{ The Joy of Giving }

Though this got nothing to do with design, but it certainly set my brain thinking......

Share your knowledge, give your creativity, impart your talent.

By doing so, you might just get something back :)

{ 12 Signs. 12 Proposals }

Chanced upon this superb TVC by Bates Taiwan for Isabelle Wedding Cakes while FB-ing.

It's hilarious!

*English Subtitles*

More on Isabelle wedding cake's TVC:

ISABELLE is the famous brand of wedding cakes in Taiwan, the identifiable slogan “Marry me!” is also as well-known as its brand. However, during the financial crisis the marriageable men and women feared for marriage or married later, those phenomena caused the marriage rate to decline in Taiwan, and also impacting the sales volume of wedding cakes. For that reason, the advertising strategy of ISABELLE in 2009 focused on continuing the slogan “Marry me!” and separated from competitors’ advertising theme, exotic romance, which is far away from real life of the people at marriageable age. Consequently, we would like to design an advertising which closes to real life of consumers and makes the brand image of ISABELLE younger and more real, moreover, rising the brand favourability of young generation and creating a popular topic for the marriageable men and women who are aged 25 to 35. Under the situation of low marriage rate, we attempted through the advertising to bring out the idea of marriage and motivate our target audiences say out “Marry me!” bravely. Afterwards, the marriage rate could be rose, the sales volume of wedding cakes could be increased as well.

Credits:

Bates, Taiwan

Copy: Lion Tsai/Renee Chen

Art Director: Richard Yu/ Alex Liu/ Peggy Chen

Creative Direct: Richard Yu/ Lion Tsai

Client Service: Henry Chu/ Jojo Tsai/ Alin Chen/ Val Chang/ Margaret Lin

Agency Producer: Ray Chang

Production House: Greatland films

Director: Lo Ging ZimProducer(s): Angelina Lai

Composer: Charlotte Chan

*P.S: It is also the GrandPrix Winner for LongXi Awards 2010 (a Chinese-language Creative Awards). For more info on LongXi Awards, click here.

{ Serifs }

Chanced upon Textism's article on some of the most commonly-used typefaces. Pretty cool stuffs in there. It's for all those Typo Greeks who are obsessed with Serifs. :)

Article's Link!

{ Leave é Digital Grind Behind! }

Recently posted on Lomography's Facebook page was the interview of Matthias Fiegi during Photokina, Köln, Germany 2010 by Mac Edition Radio.

From casually shooting snapshots, building a brand from the ground up, all the way to having a sprawling, interactive showcase in nothing but the largest camera convention in the world, Lomography has surely matured in the last few years.

In this interview with Matthias Fiegi, President of Lomography, he touches on the wonders of analogue photography. Matthias also talks about the various aspects of Lomography, from its inception all the way to its relevance to today's age of digital.

To listen to Interview, click here!

Credits to Lomography and Mac Edition Radio.

{ Which type are you? }

I'm a Copper Black Italic!

See your type, click here

{ Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish }

For all Mac Lovers and aspiring Creatives out there.

HANG IN THERE....

"So we went to Atari and said, 'Hey, we've got this amazing thing, even built with some of your parts, and what do you think about funding us? Or we'll give it to you. We just want to do it. Pay our salary, we'll come work for you.' And they said, 'No.' So then we went to Hewlett-Packard, and they said, 'Hey, we don't need you. You haven't got through college yet.'"

-- Apple Computer Inc. founder Steve Jobs on attempts to get Atari and HP interested in his and Steve Wozniak's personal computer.

{ The Cube Project }

Print.is.dead.not.

View more?

Check out ArtDirectorsClub.
The Art Directors Club is the premier organization for integrated media and the first international creative collective of its kind. The Art Directors Club has members from around the globe. It has an Annual Awards competition as well as ADC Young Guns, a global interdisciplinary portfolio competition for designers and creatives age 30 and under.

Throughout the year ADC produces a wide range of programs on advertising, design, and interactive media for professionals, students, and others with a serious interest in visual communications. These programs support the ADC mission to inspire and celebrate creative excellence. To learn more go here.

Join The Art Directors Club on Facebook: click here.

{ The Red Statues: China }

Chen Wenling and Ren Sihong, China's infamous contemporary art sculptors, talk about their symbolic Red Statues and the inspiration behind it. Enjoy!





Personally, I am a huge fan of Chen Wenling. His Red Boys Series brings back nostalgic childhood I had. Provoked me to think about life and growing up.

How can we ever go back to be innocent and simple?

{ UCCA Beijing }

Entrance Walkway to UCCA Beijing

First stop in the Land of Dragons - Ullens Center for Contemporary Art (UCCA), located in the infamous 798 Art District of China capital, Beijing. To be exact, I wasn't actively looking for art museums to go to in China (been in the midst of settling into a new culture).

Cut my small talks....

UCCA is a non-profit, comprehensive art center founded in Beijing by collectors Guy and Myriam Ullens. The museum/exhibitions space presents works of established and emerging artists and develops a trusted platform to share knowledge through education and research. They also create a platform of dialogue between China and the rest of the world.

UCCA's monthly events brochure

Abit more from their website:

By breaking the outdated mold of how an art center is perceived and showcasing the latest in China's contemporary art, design, fashion, music and multimedia, UCCA aims to be a catalyst for emerging projects and protagonists in the new Chinese cultural scene.

The core of UCCA programs includes conferences, lectures, special events, artistic performances, and films. UCCA activities are a magnet for many kinds of audiences, from art fans and specialists to families and children.

Event leaflet (love the typography treatment!)

