Open House (Nanyang Polytechnic)

For our Poly Open House Outward activity, my group (Charissa, Me, Syahman and Jia Hao) decided to go to Nanyang Polytechnic's Open House #NYPOH14 to check out their Open House designs and their Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) Campaign.

The photos below are taken by group member Syahman, unless stated otherwise.

The centre main stage worked and is not bad, as it is situated at the main spot of the school, and it's hard to miss, as when you walk in from the gate, that is the only place you can come to first before being able to move to other parts of the school. The theme as seen in the photos, uses a lot of colours, with the backdrop of the stage, having a lot of navigation arrows with different colours and also many small icons and visuals filling up with backdrop, giving it a cute artsy feel.

The main theme of the open house, as said above is colours, giving it a vibrant feel, and the message or slogan for the 2014th edition is Be innovative and enterprising, telling prospective students a feel that the school is creative and embraces thinking out of the box and that by doing so, will allow enterprise, and success. This is supported the use of many colours which supports creativity.

The main part where students can know more about each academic school and course is in the convention hall. There is one part that is good about it, and that is the clear colour codes. Each academic school has a specific colour and it is shown throughout the booth. This is great as visitors can easily go to the booth that they want instead of painstakingly finding and walking throughout the centre and not knowing where is what. One thing however, is that the space is incredibly small, and the lighting is very dim, hence, it would be good if they up the lighting and brightness.

 This is the booth exhibits for the SIDM, School of Interactive and Digital Media. As seen above ^, a 'mascot' is used, and the overall theme and design principle is so that it feels like virtual games brought to real life. Which is what the academic school is about, interactive media. 

 SIDM allows students to try a few of the games they created, to show them about the skills they are equipped with and that they can learn all these if they join the course. This is a great strategy, especially for gamers. And as seen in the photo below, it showcases the work that students have done.

In this area, we can see a station of students from the Diploma in Motion Graphics and Broadcast Design (DMGBD), which is essentially design for advertising. Students showcase their talents on art and drawing on softwares with state-of-the-art digital boards instead of papers. I think that this is great as it really shows visitors a 'usual' day of their course and also what they learn and their skills being applied outside of class. As we can see, the few photos below showcases students drawing cover designs for comic books. Amazing because it is hand drawn. This is a great exhibit as visitors can watch as the student artists make the art piece come to life, from simple lines to filling in the colours and creating textures. 

As seen in the photos in the beginning, the main arena where performances are being held at. This is the stage where it presents to visitors their various CCAs and the activities they learn and the skills that they can cultivate if they decided to enrol into NYP and that particular CCA. To hype things up, it was a competition, like a talent quest, and this is a great strategy for both the performers and visitors. The performers, in order to win have to practice and do their best, and in turn visitors see them in the finest form, and not some sloppy performance done for the sake of it. 

 As seen here, the official T-shirts for student helpers for this year's open house. I think this is good, as it shows that the school puts in effort to design a T-shirt for that particular year of Open House. I think that our school can learn and try as well, opposed to wearing the SP Shirt. We can design shirts for student helpers, with each year having a different theme.

How did I like it? I feel that there are certain parts which I like, the use of a lot of colours which added vibrance to the event. However, the criticism I have is that the event was not well spread throughout the school. Within the school, in other blocks, were separate academic school and course exhibits, whihc shows more. However it was all in one hall in another block and not much signage or special notice were put up to alert visitors that. If I hadn't took a second look, I wouldn't have known that there are more focused booths and thought the open house events mainly happened in the main arena. Another thing that I felt was it wasn't very hyped up, there wasn't much energy at all that day, no music playing to set the mood unless performances were happening. 

How do I think NYP can do better is that they can create a bigger awareness for themselves through social media, like Twitter and Facebook. Use hashtags and do massive hashtagging to allow the trend to reach top leaderboard and create hype through that. Understand what teens are looking and want and try to include that in their goodie bags. Use photos, through the hashtags, they can use photos to convey their message and show that their open house has a lot of fun so that people want to come for the event. Granted that it may not be the top poly in Singapore, but that doesn't mean that it shouldn't try to attract more prospective students. 

