Intern Days // The Creation of The ‘Phunk’ Posse // The Art Dept Fashion Victims
Credits: Blow Inc. // Phunk Studio // ResFest05 Singapore // onedotzero 10 Singapore // IdN Design Edge Singapore
Selected Works:
msft fabriks : LABELLED FOR LIFE
Branding + Identity
When I was in Art College, msft fabriks was angst driven and hungry for attention. Thus, its identity made up of mis-matched shattered glass, where fabriks is a piece of blank canvas and its slogan ties it all. Alot of Ego and alot of Conceptual Bullshit. I would have used Helvetica because of the love//hate relationship I have with it but I was a student, too broke to buy it, lecturers were too stingy to copy and paste it and torrent was super new in town.
starchBowl : ideasthats’tick
Branding + Identity
Working in a team for a mock website, ‘StarchBowl’ was born. A conceptual take on Branding & Identity, “Ideas that s’tick”. Subliminal messages in everything we do. Those were the days.
Skratch Ent
Branding + Identity
My first freelance job for a company which still exists today. The client, a bedroom DJ likes the “Compton” feel. Thus, a Blackletter typeface modified into turntable needles, yet having integrity over the beautiful typeface. Typography is my oxygen.
BLOW INC.
Internship
The ever bubbly and intimidating Michele Low is the boss of Blow Inc. As loyal supporters of Phunk Studio eversince I was 15 yrs old, we came across an ad on the Phunk Studio website. They were looking for Interns. Therefore we (Erasmus+Zhong Ming+Myself) went to send an email to them and we got it. There, we met a few other intern peeps whom we have grown very close to. Shout out to Nelson, Eugene, Roy, Nicole & etc.!
It was certainly an eye opener working as intern slash art dept. under the well experienced Art Director, Michele. We call her Our Mamasan. She did teach us alot of tips + tricks which I hold true to my heart til this day. Its all about making things glamorously beautiful and functional at the same time. Sexy but not pornographic.
Project Numero 1:
Phunk Studio’s Decade of Decadence
Art Gallery of Phunk Studio’s 10 Years of Work
Pretty Awesome Shit. Held at the National History Museum. We measured, we set-up, we tore down. There, we met super talented people in their fields, from graphic designers to contractors to multi-tasked spoil market people. All in good fun. I remembered we couldn’t be there to for the Opening Party because of our Assessments on the next day. Last minute works brings out the best + the worst in us. Too caught up in the star gazing limelight. All’s well, ends well. We got A’s!
Project Numero 2:
IdN My Favourite Conference Singapore // Design Edge 05
ResFest Exhibition Booth + Phunk Studio’s Arena Rock Box
Certainly a very blood, sweat + tears job with 2 projects side by side. We had the creative freedom to tape art ResFest’s Exhibition Booth and do alot of wheat+glue paste ups all around a humongous Rock Box. Local Musicians were invited to play in the Rock Box itself. Talk about the Designer Rockstar Lifestyle. Everything went well, it was super fun meeting all the other designers like Rostarr, D-Fuse(free signed DVD copy of Motion Works!), Boris, etc.
P.S: We managed to walk out of the conference with 2 unpaid Limited Edition Futura & Fafi Beanbags unscathed! We were broke students, Sorry!
Project Numero 3:
ResFest05 : Keep It Curious
Festival Set Design + Exhibition Set Up
Big Love to Sari & Putri! The set was in NAFA Music+Theatre Building. Boxes, boxes and more printed boxes. We stacked them up creatively according to Michele’s direction. However, she has a tendency to give us creative freedom. We even made one into a bar. Its harder than it looks because it just does not involve stacking up. It requires skillful mechanism and tools to have them not fall over. We also put up framed works in between the boxes. A lesson in layout it certainly was. It was our first encounter with The Red Bull Girls! Throw the diabetes-causing Gold one and drink up the Silver Blue! I still love my Coke though. We were introduced to Eric Cruz + Gang from W+K TokyoLab. We were pissing our pants! We each got a Hifana + Afra CD. Crazy cool! We gave the Hifana Gig at Centro a miss because we had to set up W+K TokyoLab’s exhibition at White Room. My partner was pissed that night but well, its a job.
Project Numero 4:
Plush! TVC with Moviola Productions
Art Dept
Director: Patrick Ong
Art Director: Michele Low
As Multimedia Design Students majoring in AudioVisualProduction, it was important for us to grab the opportunity to have an experience within the commercial Production Industry. There, we were foreseen the creation of vinyl stickers of Japanese inspired art, folded paper cranes, mastered the art of creating 3-layered Lattes, scoured places for good looking bowls, char siew & took production stills. All in a days work before the Grand Opening of Singapore’s Ministry of Sound. A round of Tiger Beer to let things settle beautifully.
With loads of experience from the different talented people we met around the world by not leaving Singapore, the 3 of us together with another 3 set up Pigeon+on and created an award winning short film, “Fruitful”. A post dedicated to this project will be up later.
onedotzero 10 sg
Videography + Editing
From a Diploma in Multimedia Design, I went straight to BA Multimedia Desgin with NAFA X Huddersfield University. The first few months were draggy. Therefore, with a little bit of luck, I emailed OneDotZero SG to see if they were looking for any videographers or photographers. As students, the catch is to do things for free because the school has the equipment but it has got to be a cool project. They were interested with our experience : Singapore’s Design Community is Super Small LAH!
We ended up doing Videography for them. Simon + Luke became Photographer. Erasmus was unlucky to be the door bitch. We interviewed the artist, shot the event days, parties, exhibitions & live visuals performances. You could literally see us wanking in the corner over the plethora of UK Artists!
onedotzero 10 sg : “Digital Errors”
Poster Design // Exhibition
Meanwhile, I was also invited to do up an ODZ x ClearChannel poster and was exhibited at The Red Dot Design Museum . “Digital Errors” was done using 3DX Max (I was crazy over wireframes) and Photoshop. The idea was to visualise a piece where humans have grown so dependent on technology that the mistakes that a computer makes is highly not accepted. Are we living in denial? Are we imagining ourselves in an over Utopian world? Is everything we do or everywhere we are, even real? As a firm advocate on encouraging people’s change in perceptions of controversial subject matters through art, this piece was a commercial start at it.
It was an awesome start to the new school year + the beginning of a new era for me.
I was no longer msft fabriks at the time, I became Major Thom.
Stay tuned for Chapter 2!
Posted in : FILM + MOTION DESIGN, : PHOTOGRAPHY, : PRINT, COMMUNICATES THROUGH
Tags: Ads, Art Direction, Blow Inc., Graphic Design, Interior, Intern Days, Phunk Studio, Rockstars, Set Design, Space, TVCs, Visual Orgasm
