Salon des Refusés

In the so called pioneer days of post independence Singapore, and at the start of that incredible journey that “turned a backwater swampland into a thriving metropolis”, as the ruling party’s propaganda machine likes to remind us, we the citizens played our part in “nation building” by participating in endless campaigns to that end.  Yours truly was summoned by the clarion call to Keep Singapore Clean by contributing a poster in the nationwide contest. I submitted four designs as follows:  Four arms of different skin tones representing the four main races of the population. The Lion of Singapura (Lion City) doing his bit for "nation building." Who would refuse the flag waving Lion's appeal to duty? Nothing like pulling the heart strings. Although all were rejected for the top prize, one did receive a Highly Commended Award which, for unknown and unremembered reasons, I did not show up to collect even though the presentation and exhibition venue

Upon finishing school I hit the pavement in search of my first job. My heart was set on becoming an advertising artist.  In those days, there were no graphic design colleges here, and artists basically learned the ropes through apprenticeship. I had a good idea of what my job would be like, having seen advertising people portrayed in the movies. It would be packed with excitement, glamour, fast cars, fast women, high octane living. As there were no Yellow Pages then, I ploughed through the telephone directory looking for companies with the word advertising in their names. I wrote to a dozen of them and several replied with the usual regrets, and three offered to interview. For my first interview I went to Papineau Advertising and my rudimentary portfolio was reviewed by art director Bill Mundy. I saw for the first time the actual illustrations used in their Milo press ads. They were photoprints of sportsmen rendered in pure black and white, then retouched by hand using pen and i

The Cathay Restaurant was one of Singapore’s leading restaurants with a colourful history going back to the heydays of the famed Cathay Hotel in which it was located. It was the place, to use a cliche, where everybody who is anybody goes to dine and wine, to see and be seen. For its relaunch I was commissioned to redesign its logo and related collaterals including those for the hotel proper. I presented two logos for consideration and the one below was passed over. It was inspired by the motifs on Shang dynasty sacrificial bronzeware which I had woven into the letters.  In hindsight some of the letterforms like the H might be hard to make out unless one is already primed to see the word Cathay.   Letterforms inspired by the curlicue motifs on Shang dynasty sacrificial bronzeware like the water instrument on display in the Shanghai Museum, below.   Fortunately for me the other concept (pictured in the cinema ad below) was accepted, perhaps due to its legibility and the

In the early days of serving on the Brand’s Essence of Chicken account I was assigned a project to produce a three-bottle traveller’s pack to be retailed at the airport duty-free shop. I proposed several directions for the client to consider, and the concept selected was the one revolving round the romance of travel. After further development, the retailer side suddenly decided to abandon the project. Exploratory sketches of selected design direction based on the romance of travel. More detailed explanation Alternative graphic treatment.  Using clipart to provide a clearer indication of the finished result. The romance of travel sat on the back burner lying dormant for several years till a call from another client requesting a tourist pack to be designed. The idea that was in gestation became the inspiration for the new job. The theme reborn as a set of 5 individually packed pens with its own pen-holder for desktop use (draft concept)

The design below is one of two submissions for the Millennium 2000 logo design competition held in conjunction with the Singapore Millennium 2000 celebrations. Yes, the dread Y2K bug was lurking on the horizon and scheduled to wreak havoc on 1.1.00 but the island nation was also preparing to party through it all. When I went to collect the rejected artwork, a lady staffer told me it had been shortlisted for the final selection. The logo did not die and was resurrected as a Singapore T-shirt and assorted tourist souvenirs on my online store zazzle.com/virtuocity . It is also widely pirated by other T-shirt vendors, and wholesale copies and variations can be spotted in tourist haunts especially on Temple Street, Chinatown.

The client is a startup catering company venturing into cooked food to be sold over the counter at food stations and in restaurants. The design brief calls for I. The development of a logo to be followed by a full corp orate ID programme. II. The design of a food station in a leading mall as a test launch. BRANDING We proposed the following concept for the logo: 1.  A mascot or character of a happy mouth with two thumbs up. 2.  Orange and red identifying colours to suggest appetizing food and friendly service. 3.  Bilingual naming in accordance with the market norm with English given prominence. The client liked the concept but asked for alternatives to be submitted. We felt the essence of the design is simply the face and thumb, so proceeded with refinements, keeping the legs in one character for comparison. A heavy font the client specifically requested was incorporated.  The client had a change of heart and thought we should pursue a more “

The club’s symbol is an elephant and I was tasked with designing a mascot which will make appearances at matches as well as PR and publicity events. Stuffed toys were also to be produced for merchandising at matches, events and tie-ins. Exploratory sketches were presented to club officials and the approved concept was developed in 3D software for a prototype to be made.  However interest fizzled out and the project has been in limbo since.   3D renderings