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.