Singapore Polytechnic Campus Posters

Bad Posters

This poster does Singapore Polytechnic's Design school no justice. The logo is generic and the art doesn't seem to resonate as the best an SP designer could do. Simply too simple, and way too colourless.

MAE's latest attempt at the concept of "Create Your World" is lacking soul. The poster they used is way too dark and seems like the world they want their students to create is very ghastly and evil.

Good Posters

Last year's DMC Connect event was not much of a success. However, the turnout was great. This poster really created the idea of a dream scape that students want to experience. The font used was classy.

This is another one of MAE's "Create Your World" campaign. However, this one was really good. The poster was meant to individualize the different courses in MAE and this one represented the Robotics course. The cartoonish style really caters to youths and the overall balance is perfect.

a shirt design that describe: me

Group 2: Ngee Ann Polytechnic's Open House

Ngee Ann Polytechnic's Open House!

We were instructed to find the different designs of NP. Here were the ones we found interesting enough to be comment on. However, not all of them were nice.

Their open-house website was pretty messy. It looks very feminine, however. Therefore, this must be more catered to girls.

A guideline for open-house visitors. Very wordy.

Their models for this print ad had a nice calm and cool attitude.

I liked their text placing. It could be annoying to read at text that goes an awkward direction, but I find it rather artsy.

I love the grafitti on these pop-ups. Very nicely contrasting with the pink.

Again, as above, another attempt and feminizing their art direction to cater to females.

There were nice designs. Using students to attract students is something that is relatable to them. Additionally, the nice colour difference to represent each course is attractive.

Again with the awkwardly positioned text. This one's even better because its shorter.

A funky logo of their CCA Fiesta event. This would cater to trendy kids.

This one's not good because its dark and its placed in a room that's dark. The colours should be brighter.

Ngee Ann's FMS logo is really nice. It's a simple square but again, their use of the text that goes diagonally upwards. Very attractive. However, their use of Xplore Xcite and Xcel doesn't relate to anything. What's with the X?

Typography Exercise

Kerning

Grid

We were instructed to find 2 types of posters using Kerning techniques and 2 types of posters using Grid techniques. These were the 4 that I loved the most. They were classy and used the techniques to their advantage.

However, the movie poster for STONE was really bad. The kerning was so extremely packed that I could barely make it out.

Good Logos and Bad Logos in ORCHARD ROAD!

Logos again. This time, in the heart of Singapore - the bustling roads of Orchard, and its vast array of shopping malls that house some of the world's most recognized brands.

Logos make the brands. Let's go through what I found.

Good Logos

The Apple Logo - Simple, though not informative. It has created for itself, a benchmark of high-end products. What makes this logo stand out is the clarity of its silhouette - an apple. You can't doubt, deny or ponder on it. It is an apple. A bites been taken out, but hey, that makes for good design too.

The famous watchmakers from Switzerland. Victorinox has no trouble in putting forth their origins in their logo. An aptly designed swiss flag is imprinted onto a crest that isn't too sharp or curved. Very savvy.
I never knew of Car Shoe until today. Personally, I have a problem getting fond of its name, but that's not my problem. The logo features a tire, but it properly balances the rectangle that the text and tire is contained in. Though one would perceive a car tire anywhere to be quite messed up, this logo nicely shows it.
Cartier makes no mistake in portraying elegance. It's design is simple, but the curves and serifs and very well drawn out. Every end and every sharpness is palpable.

ION Orchard is Orchard Road's latest installment to its row of shopping centers. The logo features a somewhat "alien" font for its ION word. That isn't the great thing about it though. There is great balance in it. The words "Orchard" is well fitted into the length of the word "ION", making it look nicely compacted and easily absorbed by viewers.

Giordano has a logo that presents itself clear and simple. The words are nicely spaced out. Although its a little bit lengthy, it's pretty short in height. Very compact; easy to remember.
The Nike logo. Need I say more? Brilliantly crafted and represents perfection.
Y.3 has a wonderful choice of colors. Red is seen as aggressive and it stands out, while the other wordings are in white. It's good contrast and people will see the Y.3 wordings very well.

Burger King has a very cartoonish look to it. It's round, nicely compact and the design looks professionally done. However, it's not very well balanced and not quite easy to remember because of the horrible choice of colours.

Bad Logos

Mango has a logo that looks way too militarized. It's too serious! A logo should never be that intimidating.
House of Condom's sex toy franchise does great justice to its logo - its unknown to most people. It's going to stay that way if it continues to use this logo, with its horrible three-color choice that features the main colors of the spectrum. Also, very militarized look that's similar to Mango's. Now THAT scares me away.
DSQUARE's logo is so compacted and confusing that the first time you read it, you'd go "dsaurersqur"?
Prada's an international brand that's too prestigious for its logo. Sure, it looks classy, but simplicity at its best is too simple for its own good.
Yves Saint-Lauren has a logo people would look at, ponder to his/herself as to why a piece of children's art is hanging on the wall, and then look away. Their products are lovely, but the logo is too compact. WAAAAY too compact.

OPSM Optical. I don't even know this store, but its logo would explain why. Using red is always a good thing when theres something to match. A black word that's unbalanced and sitting right next to it isn't something to match.
Everybody loves Macdonald's. Its logo is established. That we cannot deny. Its logo is pretty ugly. That we might argue. McCafe's yellow and brown logo that has the same color as garbage and excretion? That i'd rather not think about.
Watsons looks like it's trying to be in the year 2090. Not yet, Watsons.
I know the picture quality isn't that good, but Shiroz - or Shirog - had a logo that was very hard to decipher. The font was pretty cool and all but you gotta admit: being a streetside stall that sells kebabs kinda needs a logo that doesn't look like its trying to market clothings.

