Ingenious bike by PUMA

I like this bike! Not available here though...

the SCOUT label - work in progress

Something's brewing (camp fire's burning)... it has been on my mind for a while now. I hope to design my own label for a range of items and maybe start selling them on the net.

Watch out for it, the SCOUT label coming soon. :)

Siamese Dream 16-19.12.05

Some selected pix from my recent trip.

aka DJ fuse

DJ (Design Jockey) fuse

A hat-trick and another

Wow, a hat-trick and another goal in the 4th year, what a record! (4 goals in 4 games) The sad thing is that the 'essence' of the idea/approach was taken away entirely... well... due to budget (always an enemy!) I would like to retain a copy of the original idea/approach here. The true essence of a lifestyle and retail company was displayed with the use of the translucent paper on its cover and a limited edition shopping/carrier bag to house it.

Balance Vs Imperfect Balance

Must eveything looked balance to be pleasing to the eye? Can imperfect balance be visually appealing? There is this saying that the more symmetrical a person's face is, he or she is actually more good looking. Ok, that does prove something but do take a closer look at some things again, sometimes it is that bit of imperfect balance that makes it different and gives it character.

Got to watch it

We tend to overlook this important issue, always busy with work and neglected it or think that we are still young and nothing will happen so soon. Well... have come to realise that illness can strike anytime, even if you have a healthy diet and lifestyle, you can't take it for granted. Got to learn and take things easy, relax and enjoy life.

The unpublished self-promo

This is one idea that we have but didn't get to the execution stage. 'Employee of the month'. You see, you always get to see portraits of smiling staff on the wall of fast food chains/restaurants, malls etc... for good perfomance, its a way to show appreciation for their great attitude at work. And this struck me, we (our team) give our 100%, extra effort, work late, overtime whenever necessary, even when it was the clients who delayed the progress, shouldn't we be appreciated for all the hard work? We decide to do up a series for ourselves but with a twist, we are going to feature ourselves in the most unglamorous way, not smiling and looking straight at the camera; instead we picture ourselves sleeping & dozing off at work, yawning, crawl out of bed etc... We wanted to make these into posters and sets of postcards to be given out to clients as self promo. Apparently it didn't take off as we were busy with our client's projects, now you can see why is all of us deserved to be the employee of the month. :) Allow me to present to you the team (back then). Just one fun idea which I think it should be archived.

I was 'phunked!'

Thumbs up for their decade of works, personally enjoy it very much. I see things that I can relate to, well... very much due to my age I suppose. They have brought everything that they like from music, comics, hobbies and ideas, and express it in their very own graphical/vector/mtv/fashion/idn/experimental/ punk/rock/indie style to the graphic scene. Respect!

Visited a 'Guerrilla' store

Read that this concept store will move away from its location every year... hmmm... difficult to track.
Is it part of the 'guerrilla' warfare strategy?

Graffiti at red dot?

No... it was the 'opening act' of the red dot museum @ red dot traffic.

Daffy bags 3 dots @ red dot

What a night! Daffy bags 3 dots @ the red dot (2 design concepts & 1 best of best), her broadcast entry received recognition at the inaugural red dot design award. The night was full of industrial and product design professionals; whereas broadcast, print, packaging and fashion etc only made up maybe like 20% of the exhibits.

After the award presentation, one of the winners came up to congratulate us, in fact I have nothing to do with the win, and then he went on to ask some irrelevant question, "How big is your firm?", "How many people are working in your firm?" I would expect him to ask about her work & her inspiration. We were speechless apparently and tried to explain, but i think he wasn't paying attention. I also did try to point out to him that we are in the print industry, he looked confused and didn't care... He went on again "Do you design computers?" At this point both of us look at one another and hope we can just vanish with the smoke in the room. We did actually, we managed to perform leopard crawl and a somersault when the guy turned away, haha... It was much better going around looking at the exhibits then to entertain one who only knows about one industry and not bother about other areas of the design practice. I think we need to educate the public of what is Print and Graphic Design.

