 99%.

Tokion Served

New website to plagiarise find inspiration. It is a TOKION Magazine X Behance Network collaboration called Tokion Served. Above is work by Craig Redman of RINZEN. It is just cool okay?

Leo Burnett Office by Ministry of Design

Headed by President's Design Award winner Colin Seah, Singapore's Ministry of Design is:

An integrated spatial-design practice, MOD's explorations are created amidst a democratic 'studio-like' atmosphere and progress seamlessly between form, site, object and space. We love to question where the inherent potential in contemporary design lies, and then to disturb the ways they are created or perceived - redefining the world around us in relevant and innovative ways, project by project!

Above is one of their latest project for Leo Burnett's Singapore office. Ad behemoths seem to like them as BBH's Singapore office was also done by MOD.

Via Dezeen.

Links of the Day

1. La Charcuterie Business Cards and Stationary [Kitsune Noir]
2. Atheist Damien Hirst to display oil paintings in St Paul's [Times Online]
3. What Space Invaders Really Look Like (T-Shirt) [Gizmodo]
4. Denver to Singapore (and back) in 5 minutes (technically, a cool video but what the hey) [Kottke]
5. Neither Fish Nor Fowl interview [Grainedit]
6. Porter for Monocle [SLAMXHYPE]

"Objectified" - Jonathan Ive talks about Mac design & Unibody MacBook manufacture

Need. To. Watch. Objectified.

Weekly Cool Videos Release and some ranting

I am going to micro-rant about the local design industry in this post so if you are interested click "» read on...", otherwise, here is this week's link to the coolest videos of the week: Thirty Conversations On Design via formfiftyfive.

Burodestruct

Burodestruct, maker of many wonderful and unique typefaces, has updated their website (I think previously they weren't using a weblog format) and flickr with a few new work.

Where The Wild Things Are x Medicom Toy

Where The Wild Things Are x Medicom introduces this 400% version of the Max figure. This cool shit is not available to me at thoseluckyfrenchies'colette for an unaffordable to me price of 110 freakingEuros. Via SLAMXHYPE

Where plastic ends up

The effects of waste floating off Pacific on the population of albatross as documented by Seattle-based photographer Chris Jordan. I kind of wish that these were human babies instead. Even then we might not react. I will let the images speak for themselves. Via CR. Via Guardian. Via Jordan's site.

Links of the Day

1. 'Ora' Concept Watch by Alexandros Stasinopoulos. [Designboom]
2. Starbucks Marketing Push for Via Begins With Taste Tests. [Adage]
3. Nice old book cover found flickr. [Via We Love Typography]

MSCE // I Was Here

This is a Buddhist temple in Singapore. I am an atheist/pastafarian but I am always interested in the Buddhist ideology. More at my Make Something Cool Everyday flickr set.

Links of the Day

1. The Week In Type. [ilt]
2. Tomasz Opasinski Interview. [Psdtut]
3. How I Got 294 Comments With One Blog Post. [Copyblogger]

Domus 928 by onlab

Exceptional editorial design for Domus issue 928 by German design power house, onlab. Domus is, generally, quite expensive here in Singapore but Basheer @ Bras Brasah tends to sell them at a huge discount after a few months. Was tempted to buy one for 15SGD just two weeks ago but bought IdN's extra 01: cut&paste for 20 bucks instead.

2009 Weekly Cool Videos Release Week 39

[Via +Kitsune Noir.]

Five excellent videos for Week 39 including a collaborative animation by Blu and David Ellis.

Links of the Day

1. Urban Planning Integrated Into a Volcano. [Archdaily]
2. An Oldie But Goodie: 9 Ways to Improve An Ad. [welcome to optimism]
3. Seven Lies About Lying Part 1 & 2. [nytimes's Zoom via kottke]

Lies are effective because we are insecure about many of our beliefs and are quite vulnerable to the suggestion that those beliefs might be false.

4. Blood Powered Lamp by Mike Thompson. [Apartment Theraphy NY]
5. Hilton Trades Beverly Hills for Beveled Hills. [Brand New]

Adrian Riemann's Masters of the Universe

Very nice modern update of the characters from The Masters of the Universe illustrated and dressed by Adrian Riemann. These here are Tri-Klops and Teela. As I grew older, I realised that the villains in MotU are extremely scary and dark.

MSCE // Fucked Up

More at my Make Something Cool Everyday flickr set.

Anyone for a 8.50U$D Pork Bun?

The above pork bun are one of the six sandwiches New York's Xie Xie (as in shay shay, mandarin's "thank you") offer. Xie Xie is "an energetic fast-casual restaurant celebrating the vibrant flavors of Asia". It cost 8.50USD (12SGD). OMG. LOL. Xie Xie managed to package a relatively cheap Asia delicacy into about six times its original price. Culinary experts loved it and liked the price. We really have to kowtow to the branding power of the West.