CA2 Preparation Work

For CA2, I came up a whole lot of ideas I really wanted to try out! We were instructed to create a logo and a poster for the theme of "MediaMorphosis", which was our Media Conference event

chosen for next year. It was a play of words, that involves "Media" and "Metamorphosis".

Genius, I'd say. Anyway, here was my preparation.

Logo

I first began creating a logo that had a more serious look to it. I wanted it to look class and business-man-like. It had to have sans serif fonts and a certain touch of world issues.

I needed the make a large and over-bearing "M" as the basis for this logo. (Since both Media and Morphosis starts with the word M) This M shows a dominating and authoritative feel that can express seriousness.

Through emphasizing this M, I could created the logos:

Stretched Rectangular

Shadowed M

Electrical Charge M

Computer Language Transformation M

Shadowed M 2

I actually chose "Computer Language Transformation M" as my logo at first. The idea of this concept is that: Newspaper text will be featured behind the logo. As the text intersects with the "M", it turns into cyber language (1010101010 etc.). I really adored this idea at first. I was ambitious and turned concept into reality as I created it.

However, I begin to realize how serious the concept is, and how more important it should be for a logo to be "fun" and "original".

So I embarked on a quest to change it!

To incorporate a fun and learning-friendly theme for my logo, I had to create my own font. Why? Well, I didn't wanted to put a generic image across. I wanted my logo to be seen as being original and created, and that no two alphabets are the same; just as how the media industry should be: creative and unique.

I added in shapes to create somewhat an abstract image for my logos. These shapes would magnify or modify whatever text was in contact with the shape, creating a somewhat "metamorphosized" version

Here were some of my creations:

Triangles

Circles

Squares

Rectangles

Blobs

I REALLY loved the abstract look. But something about it was way to simple. I needed to look deeper into the idea of metamorphosis. Not to be cliche and predictable, but the most common knowledge of metamorphosis is akin to the growth of a caterpillar to a butterfly.

To maximize understanding, a butterfly would there be the best fit for the common man to relate with.

An actual butterfly picture would be difficult to recreate and could be difficult on the eyes. Therefore, I preferred to create silhouettes of a butterfly, of course in different shapes and sizes.

Here were some ideas:

Exact Silhouette

Curved Silhouette

Sharp Silhouette

Silhouette created from cubes

Silhouette created from texts

Then again, a the butterfly is too simple. It doesn't tell enough about the event. What the event is really about, is the evolution of media and how it has transformed from normal print and traditional media to technological and interactive media such as television and MOST IMPORTANTLY OF ALL: THE INTERNET.

So how do I express this?

Simply put it: placing pictures of advanced medium such as the iPhone or a flat screen television would send across this message.

However, the current curvy and fun font would not work well with pictures of gadgets and etc. So I chose to change it to something more "sharp" and "serious".

There it is. Sharp "sans serif" fonts that should work well with masculine gadgets.

I needed to have references for these pictures. So I took pictures of these:

Pretty nifty, right? Yes that is my 50 inch television! Aaannndd what looks like Dr.Dre and Eminem on MTV.

Anyway, here are some simple logos out of these gadgets:

Flat Screen TV

Generic Computer
iPhone

Newspaper Whirlwind out of iPhone

After all these, I thought to myself: Why not combine everything?! Brilliant! All the elements in one logo, both beautiful and meaningful.

Here were the ideas:

Sharp Butterfly

Tv Emphasis with Butterfly Deco
Curved Butterfly with Minor TV Emphasis
Curved but Squarish Butterfly
Elegant

The 5 logos represented a butterfly silhouette and advanced mediums as either lower emphasized or greater emphasized. The font used was the same as the ones used in the "Shape Logos".

I decided to use the last one because of its simplicity, fun and elegant look that will appeal to people of many age groups.

Poster

It is ensured that all of my posters contain proper proportions and balance.

1.

This poster featured a staircase that showcases the evolution of media. It begins with the introduction of television, and so on and so forth.

2.

This poster featured a hand that is progressively drawing a caterpillar onto a blank white canvas. It is shown that through the media, the person has the power to 1. Create, 2. Educate, 3. Inform, 4. Empower and finally 5. to Change.

The idea of change coincides with the theme of "Mediamorphosis" and is then, accompanied by a butterfly (which shows the power of the pencil the hand is holding) that metamorphosised from the caterpillar.

I chose this poster as my final poster because it strikes the most meaning.

3.

This poster shows the planet earth, accompanied by a rainbow which is carrying various advanced media tools such as television. It shows how technology is entering planet earth.

Mascot

I actually planned on implanting a mascot for my logo/posters but were not able to do so because of its complicated outlook and the way it would take the meaning off my posters. I did, however, took the effort to create him to properly visualize and try it out.

Ladies and gents, meet Mr. Media

Sorry Mr. Media but whilst you laugh away at an unknown object, I'm going to have to tell you that you didn't make the cut. But an honorable mention, I must say.

Finally, the time you've been waiting for.

Final Work

Poster

Logo
The final logo does have a little change from the sketch. Firstly, the text is bigger and secondly, the Media Morphosis words are backed by a 3D design that featured a technologically decorated blue shadow which showed somewhat an evolutionary step from the black fonts to the cool looking blue fonts.

Thanks so much for reading! :)