Singapore's Design Landscape 2019: The Great Design Awakening
2019 is set to be a great year for local design
I know I say this every year, but this year is going to be a great year for local design. After all, it's been a while since design was covered so extensively in the news, and this is due to genius marketing moves and design being taken more seriously by the general public.
Local design is growing from strength to strength, and here are some exciting design stuff to look out for this year.
Local design is growing from strength to strength, and here are some exciting design stuff to look out for this year.
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.
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.
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| Guerrilla Marketing at its finest |
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| Statues of Sang Nila Utama, Tan Tock Seng, Munshi Abdullah and Naraina Pillai |
I can't wait to see what else they have in store for us.
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.
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
Design Orchard generated a fair bit of buzz when it was first announced in 2017. Promoting locally designed products has been long overdue, and I'm glad that they are finally getting the due recognition via an actual building (not just space) in town. Time to retire tacky made-in-<not Singapore> Merlion keychains and generic postcards - 2019 is the year of tastefully crafted merch!
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'.
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| Apparently, we can cycle in this mall. wot |
Design In Singapore 2019
As Singapore's design culture continues to evolve, so should media coverage of it evolve too. *wink*
2019 is going to be a great year for design, and on my part, a great year for media coverage on design. Stay tuned!
2019 is going to be a great year for design, and on my part, a great year for media coverage on design. Stay tuned!
