NDP 2018: Still Young At Heart?
That time of year again!
You know that National Day is around the corner when you see Singaporeans getting their design/music critique game on. We are hard bunch to please, so perhaps we should read the criticism in the online comments with a pinch of salt.
Whoa. Turns out, they weren't exaggerating this disaster. *Cracks knuckles* Here are all the reasons why this logo rubs you the wrong way.
The 2018 identity
It's always a joy to see how organisations try to justify every element in a logo. Some design decisions are made just because they look aesthetically pleasing - there's no need to come up with explanations for every little detail as the main aim of this logo is to reflect the event's theme while looking as aesthetically pleasing as possible.
Anyway, enjoy this smoke-filled write-up.
-NDP committee on Facebook
Why tho?
In a world where the best local designers can be found with just a mouse click, and for a project with a sky-high budget, what exactly is stopping this year's NDP committee from excelling in the very thing Singapore is supposed to be good at (Singapore was named a City of Design by UNESCO in 2015)? I can sense this gif making a comeback.
I get it. Although Singapore has many cultural icons with graphic representations, we do not have an iconic symbol to represent us, unlike Canada with its maple leaf or New Zealand with its silver fern.
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| Counterclockwise: Canada's 100, 125 and 150th anniversary logos. The maple leaf every.single.time. |
Still, this is no excuse to feature an amateurish logo for such an important national event.
5 Stars Arising (without the moon)
Okay, let's start with the obvious element of this logo which was supposed to invoke an 'a-ha' from any viewer. The 5 stars from 'G' to 'R' is not the most original of ideas, but the execution was painful, resulting in this mess.
Without the word 'Singapore' in the logo, one might think that the logo is representing some school programme in China, or an election candidate in America. These are the problems associated with having too many stars and having a very obscure moon. Few foreigners would go "oh, they are referring to the stars on Singapore's flag", when they see it on roadside banners come this August.
Furthermore, the inconsistency of the stars' sizes are not making the logo credible or professional.
The star in the 'g', however, deserves a shout-out. It fits nicely in the middle of the G and both the letter and the star manage to gel together properly.
Before reading up on the 2018 identity, I simply thought that the tittle (dot above the i) was the way it was because it was a bad attempt at making the logo appear edgy. I totally missed the hidden crescent as the huge tittle was making the 'i' unbalanced and awkward.
Furthermore, the inconsistency of the stars' sizes are not making the logo credible or professional.
The star in the 'g', however, deserves a shout-out. It fits nicely in the middle of the G and both the letter and the star manage to gel together properly.
Before reading up on the 2018 identity, I simply thought that the tittle (dot above the i) was the way it was because it was a bad attempt at making the logo appear edgy. I totally missed the hidden crescent as the huge tittle was making the 'i' unbalanced and awkward.
Can we make the logo pop more
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| Unedited words in Phosphate Pro (right) |
The quirky font is suited for casual settings, but I doubt that was what the NDP committee was aiming for, given how the NDP consists of a military parade-ish ceremony for the first part followed by an artsy-cultural performance. To have this logo represent the event would not cater to neither part of the parade.
Identity Crisis
Ironically, I'm finding the other components of the identity to be better than the logo itself.
The wall features randomly arranged white and red squares, and some of which are chat bubbles. That's the most professional thing I've seen in the identity so far, and that could really work as the logo for this year's NDP. There's a practical benefit of having a squarish logo too - clearer favicons.
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| Why is the logo there? It's ruining that wall! |
However, the good part stops here. Based on the pictures taken at the media conference, this year's marketing campaign seems to be focusing on 'i am', signifying how important it is to be part of Singapore.
What were they thinking? The awkward tittle only reveals a crescent when placed to the right of any edited 's'. Now the 'i' just looks like a blotched plastic surgery result.
Continuing on with the 'who cares' attitude, the designer who designed this info sheet (arguably the most important and commonly circulated one), squashed Changi Airport's control tower and disfigured MBS. I'd rather have the white/red tile pattern a than these stock photo silhouettes.
What were they thinking? The awkward tittle only reveals a crescent when placed to the right of any edited 's'. Now the 'i' just looks like a blotched plastic surgery result.
Continuing on with the 'who cares' attitude, the designer who designed this info sheet (arguably the most important and commonly circulated one), squashed Changi Airport's control tower and disfigured MBS. I'd rather have the white/red tile pattern a than these stock photo silhouettes.
Young At Heart
Perhaps I am too hard on the designer of this logo - after all, this identity would have definitely seen numerous revisions to get approved by the many committees and sub-committees of the NDP. Getting to the final stage is a miracle itself, but how much of the original idea is reflected in this iteration will likely remain a mystery.
Whether the intention was to create a kid-friendly design or to show that Singapore is still young at heart (ahem middle age), it's all good as we'll soon forget about it after August. But I'm starting to think that Singapore is too old and should be wise enough to come up with something better.
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