Well, then we decided to leave as our stomach has only got alcohol content... we left with some souvenirs though, 2 interesting corragated boxes with the red dot and chivas logo imprints on it :)

Most importantly, I am proud of Daffy.

Shared a joke with some friends

Its in your mind and your heart

Do not let technology and software stop you from progressing. The ultimate 'software' is in your mind and your heart, everything starts there. Having ideas is the most important start.

Open your mind

Design is everywhere. Have an open mind, you can find inspiration in everything. Observation is essential.

Design: Plan, Sort, Refine, Organise, Calculate, Create

Some key attributes of design.

From 'creative' news to 'breaking' news

What irony... the same publication reported the 'in' and 'out' of The 5 Amigos.

Being described as...

People find things to describe a person, sometimes they use an object, a car or maybe a brand or label. Someone described me as this book. Nice! Thank you.

The light is diminishing...

Why do fireflies glow?
One reason that fireflies glow is to attract a mate. Males and females of the same species will flash signals back and forth as a way of communicating. Each firefly species has its own particular pattern. For example, the fireflies of one species will fly around in the night sky and dive steeply just as the flash begins and turn upward to make a distinctive J-shaped pattern of light. Female fireflies hang out on a tree branch or in the grass while the males fly around showing off their best flashes. When a female recognizes the flash from a male of the same species, she will answer with her best flash.

Another reason that fireflies glow is to avoid predators. Fireflies are filled with a nasty tasting chemical called lucibufagens, and after a predator gets a mouthful, it quickly learns to associate the firefly's glow with this bad taste! So not only does the flashing help attract a mate, but it also warns predators to stay away.

I do know of a Firefly which leave behind a bad taste and (sadly) it is losing its glow... well, at least the predator is still choking on it.

Sight.Sound.Smell.Taste.Touch.

Went to a paper launch today at the ACM. One of the project I did with my previous studio. One of the last I would say.

The 5 Amigos!

Possession

One of my expensive possession... for now... ;-)

What is graphic design?

Graphic design is an interdisciplinary, problem-solving profession that combines visual sensitivity with skill and knowledge in areas of communications, technology and business.

Design is a process, not a product.

Graphic designers specialized in the structuring and organizing of visual information to aid communication and orientation.

Graphic designers can be divided into 3 groups - graphic design practitioners, graphic design managers and graphic design educators.

Graphic designers provide clients with a range of services ranging from: research, costing, planning, coordination, project management, quality control, design and aesthetics judgment, advertising and art direction.

Splash!

What is the opposite of a splash?

Leeward

Learned a new word from some friends from a friendly place :)

Mutiny > Unity

Mutiny - take away the 'M', re-arrange the 5 remaining alphabets and you get UNITY. Is this purely coincidental or is it a sign? I don't know but I believe some things happen for a reason and (UNITY) this is a very good reason.

Rebel!

I happened to have this T-shirt :)

Being labelled as...

Got to know about this today...

Free yourself!

The freedom and the creation starts on this day...

A New Start

19 Sep 2005 marks a new chapter of my career life.

The past few days was a 'rollercoaster' ride. I have just resigned from my company of 4 years to embark on a new journey. It was a 'memorable' week, I resigned on the 13 Sep 2005, it was the first time I have ever written and submitted a resignation letter. I have decided to leave, knowing that I was unable to work with a team which I have build so much on trust, teamwork and understanding. On 15 Sep 2005, I was told to leave immediately, company paid for my leave balance and said they are handling the situation 'professionally', and gave me only 5mins to pack! Do you have any idea how much stuff I have created and collected over the past 4 years??? Well... from there I see the ugly side of some people in the company who I used to regard as friends... you will also know who are the real pals too. There is this friend who managed to illustrate what happened during that few days in his blog, I must say it was well done, his illustration 'talks' and points out the ugly side of a few individuals. I'm glad I have decided to move on and I want to use this entry of my blog to record down the dates of those events.

Right now I am in a new environment, i'm very sure that it is going to be an exciting journey. :)