About Working Hard

It's late and I'm looking back at my older work. Work from 2007. Work that I never finished. Work that I thought showed so much promise when I was well, working on it.

It wasn't till last night that I was reminded that I should set out to finish everything that I start. And that perhaps, abandonment could become a very dangerous habit if cultivated over time.

Perhaps we abandon some work because of uncertainties and self-doubt. Most recently, I've been plagued by the latter.

When I got home from the office, I met Dad in the living room and we ended up having a pretty deep conversation. Then something very rare happened, he shared with me an insight about myself that I have never heard anyone tell me before in my entire life.

"No, I am not afraid that my son cannot work hard. I believe that he can and will work very hard when he puts his mind to it. But, I am afraid when he is not sure."

Perhaps being my Father, he always knew this but never told me verbally. He's the sort of guy who would seldom commend you for doing well, but would destroy you if you're doing badly. Perhaps lately there have been many uncertainties that need my attention and I have to be sure about them before I put myself to work again.

Lately, few things have been able to move me and it's been awhile since a statement resonated so strongly within.

It seems it was as big a compliment as it was a word of caution, and in that, it has become the perfect piece of advice a Father can give.

And we're back.

Decided to pick up the Blogger blog again. Tumblr's not cutting it. Too little info at too quick a rate! Planning a new template and a summary post of the one year since I was last here.

Singapore Airlines - Social Imagery

I've recently found a new site to add to my daily feed. Sociological Images from contexts.org is an interesting compilation of advertising and media and how they impact our society.

Having a career in advertising, it was only natural for me to key in "Singapore" in the search field - who knows what will show up? Somehow, I wasn't exactly surprised with the results returned, a Singapore Airlines print ad.

I was rather intrigued to find out what the commentary and reception was. The ad in question was the "All-Business Class" which happened to be crafted while I was still in the agency.



The guys who worked on this campaign of "All-Business Class" were all advertising veterans and I was way out of their league as a junior. However, it interests me now to perhaps think about what went through their minds when they were crafting this ad. What were the considerations when putting the various graphic elements together?

One of the responses that I read in the comments thread found that the SIA girls blended in with the carpet, objectifying "the girls" as it graphically presented them as part of the surroundings. A counter-comment found that the background and the uniform of the girl were simply coincidental and that if it was the artwork that carried the Singapore style, it was perfectly appropriate for the visual similarity.

It's a touchy subject here. There were a couple of responses that labeled the ad as outright sexually biased, picking at some of the graphical elements and decisions that I would not have picked up until a couple of passes.

Having worked on a few Singapore Airlines ads myself, I found the rest of the posts very insightful into what the viewers not from our culture read the ads as.

The article and thread can be found here.

Thank you Captain Obvious.

Apparently, the war of the OSes are going on. I'd love to know what the Apple creatives were thinking when they FA'ed the key image? lolcat.

New acquisition: Hot Rod

"One day an Autobot will rise from our ranks, and use the power of the Matrix to light our darkest hour. Until that day... till all are one."

I've owned and played with numerous Transformers, particularly the Target Masters series in my childhood days (thanks Mum, you spoilt me) but one Autobot that eluded me was Hot Rod. Everyone has their "favourite" character, for most it's Optimus, for me it's got to be this dude. Young, fast, daring and occasionally reckless, that's Hot Rod.

So anyway, I put aside some hard-earned cash and finally decided to buy this 25cm tall statue. Words cannot describe how satisfied I am to have paid for Hot Rod with banner and EDM design fees.

I'll get round to unboxing him and setting him up soon, more pics over here!

Graze

Took this at Graze last week where we had an awesome brunch. I had Banana Caramel Pancakes, David had a custom omelette and ZY had an (epic) Cast Iron Breakfast Pan -clash!- I know, second post about food right? Post some design and work already Gad!

And that's the way the Apple Crumbles

Can never fail with Mum's Apple Crumble recipe.