Free

Free by xkcd. Reminds me of an episode of Mad Men season one. The one about marketing cigarettes as being toasted.

Rilla Alexander Has a New Website

I have blogged about Rilla Alexander, of Rinzen, on my tumblog before and, now, she has a new website.

Links of the Day

1. Nine Scientifically Proven Ways to Get Retweeted on Twitter. [Popwise, Fast Company]

2. Beggars Can Be Choosers
Although conventional wisdom suggests that SPAMmy pleas, such as "PLEASE RETWEET," would be generally ignored, Zarrella found the opposite. "Please" and "retweet" were his third and fourth "most retweetable" words, preceeded only by "Twitter" (duh) and "you." Also worth noting: "Check out" and "new blog post" were Nos. 19 and 20, respectively

2. It's Official: Water Found on the Moon. [Space.com Via Gizmodo]
3. HOWTO reproduce a key from a distant, angled photo. [Boing Boing]
4. Vintage Esquire Covers: 1953-1961. [Grain Edit]
5. Simplicity in Good Web Design : Advantages & How -to [Noupe]

Singapore's New Censorship Committee

The Singapore government has just appointed 17 people they think qualifies to discern contents which are suitable for Singaporeans and which are not. And, as usual, they will try to provide salvation for young ones from the unholy internet:

To study whether there is a need to introduce additional content standards and guidelines that would be relevant to the emergence of new technologies and new media platforms;

Looking at the list, a sense of shame came over me as a Singaporean, for I only know one Ms Chua Lee Hoong, the great Political Editor of, you guessed it, the unbiased Straits Times. And, going further down the list, there is a young violinist called Ms Min Lee, a student in Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, who will be probably representing the youths of Singapore.

Yeah, representing the youths. That is nice.

Anyway, check out the full list here.

Ken Leung Interview by Grain Edit

Ken Leung, an UK-based Malaysia-born designer, who spent much of his life in Australia, was an art director with Monocle before he went freelance. He is the latest featured designer by Grain Edit. He was asked to shed a little light on the direction he chose for Monocle's layout grid:

Monocle’s design philosophy is an unquestionable nod to Swiss graphic design. The Brockmann-style grids provide a strong foundation to begin building and designing a page in the most legible and concise way possible. Using such a strict grid also enforces restraint, which, in my opinion is where the most interesting design comes from.

He, also, touched on the illustrators – some of my favorites such as Adrian Johnson, Takashi Kuwahara and Lab Partners – that he choose to worked on Monocle:

I choose illustrators that display a sense of craftmanship and detail in their work. They should have confident styles that aren’t based on trends or an over-reliance of technology. A sense of wit never goes astray either.

I am extremely proud when my fellow Asians do good in the international creative circle . Psychologically, it sort of just gives me hope for the future. So, I will be highlighting much about them in this blog.

Thom Yorke's New Single – "Feeling Pulled Apart By Horses"

A song with Jonny Greenwood, his Radiohead pal, that "Reckoner" was said to have roots from. Check out the album designed by Stanley Donwood and Tchock (Thom Yorke) at Stereogum.com. [Via SLAMXHYPE]

Inglourious Basterds

No expectation. That is the key to watching any movies nowadays. Even though, I must admit I did have some level of anticipation when I watched Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds two days ago.

MSCE // Selamat Hari Raya!

More at my Make Something Cool Everyday flickr set.

Eyeka Asia Banner

A little freelance illustrative piece for Eyeka Asia's Facebook banner. Inspired by many many famous illustrators which I will blog about soon.  This is the kind of style I always like to try.

NTUC Learninghub Illustrations

I do not have many chance to do illustration for Orbital, which was very unfortunate. However, when I do, even though this was actually directed by our client in some sense as they picked the style, I enjoyed it.

tau·tol·o·gous

Function: adjective
Etymology: Greek tautologos, from taut- + legein to say — more at legend
Date: 1714
1 : involving or containing rhetorical tautology : redundant
2 : true by virtue of its logical form alone
— tau·tol·o·gous·ly adverb

MDIS Open House 2008

I was there. I was free. So, MDIS let me to do their branding for their 2008 open house.

Atlas Bose

Atlas, the Singapore authorised dealer for Bose, wants a large format light print advertisement to showcase their new in-ear earphones.

Blogger, I choose you!

After much deliberation, I have decided to depart from tumblr and come back to Blogger. One of the biggest reason for me is that Blogger has incorporated the "insert jump break" function which is great and neater for a (free) portfolio weblog.

SAFRA Saleskit

SAFRA Sports Adventure Centre (SASC) needed a better way to present their brochures via a saleskit.

Raffles Institution Prospectus

This was my second full and last publication which I complete from start to finish for Orbital.

Anderson Junior College Year Book 2008

My first publication and was lucky enough to lead, conceptualise, design and produce this project with the help of my creative director and senior designer.