Bu most importantly, despite all the marketing strategies, the most important factor still boils down to how they execute the open house. Next year, they should try to make the school look nicer and more vibrant with more plants and more student helpers, and more importantly, to get all academic schools involved so that the energy during the open house can be alive and people can be in the mood and not want to leave as soon as they arrived. 

Peranakan Museum Trip

For our field trip for Visual Communication class, we were assigned to either go to Orchard Road or the Peranakan museum to do a site report. For our group, we were assigned to go to the Peranakan museum. The task/brief was to answer a questionnaire and also to observe the visuals and designs of the Peranakan culture, which was an eye opening experience to us. In my group, it was me, Natasha and Charissa. When we entered the museum, there were different themes to each level and each section, each covering a specific aspect of the Peranakan culture.

In the museum, we first learnt that the Peranakan culture and prints originated from Indonesia and there are 3 types of Peranakan,

1) Singaporean Chinese Peranakan - Racially Chinese
2) Jewi Peranakan - Racially Malays
3) Chitty Melaka -Racially Indian Peranakan

While in the museum, there are a few colours and themes that are ubiquitous and seen in almost every exhibit, and that we later learn that those are colours and symbol that symbolise luck or prosperity. The lucky colours in the Peranakan culture is Red, Pink, Orange, Yellow and Gold. Whereas the symbols of prosperity are Birds, Flowers, Insects, Sea Creatures and Dragon Heads.

This is a traditional tea set that the Peranakans use, the intricacy of the set depends on what occasion it is being use at. In the set, we see lucky colours of pink and symbol flowers, birds and butterfly (insects).

This is a serving bowl when guests or feast happens. The bowl has many designs on it, where a lot of colours, this is visually appealing as the mix of so many colours pop, and they compliment each other, and the turquoise in this bowl is not to neon-ish, which gives of a very nice, royal feel. The use of a dragon appeals further to how important the event is, when this bowl is used. 

The few pictures above is a set of dowry and what a traditional bride wears for a wedding. The design concept and colour of it is gold, to symbolise prosperity and happiness. 

This is a beadwork table cloth, which is extremely vibrant and uses all of it's lucky colours and symbols.

These are purses that women use.

Lantern bearers a.k.a Pak Boyen, they carry lanterns of the family name during a wedding, as the carrying of the lantern represent a marriage of a family and that 2 families are joined together as one.

These large pots are called the kamcheng. they come in many different sizes, as you will se in the next few photos, and each size signifies a different use. Medium and large kamchengs are used for containing drinking water, food or desserts. The small ones are used to hold sweet treats and cosmetics. Large kamchengs were rare and found only in wealthy household, symbolising a family is well-to-do.

This is a in-and-out pot. For the simple reason that it has beautiful intricate design both 'in' and 'out' of the pot. As seen in the photo, the interior of the pot and lid has the same complex designs as the outside. This pot is used during feasts or when guests are in the house. Showing respect for the occasion. 

This photo is special as this showcases to us that Christianity is something that is prevalent in the Peranakan culture. I find it very interesting, as I used to think that Peranakans where Buddhists or Taoist. However, according to the explanation, it says that Christianity is a very evident religion in their culture.

In the Peranakan museum trip, I've learnt many aspects of how the Peranakans work that I previously didn't know, for instance, how a funeral looked like, in general, and how the entire ceremony would go by, didn't take the photos because we were scared, since when we were there, we were the only ones there. Also, the design processes that does behind every single artefact, from clothes to jewellery and daily things that we would even spare a thought for design about. Today's society affects heritage as the modernising of the world rapidly changes how things are and this dilutes the rich culture and traditions of theirs. The only way to preserve this culture and to allow more people to appreciate it, is to showcase the museum. In terms of the actual interior of the museum, it is very nice, and allows you to know more things about it. As it uses interactive media as well, like booths with touchscreen interfaces for people to listen and watch a video on a specific period of time. However, in order to attract more people and attention, they should market this place further and better. Some ways they can do it is to be more present on social media and interact with Singaporeans or tourists. And also, advertise the place on traditional media platforms like TV and radio. As a whole, I have understood a lot more about the Peranakan museum, and that this trip has allowed me to better appreciate a minority culture. 

