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

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

Deja Vu

Amphibious danger.

Circles vs squares

The brand applications make it clear that the logo doesn't have to be in your face for it to stand out.
  

Mer Lee 

-Ms Lim Shoo Ling, Director, Brand, STB

Merli's story, like many mascots, follows a fill-in-the-blanks type checklist which lists his social nature, hobbies and favourite food (kaya toast). I do not expect kid-friendly mascots to have complicated backstories or to be multi-dimensional characters, but easter eggs of quirky Merlion trivia would be impressive. For example, Merli could have lightning powers (eg zapping a BBQ pit for a party), referencing the Merlion's lightning strike incident of 2009.

Merli stickers and gifs offer us a glimpse of future STB ad campaigns targeted at young families. Currently, Merli has 6 different poses.

A sticker sheet

They named this gif 'determination' - I can only think of national exam mugging :')

Surprisingly, I could not find any other animated, cartoony country mascot (please correct me if I am wrong). I double and triple checked but found nothing, and no such mascot came to mind when I thought of country branding.

Sure, Japan has a mascot for everything but not one specifically created by its tourism board for the purpose of country personification (regional ones don't count). Instead, Japan rides on cultural waves by using well established figures of Japanese pop culture as ambassadors of its tourism programme. Till a Hello Kitty-famous type of local character emerges, we'll rely on Merli to draw in the crowds.

Gotta catch em all?

Where's Singa?

Grab your popcorn for this one - social media reactions to new articles of Merli are important in gauging whether STB's plans are on the right track. I believe that most of these comments were made in good fun, not actual criticisms of Merli. 

Notable comments on CNA's article

Notable comments on ST's non-premium article

This mascot is by no means ugly from a design standpoint. It's cute, it's marketable and it's mostly likely going to sell well as plush toys. Unfortunately, cute is already an integral part of Japan's identity, so I'm not surprised by the Hello Kitty comparison. 

But when I first saw Merli, it reminded me of another cute Japanese character.

Neko Atsume cats are the cutest, so I guess you can say that we were inspired by the best.

Merlion King

Even before Passion made Possible, the Merlion inspired many creations, from mascots to merch. 

The earliest likely example of an STB-approved Merlion creation is the Merlion plush. Found in touristy areas but featured most in Sentosa where there the largest Merlion statue stands, they range from bad mane day savage Merlions to the wide-eyed ones on drugs.

Nothing too fancy or groundbreaking, just cute(ish) enough for shops to profit from selling them.

I have no words...

Just when you think you've seen the worst of the Merlion, I present to you the Merlion mascot of the Singapore Slingers.

Don't attract his attention, maybe he'll leave

Too late, it found its prey

Now to address the elephant in the room - another local mascot with the same pronunciation - Merly.

In 2010, Singapore hosted the inaugural Youth Olympic Games. Merly was one of the 2 mascots of YPG 2010. Does this ring a bell?

Design trends have changed so much since 2010, when effect-heavy videos were in, and minimalism wasn't such a huge thing. 

Everything is simpler now

Artists are showing their support for both mascots - I'm sure there's room for us to love both.

Merli and Merly!

Merli is a new mascot for Singapore tourism board. Merly was a mascot for 2010's youth olympics 

I THOUGHT THEY WERE CUTE OKAY DON'T JUDGE ME pic.twitter.com/hgQa1iRqiC

— One fear: Ranbu leveling (@Rattetytat) 7 July 2018

65rising

Merli's addition to the SG identity breathes new life into the brand, and following minimalist principles, the identity is starting to morph into something cohesive and memorable. It still blows my mind how this country mascot idea is the first of its kind. 

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

The only kind of 'fire and fury' will come from the weather, fingers crossed

After more than 2 years of verbal tantrums from both sides, the summit aims to make them a thing of the past and signal a new beginning of friendlier ties between North Korea and the US (and ultimately the rest of the world).

A thing of the past?

For an event which just might change the course of history for the better, you can bet that everything about the summit would be branded nothing less than spectacularly. Let's look at some of the more outstanding 'artifacts' which will eventually come to brand the summit.

Event Identity

Opting for a clean look with minimal patterns involved

Interestingly, the US embassy in Singapore opted for a different logo, which, as of this time (11th June), has been seen by far more people than the one we created, thanks to Trump giving a speech against a backdrop featuring the alternate logo. RIP consistency :(

President @realDonaldTrump delivering remarks to @RedWhiteBlueDot team, and their families, in Singapore - ahead of tomorrow’s historical #SingaporeSummit pic.twitter.com/6UyiTwj6k7

— Dan Scavino Jr. (@Scavino45) 11 June 2018

The metallic wallpaper backdrop and the serif font certainly makes the logo more formal, in sharp contrast to the causal style created by Singapore. I like (or dislike?) both identities equally, but in such an important event such as this, using very different graphical representations of the event hurts both identities, which is a signal that teamwork is lacking.

Whether intentional or not, it is important for every future media appearance to be consistent with the guidelines of the event identity, to achieve cohesiveness in the branding.

UPDATE: It's official - Singapore's logo for the summit was nowhere to be found on international media, unlike the one created by the US delegation.

Homegrown Everything

In an attempt to make sure people remember that the summit was held here, everything was made as Singaporean as possible. This is most notably seen in the goings-on in the international media centre at the F1 Pit Building. 

ST Goodie Bags

Goodies by The Straits Times - the new SG identity in action! (Source)

 SME showcase

Straits Times Press

Coin of an era

Both the White House Gift Shop and the Singapore Mint created limited edition commemorative coins for this event. 

White House Gift Shop commemorative coin

Commemorative medallions by The Singapore Mint

Design-wise, The Singapore Mint's coins clearly trumps the White House Gift Shop ones. Too many rings with words on the American coin makes it resemble a mini stock exchange, and the cluttered nature together with the embossing effect only adds to the headache when you look at it.

The opposite can be said about The Singapore Mint's coins. It was no coincidence to place North Korea on the left and USA on the right - according to the product page, it was designed to reflect each countries' position on the political spectrum.  

If the summit proves to be successful, not only would these coins increase in value, those people who purchased the White House coins when they were advertised as the 'deal of the day' would now be owning arguably 1 of the most important coins of the Trump era. Looks like Trump and his supporters are getting the last laugh this time.

Flower Siloso

Perhaps the most symbolic non-human photograph to come out of the summit is this:

Ah Lee Pay

Understandably, the idea of footing the bill for the North Korean delegation's accommodation angered some Singaporeans, and when PM Lee put the cost of the summit at an estimated S$20m, the memes started flowing in. 

(Source)

(Source)

It did not help that our foreign affairs minister seemed contented for Singapore to 'serve coffee and tea' during the summit.