2019 is set to be a great year for local design

Our '200th' birthday

You may roll your eyes at the idea of celebrating Singapore's 'bicentennial', but what we'll learn about Singapore's history this year has the potential to inspire the next iconic local designs. Apart from adding new artifacts to the cultural vault of Singapore, I hope that we'll inch closer to finding a unified, ubiquitous design style to call our own.  

I'm also looking forward to seeing how the Singapore Bicentennial Office intends to promote this celebration. Far fewer people would care about this than SG50, so campaigns should have shock value for it to stick. It's not even mid-January and I'm already impressed with what they did with the Raffles statue at Boat Quay.

Guerrilla Marketing at its finest

Statues of Sang Nila Utama, Tan Tock Seng, Munshi Abdullah and Naraina Pillai

Savvy government marketing

While over 50+ years of nation building saw many successful government campaigns promoting everything from keeping fit (Great Singapore Workout) to being courteous (National Courtesy Campaign), it seems like we are entering a golden era of PSAs once again. 

From recent memory, I can think of the wuxia-inspired Kungfu Fighter advertisements featuring a heroine fighting diabetes and villainous sugar addicts. The 1st such advertisement was such a hit that the Health Promotion Board modeled many of their future ads after this aesthetic.



The government agency to watch this year is the Singapore Police Force. Their media department has found a perfect formula to go viral online through posting high-quality content (read as memes) with witty captions. 

However, 2018 also saw some questionable moves by the government to reach out to younger folks. Paying Instagram 'influencers' to promote Budget 2018? What were they thinking...

For better or for worse, the government is exploring unconventional ways to market its campaigns, which would make for an exciting year of media coverage ahead. 

Made In SG Products + Spicing up Physical Retail

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Hello Singapore! Meet Design Orchard, an exciting new destination on famed Orchard Road to shop and support local! Follow us on IG and FB for exciting updates as we reveal what's coming to you in Jan 2019. We can't wait to meet all of you :) #shopdesignorchard #orchardroad #orchardroadsg #orchardroadshopping #singapore #supportlocalsg

A post shared by shopdesignorchard (@shopdesignorchard) on Nov 25, 2018 at 9:43pm PST

Did you notice that having a physical area on prime land instantly legitimises the importance of local design? That design is no longer being seen as 'just a hobby' but a real job? How tourists can now browse and interact with products from artisans and learn more about our Little Red Dot?

This shows that physical retail design is not dead, or at least not yet. In 2018, we saw opening of new retail concepts, with Capitaland leading the way by launching NomadX in Plaza Singapura. Older malls such as OneKM rebranded to focus more on community events such as art workshops.

This year, the new Funan Mall is set to open, introducing yet another interesting retail concept where one can expect a futuristic experience when shopping, staying true to Funan's roots as a tech mall. The events at Funan's showsuite have been promising (it was even a part of Singapore Design Week 2018), so let's hope that Funan can live up to its tagline as 'Singapore's Creative Intersection'.

Apparently, we can cycle in this mall. wot

Design In Singapore 2019

Make Malls Fun Again

"Why walk under the sun to OneKM when I can just cross the street to SingPost Centre?"

OneKM's branding: False Excitement

Kinex: Younger Now

-UOL Deputy Group CEO Liam Wee Sin

Kinex's logo is still a wordmark, but that's as far as similarities go between this and OneKM's logo. The logo is vibrant and playful, arguably more kid-friendly than United Square's logo, perhaps because of its colour palette. On the mall's site, you can see the new colour palette being put to good use, and a fun and youthful visual identity shines through.

According to the press release, Kinex is a combination of kinetics and experience, which explains the floating words and squiggle graphics on the site.

They might appear messy when presented without context, but they fit well with the site

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The school holidays are here! Gather your family and friends for some hands-on fun at OneKM. Check out these workshops: Build your own Terrarium by The Green Capsule 17 Jun (Sun), 2 - 4pm Soap Art Workshop by Soap Art Pte Ltd 17 Jun (Sun), 5 - 7 pm Candle Making Workshop by Soap Art Pte Ltd 23 Jun (Sat), 4 - 6pm Sign up NOW at https://www.onekmworkshops.com for a fun-filled June! #onekm #letsplay #schoolhols #schoolsout #crafts #terrarium #candlemaking #soapart #workshops #familyactivities #familyfun #fathersday

A post shared by KINEX (@kinex.katong) on May 31, 2018 at 4:41am PDT

In fact, from 1 April to its official rebrand on 1 September, the mall's social media posts started to follow Kinex's brand look. 