Visual Communications Design Critique #3

This entry will be on the 3rd logo/advertisement/brochure that I'll be critiquing on. This time, I will be critiquing on a brochure. The brochure is based on popular camera brand, Canon, and whether or not it is an effective and good brochure as a whole.

(Click to enlarge)

The brochure is mainly split into 2 parts, one side, a single big visual, and on the other side, the camera's specifications and selling points. 

The concept of the brochure can be seen to be very athlete-oriented, or for people who enjoy sports and adventure. This is supported from the brochure and on the left side, it is a single picture of athletic woman climbing what can be assumed as a hill. This shouts out to all adventure lovers as it captures the attention of something that they enjoy doing. Also, the concept will tell consumers and the camera is tailored to take high quality, dynamic photographs even under harsh conditions like weather and instability. The brochure also uses and plays around with the concept of colour dynamics. As we can see clearly the colour difference on each side, bright on the left, and dark, sleek on the right. This is a good design concept as it will pop out more to consumers. 

The design principal of the brochure is very simple, to first capture the attention of the audience, then have them steer over to the technical specification of what the camera actually is. As there are many types of cameras and each serve different purpose, what it does is that it attracts its niche market. It cleverly tells consumers it's selling points by making 2 distinct pictures bigger. Woman doing outdoor adventures, and the camera. It seamlessly connects the main points without having to use words, and visuals are always easier to convey a point or story. 

The image and typography of the brochure is bright vs. dark. However, this is done very nicely as the contrast is very nicely done and seems very coherent, unlike some other brochures which sticks to mainly one theme. It has strong image and graphics.  

As for typography, it plays around with different fonts to highlight the different unique selling points. Like for example, it wants to highlight itself to sports and adventure lovers, so it puts out its 'punchline' in the biggest font and on the, next to the camera, saying 'Engineered to let you stay with the action' Including words like action will highlight more to the audience. This is a good and clever trick as we can see from the brochure, a lot of words are clumped into one section. Another clever trick is the adequate introduction of images. On each description, to make a clearer indication that it is a new specification that it is talking about, it bolds and adds an smaller image to the specification, making it even easier for consumers to read up on the parts that they are most interested in. 

Traditionally, in typography, the better colour for word fonts to be used is grey. However, because it is based on a black background, it off-sets the issue and makes it generally comfortable to read. When closely looking at the brochure, on the right hand side, we realise that the font is placed in italics. This is a great trick as, that isn't a part of the specifications, and a review/comment said by a user. Instead of labelling it on top and tell consumers that this is a review, they put it on italics to set it apart from the rest of the specifications and people will automatically know that it is not the same. An excellent trick. 

As a whole, this brochure is designed very very well, as it captures the needed essence of what the product is, and which target group they are highlighting to. There are very little critique in my opinion as it cleverly uses contrast and images to effectively sell its idea. 

Visual Communications Design Critique #2

This entry will on the 2nd logo/advertisement/brochure that I will be critiquing on. This time, I will talk about a logo's design and whether or not if it's a good logo.

Very obvious to people, it is the ingenious Starbucks Coffee logo. Starbuck's official logo is always changing, but the design centres around a mermaid-like female. This may be the concept of the company, since mermaids are mythical creatures, they may want to promote their coffee to be very dreamy and nice. This logo is a combination logo as it contains both words and images that represents the brand. In terms of colour, they have stuck with 3 colours which is a good thing as we have learnt in design and principals that a logo should not have more than three colours as it might be too distracting. On top of that, their colours are very neutral with colours using black, white and dark green, which is good because it is not too glaring but the colour combination very well put together, giving a very relaxed feel, which is what the café aims to be. 

Whether or not this is a good logo, we have to base it off whether it is Simple, Versatile, Memorable, Timeless, and Appropriate. 

