Tag: Graphic Design

Quietly Sinking Roots

After working for close to a decade in various studios, Jonathan Yuen started Roots, his own space in an increasingly noisy world of design.

His childhood ambitions were in this order: artist, scientist and businessman. But little did Jonathan Yuen expect to be working as all three when he became a graphic designer.

Like many in this profession, Yuen loved drawing as a child, but it was after encountering computers in the high school of his Malaysian hometown in Penang that he got hooked on to computer-aided design, and dreamt of a day when he could create animations and special effects for Hollywood movies.

This dream changed when he learnt his family could not afford to send him overseas to study. Computer animation was new in the ‘90s, and not taught in Malaysia then. Instead, Yuen took up graphic design in Kuala Lumpur’s then Limkokwing Institute of Creative Technology, which was close to his interest as it offered a specialisation in multimedia design, and more importantly, home.

➜ Read the rest at art4d.asia

Chicken Rice or Pasta?

Singaporean design is beginning to rise with a new generation of creative talents including Creativeans.

They have had stints as designers in Italy, Japan, United Kingdom and Australia, but when they started their design practice, the Creativeans chose to be in Singapore, the country where four of them started out.

Kimming Yap, Yulia Saksen, Khairul Hussin and Sharina Bi, first met in the industrial design programme of Singapore’s Nanyang Polytechnic (NYP) a decade ago. In 2011, they created ‘Treasures of the Little Red Dot,’ their debut collection for Milan’s SaloneSatellite, which has won accolades and established the Creativeans as one of Singapore’s up-and-coming design collectives. But it merely started on a whim, when they came together after a class gathering in 2010 to design products for fun. “We didn’t intend to start a company. To be honest, we were quite bored with our work, so we decided to do something on our own,” says Kimming, who has a Masters from Domus Academy and was then working for Studio ITO Design in Milan.

➜ Read the rest in art4d (Issue 200)

Monocle magazine: Advertising its singular view of the city

Monocle-SCCM2

A monocle is a single eyeglass kept in position by the muscles around the eye. The same can be said of Monocle magazine, a publication fixated on how cities should all be built in style and for conspicuous consumption.

Since launching in 2007, this publication by journalist-turned-media entrepreneur Tyler Brûlé has become a celebrated design bible for urban planners and the elite. Before Monocle, creating an attractive city worth living in never seemed so simple and stylish.

From its format down to design and content, Monocle smoothens over the complex subject of urbanism in a smart and attractive-looking publication. It’s Brûlé’s vision of a cross between the The Economist and GQ, a perfect status accessory for the modern executive—best displayed when one is dressed in tailored suits and leather shoes.

Monocle calls itself “A briefing on global affairs, business, culture & design”, but each issue reads more like Brûlé’s personal travel blog (he is known to travel more than 250 days in a year) printed on uncoated stock — all 300 pages of it, including booklet inserts and advertisements. A glossy spirit of optimism pervades throughout this magazine stuffed with informative blurbs, clever lists, one-page profiles, as well as question-and-answer interviews. Whether it is a survey on the world’s most livable cities, an interview with a politician or a shopkeeper, or an advertorial on Samsung’s latest phone, there is little difference. Everyone and everything on Monocle is selling their suggestions in creating a better city. Nothing seems problematic, not even the fact that almost everything Monocle features as good examples of city living are unaffordable to the rest of the 99%.

Despite its marketing stance, Monocle tries to look like it is delivering on its promise of “quality journalism” through design and art direction. Its commissioned photography borrow the visual language of objectivity, while its illustrations project a sense of simplicity. Documentary style photos of places run alongside straight-up style portraits of business owners, shops and products, creating a veneer of honesty over the fact that Monocle is promoting them to readers. Many of the magazine’s illustrations of city life display a charming LEGO-like simplicity, rendered in a uncomplicated style of elemental forms reminiscent of Isotype. Like this international picture language, Monocle’s illustrations smoothen out differences and diversity within and across cities, falling back on outmoded national costumes and stereotypes to fit a trans-national universe the magazine is building. From page to page, the images and short texts are packed into a three-column grid creating a sense of sameness regardless of who, what or where, which only encourages reader to skim rather than read seriously.

Most telling of Monocle’s journalistic aspirations is the typeface the magazine and brand has chosen to be set in: Plantin. The magazine’s creative director Richard Spencer Powell wanted a nod to “old journalistic values”, and this early 20th century typeface also gives the brand instant tradition, reinforcing why Brûlé had picked the archaic object of the monocle as its name. Despite establishing such origins, Monocle is uninterested in practicing journalism the old school way. The profession’s cardinal rule of separating editorial from advertising is discarded because Brûlé once said that “all good journalists are good salespeople too”, and Monocle’s editors often accompany ad directors to sales calls. It shows. This magazine’s advertorials are difficult to distinguish from editorial content. The only indication is a “(Brand name) X MONOCLE” tag at the bottom of the page, an ambiguous line that could also read as endorsed by Monocle.

But this magazine has no qualms about mixing the two. It is good business for Brûlé, who is also chairman of the branding and design agency, Winkreative. Monocle is a great advertising platform for the agency, as editorial subjects such as the government of Thailand have become clients too. In Monocle, Brûlé has created a marketing darling that has been recognized by Advertising Age which awarded him “Editor of the Year” in 2011, as well as, Adweek which named Monocle the “Best brand for living the good life” in 2012.

This commercial success is undoubtedly Monocle’s great achievement in a print media industry puzzling over how to survive in the digital age and has made it a model for many publications to follow since. But it comes at a cost: real quality journalism that helps us understand cities as citizens and not just consumers. Unlike those who live in Monocle city, these are ideals most of us cannot afford to buy nor lose.

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Written for Rick Poynor’s Critical Takedown workshop at D-Crit. This essay was later published on Design Observer.