Colourful confetti eventually made way for the squiggles after the rebrand.

Whether you love this identity or think it's too childish for a mall, there's no denying that its brand identity and application are solid pieces of work which sends a cohesive and strong message of what it stands for - a place for people to play. Be it through shopping at the retail theme park or participating in unique communal events, Kinex hopes its offerings would allow people to experience, excite and explore the passions.

Eh, don't bluetick leh, leave a comment. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram as well!

Quite the generous country, are we?

About our $16.3m "investment" earlier this year

The media centre featured the Trump-Kim Summit identity

Pampering the media team with SG Mark branded memorabilia

"We've got the best branding - the best - believe me"

What Went Wrong?

Now's the part you've been wanting to read - my critique of this angelic dress. Angelic when the flaps are closed, that is.

Seriously, what can I do to convince her not to reveal the flaps

Ironically, the main attraction of the dress happens to be the one which cheapens it. When the flaps are closed, the costume paints a rather straightforward message about desiring peace. 

Once the flaps are opened to reveal the print, I had to laugh at the messiness and inconsistency of the design. The hands are generated 3D-models while the skyline is an airbrushed photograph - inexcusable amateurish design when 'blended' together. That blue colour, that yellow/white glow, the flags - it's all too cheesy, especially with the Singapore skyline decorating the flap's border, a possible afterthought after realising that this is the dress for Miss Universe SINGAPORE, not the USA or DPRK. 

As I studied the dress more closely, I got this sense of uneasiness as it reminded me of propaganda posters. Look at the art style of the hands and compare them with North Korean posters. Look at the flags and tell me if far-right Trump voters would use this picture in their terrible MAGA picture compilations. I'm not sure if the designer was knowingly creating propaganda material, which is deeply troubling.

The Design Devil

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Loving the blue! It's always been a favourite colour of mine!! A peek at the soon-to-be completed National Costume! For the third year running, Miss Universe Singapore’s National Costume is designed by the incomparable Moe Kassim! Thank you so much!! #zahrakhanum #missuniverse2018 #missuniverse #beautyqueen #nationalcostume #singapore #beauty #pageant #missuniversesingapore #mus2018 #confidentlybeautiful

A post shared by Zahra Khanum (@zah16) on Nov 20, 2018 at 4:29am PST

I'm going out on a limb to say that this was not entirely the designer's fault. In a recent article, designer Moe Kasim of Moephosis Concepts defended the dress he designed, revealing that it was a challenge to work with the budget allocated and to come up with a fashion design based on a 'controversial and contentious' event.

An lo and behold, you can see the problem which resulted in this mess in the first place - the organisers instructed him to 'design something based on the Trump-Kim summit'. Not world peace in general, but specifically on the summit. 

This smells like design by committee, which happens when non-designers essentially design for the designer via instructions. Seriously, for a design which can be done on powerpoint (all you need is some stock photos and clip art online plus the outline effect and voila, a miss universe worthy dress), I find it hard to believe that he willingly wanted this as the final design.

Can we go back to food themed costumes now

Our local comedians were quick to add their take on the costume, and how I wished we just stuck to food instead. Maybe pass some samples around the judges to bribe introduce them to our food culture.

Anyway, if this year's costume requires more examples of world peace, I present to you my edition of the dress, which celebrates the successful Ma-Xi meeting in 2015, our neighbourly relations with Malaysia and ASEAN cooperation. Enough hands for world peace already? 

Oh and I added the SG Mark for good measure - lest this dress be worn by the actual Miss Universe after winning. 

Beating the dead horse

Shake, Spin, Snatch, Scratch, Surprise - all in the name of Saving

Shopee

No amount of cringe will beat the current record holder, but this is still high up on the list. And to think that they poked fun at the inspiration behind this pi-pi-pi madness!

Teasing the song and dissing the inspiration

You might also have heard of Shopee's 11.11 campaign via invitation codes from your acquaintances. The game is simple enough: shake your mobile device to earn Shopee coins which can be used to purchase vouchers.