The logo is simple as it mainly has one distinct image and the word 'Starbucks Coffee' around it, allowing consumers to know what it is. Versatility wise, the logo is often seen with and without the word, so in a sense the logo is versatile. It is memorable as the logo is seen on the cups of every drink, and also, very few brands has such an image as their logo, and also it has been their logo for a very long time, hence, I think it is memorable. Because of how quirky it is, it has became a signature logo and does not go out of style, hence, it is timeless and classic. Whether or not it is appropriate is subjective. This is because when you think of coffee, the last thing a person would think of is mermaid or fishes. Rival coffee bean & tea leaf, their logo is what it is, a coffee bean and a tea leaf, which is appropriate for them as it would make sense. As a result, I would say that it's logo isn't very appropriate. As if a person who is a total stranger to the logo sees it without the text, he/she would not understand what it is about and might perhaps assume that it is a logo of something related to the sea such as a boating equipment brand. 

As a whole, it fulfilled 4 out of the 5 criteria of an effective logo, so it is safe to say that it is quite an effective logo. However, they should not change it as it has become a signature logo for them and is perhaps what makes them special and different from other rival companies. 

Typography wise, I think that it was not as important as the logo itself, hence I think the choice of font and size is extremely normal, however I think instead of making the font black, they chose white so as to balance out the colour distribution and also is a better pop of colour in contrast to the dark green, and dark on dark is not good, as this may result in not being able to read it clearly. On top of that, I think it is white so that consumers know that the text is also a part of the entire logo. The spaces between each letter is not very big, I think if they want to, they can spread it out a little bit, however, currently, it looks fine. 

Visual Communications Design Critique #1

This entry is on one of the five advertisement/brochure/logo which we have to critique. The first one I will be doing is on is a print ad, on chocolate by Cadbury.

Released in 2011, this ad is about their dreamy chocolate truffle. The main part of this whole ad is firstly the chocolate bar itself in the middle which takes up the most space, which I believe is to inject into consumers that it is the main subject, and not the words or the crystals that is is surrounded with. The top is written with the words 'Move Over Naomi, there's a new diva in town'. Naomi meaning to top supermodel Naomi Campbell. This might not be effective to people whom are not savvy with the fashion industry and not understand the print ad, and this would make the ad quite obsolete.

The main concept of this ad is mainly based on relaxation and royalty. This is seen clearly in the entire ad, with its main theme of purple, which is commonly associated with royalty, and this is due to the past, where purple dyes are difficult to achieve and is expensive and are most often worn by the wealthy people. I digress. Another part which supports my inference on it's royal concept, is that the chocolate is laying on a bed of crystals, which gives the image of being very expensive. the royal concept is mainly portrayed by pictures and images, whereas the relaxing feel comes from both the colour and text fonts. The colour is soothing compared to loud colours like red, orange or yellow.

 In terms of typography, they are using does not have sharp edges, are slanted and have font size changes throughout a sentence, as seen on the top. This three factors are not seen in formal work, as it commands for consistency, not seen in this ad. Another concept is based on supermodel Naomi Campbell, whom is often deemed as a diva, yielding great presence and stature and is amazing, and the sentence 'Move over Naomi, there's a new diva in town', hinting audience that this chocolate is amazing and demands for presence and stature. 

The design principles basically uses the theme purple, and unlike most advertisements, usually, texts are a lot smaller than the actually image which is the product, we realise that the top text is in terms of length, about the same. This is because to fully understand the ad, one must read it first, so that they see why the chocolate bar is in a bed of crystals, as a diva would only expect the best. And the image, usually in the middle, is placed slightly towards the right, and the text on the left, I think this is to create balance and also to ensure it is not too cramped and too distracting and if it is, consumers would see it too over the top, and messy and not want to read and view it. Even though it uses a purple theme, we can see a gradation of purple, with a whitish tint nearer to the actual chocolate bar, I think this is to create an illusion that it is glowing in radiance.

Overall, this ad is interesting as it is slightly different from other advertisements, especially it's chocolate ad counterparts. However, whether or not the ad is useful is arbitrary, reason being one must understand the Naomi Campbell reference to fully understand the message of the ad. Hence, this ad is more likely targeted to teenagers who are more likely to be into fashion, as well as young adults who has the tendency to be interested in the fashion industry. So whether or not it serves the mass audience is questionable. However, Campbell herself was very offended by the ad and wanted to boycott it, expressing that she's very disappointed Cadbury. hence Cadbury may lose consumers who are fans on Campbell. However the stir caused, may gain them publicity, and attract more people to take a look at it. As there's no such thing as bad publicity.