12 / other people’s design show

After 2 long years, we finally got back Singapore’s Design shows from graduating students!! And it was pretty amazing!!

I visited almost all(?) the shows. Multiple works have left a deep impression that I thought I could use for inspiration? We’ll see..

NTU’S ADM SHOW

EXHIBIT #1: Installation of “cameras” to zoom into someone’s life

You just have to look into the cardboard “camera”, which will frame a part of the apartment. There’s a pedal on the floor where the person is standing, which we’ll have to gently press and hold down; this will cause a human figure to enter the scene and will carry on his/her routine around the house, though some a little unconventional.

I don’t really recall what the person was meant to personify but I thought the whole mechanism of making people (literally) see through their lens is super interesting, and powerful as well. Without the “camera”, we see the full picture, but when zoomed in, the story can be angled to whatever is desired.

The setup of the apartment, and multiple “cameras” with pedals.

^ #1 WHAT I CAN LEARN FOR MY PROJECT:
Maybe following the concept of introducing the foreign country as a whole to the user, allowing them to take in the overall vibe. Then users can“zoom in” to different areas following a short narrative/gameplay of a character’s (or their avatar?) way of life, allowing users to experience the local languages and culture (eg. a scenario of ordering a cake in a cafe in Japan, or cycling around the Vondelpark in Amsterdam).

EXHIBIT #2: Pokkai Designer Podcast

This podcast was quite well-done to me?? Maybe because I have a fun little podcast project myself, so I’m just naturally drawn to another podcast.

I have yet to listen to ALL the episodes.. But reading the description and listening to snippets, this podcast series delves into the design scene in Singapore. It may sound cliche.. But honestly, the industry in Singapore is so small yet designers all know one another only by their social handles, and not their story, drive, and inspiration for the design. This gives good insight to people who are interested in getting to know the design community or even being a part of it!!

and also the design of this podcast is so cute !!

^ #2 WHAT I CAN LEARN FOR MY PROJECT:
Maybe use a podcast introducing the lifestyle of a foreign country? In the point of view of the locals there? Off the top of my head, I think it’ll be kind of cool with a phone booth in different streets within a foreign places, locals can enter (one at a time) to pick up the phone booth, and a question by a foreigner will be played to them, before the locals answer back with their stories/experiences/tips. All these will then be collated into an episode. Of course logistically there’s a lot other factors to consider (like language barrier, and basically people can do this on reddit too though this is more fun), but just a thought !!

EXHIBIT #3: Childhood drawing using AI

Again, I’m unsure of the full story behind each artwork. But from what I recall, this series embodies the author and others’ childhood. Using the keywords from what the children have written, the artist uses deep learning AI to come up with each painting, resulting in a rather unfamiliar yet euphoric image.

Keywords such as “Fantasy World, Flying Fishes” and “Clouds and Rainbows” are used to generate these artworks

I thought this project was rather smart as it helps adults imagine the World (or in this case the meaning of words) in a child’s mind, which is one of those things adults lack the ability to do once they’ve grown up. This project retains that child-like innocence, though one can argue it’s kinda fake since it’s AI and not drawn by a child..

^ #3 WHAT I CAN LEARN FOR MY PROJECT:
I could use keywords of a foreign country’s culture/way of life from different blogs to create an art work similar to this!! To tangibly show culture/way of life in an artwork? But how will it help solve the problem? hm..
Another idea off the top of my head is leveraging AI to show the aura of each place within a foreign country. Maybe red aura to signify that crime rates are high so foreigners take precaution? But that’s about the examples I have..

Using AI to portray culture and way of life in a country is definitely interesing so I’ll try to brain storm this further later on..

LASELLE SHOW

EXHIBIT #4: Farfetchverse

Okay so I’ve learned my mistake of not snapping a picture of the project description and so I did for this!! Basically, this project delves into the metaverse for retail.

An app, some cards, and a catalog book is among the project’s collateral

^ #4 WHAT I CAN LEARN FOR MY PROJECT:
This is similar to my previous idea using gamification, but this time in a metaverse? So people can ‘travel’ to a foreign country on the metaverse and be exposed to the culture, language, and way of life before physically traveling to the country. So their avatars can perhaps buy coffee in Korea using Korean, and learn to identify and pay using the currencies?

Looking at Farfetchverse, I think it is nice to physically create a pamphlet/catalog so the user can have something tangible. Maybe my metaverse could allow the same? So after each foreign country the avatar visited, users can choose to ‘purchase’ their journey, allowing whatever words/culture they have learned to be printed into a book and delivered to them. That way, users can have this little personalised booklet with them when they visit that foreign country.

NUS DID SHOW

EXHIBIT #5: Relive — Recapturing Nature

For NUS’s show, I actually went to see it with some friends that do product design and this is actually one of their friend’s work. As such, the images that are shown below are taken from the official Instagram page.

Link to find out more !!

^ #5 WHAT I CAN LEARN FOR MY PROJECT:
I think this is one of the most innovative one by far. It basically takes photography back to nature, where everything is naturally dependent on the colors, temperature and weather. I honestly am unsure of how I can incorporate such a concept into my project.. If anything, it’ll be similar to #3 where AI is used to create aura? Maybe creating aura using the real-time vibe of the foreign city?

Similar to #3, this concept is super interesting to me, and I’ll hope to brain storm on it more later!!

That’s my take on the Design show this year!! I’m really sorry that I was unable to properly credit the designers/creators. If you’re reading this and you know/are the owner, please let me know and I’ll gladly do proper crediting and adjustments!

This post was meant for me to seek inspiration. Any ideas that I have generated came from my brain. There is no infringement and copywriting from other projects !!