You can only shake once per hour. Time to start blocking contacts?

Shopee's competitions are questionable but keeps those interested hooked - who would want to spend 11.11 in front of their electronic device just to win a standing fan? 3 thousand people...

Like almost all other online retailers, Shopee's vouchers promote the purchase-with-purchase mindset. Shopee even has a dedicated day to collect them.

Design-wise, I'd say that looking at orange for a long period of time can cause eye fatigue.  The bubbles remind me of Apple's iOS marketing colour palettes. 

Qoo10

Qoo10's discounts aims to make its customers feel over the moon with their Double Wonders Sale.



Their dark colour scheme is appreciated by bargain hunters on early 11.11 morning - the campaign webpage would not blind a user waking up at 12 midnight sharp. 

Although I get the "shop double, save double" tagline, this isn't as catchy as Qoo10 thinks. I'm thinking more of "double your shopping, double your savings".

This is the first time I've seen product listings being cropped to circles, probably to fit with the space theme (astronaut helmets, perhaps).

The small things count - these rocks help to set the mood of the site, but with so much info already squeezed into 1 page section, one can also argue that it creates extra clutter.

Do you sometimes get the feeling that the promotions you get on a particular site are all the same? You aren't dreaming, these things exist. 

The boxes which you can unlock are actually just vouchers in disguise. Clever, but otherwise disappointing for fans who expect something different. 

While other online sites were releasing videos, promotional codes and images like clockwork, Qoo10's social media feeds were gathering dust. Sure, they had 'mini-quests' but none of them really energised the Facebook crowd. 

In terms of marketing, I wouldn't be surprised to hear if they had budget issues. Qoo10 did the bare minimum to promote 11.11 but their it had a solid concept with logical intentions (if my assumptions are correct). It's a shame that we didn't get to see more of it.

Lazada

When I saw Lazada's 11.11 logo, my heart skipped a beat. It's gorgeous. It's marketing didn't disappoint either, and is the best this year. 

Lazada started its campaign by reminding us how 11.11 first began - as a 'party' targeted at singles. 

To promote the Lazada Wonderland mini-site, cute maps and mini-games were created to encourage them to check out the site of discounted branded goods come 11.11.

While the concept of audio marketing is not new, an online marketplace having a Spotify playlist is. It is a good example of the partnership Lazada has with successful lifestyle brands. 

On 11.11, Lazada continued with the social media updates to keep users engaged.

Not sure which is the best deal to get? Look at what the majority of customers are buying and tag along. Digging the brand application on the top left.

Surprise Boxes were also on sale which were snapped up quickly, as they each contained items from reputable brands - another feature which can only be reality if they see Lazada as a reliable, trustworthy business partner.

Perhaps the most enticing part of their strategy is deliberately keeping their 11.11 prices a mystery until the day itself.

Prior to 11.11, the banner would display a price with the first or second digit missing, leaving shoppers to speculate and check back as soon as possible, least the heavily discounted items get snapped up quickly. 

A cute sticker helps to differentiate products participating in the 11.11 campaign from those not

I was initially skeptical about the price drop, but when I saw that ?9.90 was 19.90 instead of 29.90 for my keyboard (original price was 32), I was impressed. Bravo Lazada - I guess we'll be seeing other sites using the same method for 11.11 2019.

Identity-wise, Lazada knows its colours well. Neon colours contrast nicely with eye-catching gradients which serve as backgrounds. 

The brand applications are also simple but symbolic - the geometric heart logo is easy to configure to fit different product categories. Geometric design never left!

From games to fictional worlds to brilliant branding, Lazada pushed hard to make 11.11 a success, and from a design standpoint, the company already won.  

1-Sentence Reviews

Ez-Buy: Inspired by illegal online gambling sites.

ShopBack: The most relatable 11.11 video ever

Game Meets Game

Here are all the current app icons of the sites reviewed:  

Shopee and EzBuy's 11.11 identity makes their icons messy and Qoo10 has too many things going on (11.11's gradient, mascot). Lazada and ShopBack's icons are more straightforward, with Lazada making an effort to differentiate its design from the rest of the pack - just look at that curve.

11.11 and Beyond