Though UCCA is not your usual big museum, it features a lot of budding contemporary artists in China. Definitely worth a visit. So the next time you visit Beijing, do make sure you fit UCCA into your schedule.


More read on the museum, click here.

{ Land of Replica }

Sorry to keep you guys waiting. Finally I could do some blogging....

Recently, I had a Big Move to the Land of the Dragons, or you could call it Land of Replica. *LOL* It seem like there's no issue on copyrights here. Abit of a cultural shock I must say, though I share the same ethnic group as most here.

Well, let's see if you guys can guess the Originals from these:



P.S: Seriously I find this interesting, so I am going to keep on updating this entry with the replicas of the country. :)

{ Dark Spiders }

25 December 1911 – 31 May 2010

Feeling abit low after hearing about the death of French-born American sculptor, Louise Bourgeois. Yet another inspiring female artist left us.

Pity.

It was her 2008 sales of a 2.4m spider that made her the best-paid living woman artist around, after a buyer paid US$4.5 million for it.

My close encounter with her infamous Maman (giant-sized spider sculpture) has left a deep image in my mind. And I was especially grateful that I am able to come close with the spider. :)

May you have a smooth trip to heaven, Louise.

{ Effie Silver }

This is the best birthday present this year - an Effie Awards!

*smiling from ear to ear*

{ Metamorphosis: A NEW PHASE }

This is long, long overdue....

Dragging myself. I finally finished what I started 2 month ago. By the way, I still think I like the black & white version better.

So Land of the Dragons, wait for dA to arrive in J-time!

{ PostSecret }

A very interesting project...
It does make me ponder about life, about humans, about the society today.

{ Coptic Stitch Binding }

While working on my self-promotional book, I was researching on some of the bookbinding techniques that I could do on my own. As both techniques for perfect binding and saddle-stitching were already known to me, what I am eager to learn now is the hand-sewing techniques.

After watching tons of bookbinding videos on youtube, I've picked my favourite. Clear and easy to understand. *Clap clap*

Here it is, to share with my fellows who are curious about binding like I am :)

{ Metamorphosis }

After much procrastination, finally managed to finish my illustrations.

Now, it's down to PS-ing and slogging away with the Mac & Adobe.

*self promo in brew*

{ Work-in-progress }

SELF-PROMO IN THE MAKING

Land of the Dragons, watch out for dA! :)

{ Sabbatical }

One of my favourite designer, Stefan Sagmeister talks about

THE POWER OF TIME OFF

*I can't agree more...am so going to practise it in Beijing*

{ Pete Fowler }

I LOVE Pete Fowler's creation! MONSTERS...... :)

Check out latest interview of Pete Fowler by Juxtapoz Magazine!

{ Twist }

Not long ago, I wrote an entry on an amazing street art I saw while in Tokyo. Little do I know about the artist, or you can said I had totally no idea who's the talent behind the outstanding store.

Till....

Recently while attending Singapore Design Film Fest, I caught a show called Beautiful Losers. Bingo! I saw the artist! Barry Mcgee is his name. Ignorant me, totally got no idea the artist behind the unique store is actually one of the top American street artist around.

Well...to me everyday is a learning day :)

Barry Mcgee self-portrait

Artist at work

Barry Mcgee, better known as Twist (Twister, Twisty, Twisto) or Ray Fong, was born on 1966 in San Francisco, California. He is a painter and graffiti artist who graduated from the San Francisco Art Institute in 1991 majoring in painting and printmaking.

His work draws heavily from a pessimistic view of the urban experience, which he describes as, "urban ills, overstimulations, frustrations, addictions & trying to maintain a level head under the constant bombardment of advertising".

McGee's paintings are very iconic, with central figures dominating abstracted backgrounds of drips, patterns and color fields. He has also painted portraits of street characters on their own empty bottles of liquor, painted flattened spray cans picked up at train yards and painted wrecked vehicles for art shows.

He popularized use of paint drips in urban-influenced graphic design, as well as the gallery display technique of clustering paintings.

For more reads on Barry Mcgee, click here & here.

{ Beautiful Losers }

A week ago, I watched DesignFilmFest's Beautiful Losers. The documentary featuring some of the top American street artists. I must said I felt very much inspired after the show.

Beautiful Losers takes us into the world of street art. To many, graffiti are nuisance and ugly, even consider a form of vandalism. But to some of us, it's a form of expression.... Little do I know about the scene of street art, the movie brings me closer into their world and their thoughts behind the artists' creations.

Taken from official site:

Beautiful Losers celebrates the spirit behind one of the most influential cultural moments of a generation .

In the early 1990's a loose-knit group of likeminded outsiders found common ground at a little NYC storefront gallery. Rooted in the DIY (do-it-yourself) subcultures of skateboarding, surf, punk, hip hop & graffiti, they made art that reflected the lifestyles they led. Developing their craft with almost no influence from the "establishment" art world, this group, and the subcultures they sprang from, have now become a movement that has been transforming pop culture.

Starring a selection of artists who are considered leaders within this culture, Beautiful Losers focuses on the telling of personal stories. It speaks to themes of what happens when the outside becomes "in" as it explores the creative ethos connecting these artists and today's youth.

Featuring artists:

Stunned. Amazed. Inspired.

Words of an artist are sometimes very hard to understand, sometimes bizarre sounding. Weirdo is what the norm would call them but if you really get the chance to understand. They are a bunch of people who don't want to be the norm. Who have a voice of their own. Who are not afraid to show they are different. To that, I salute to the artists out there and all those who are struggling to make a name.