We created a unique external signage for the OCBC Artspace to encourage passers-by to take a look inside. OCBC Artspace was launched with an inaugural exhibition we also designed, the OCBC ICONS Exhibition . View the project details here, or view the press article here.

Fresh out of CNY…
We spent Valentine’s Day at BooksActually’s Monocle Pop-up Shop!

Kudos to Kenny Leck and his team for pulling off such an event! It was really successful with a swarm of book and culture lovers:)

Met quite a few interesting folks including Tommy Ogara, who designs and owns Native Sons eyewear.

We highly recommend that you pop over this weekend!

To end off: some photos with cool sunnies from Native Sons. Happy V Day again!

This lunar new year, Relay Room is geared up with our very own version of ANG POWS, or known commonly as “Red Packets”. Taking a typographical twist, we’re sure these will blow your little nieces and nephews away.

Yes, we’re selling them, at only $10 for a pack of 10.

Drop us a line at hello[at]relayroom.com if you are in the mood for some festive offerings!

Many thanks to Paul Ong of Plussixfive.com for the shoutout.

Mark De Winne features in August 2012′s Her World Singapore – he’s one of 50 Men We Love! Read the whole thing on page 173

Relay Room’s Creative Director Mark De Winne and Business Development Director Sarah Cheng-De Winne were featured in The Business Times on 28th May 2012!

Read the full article below.

Creative Mixer returns for the second edition with 9 amazing speakers!

Visit www.creativemixer.co for more information

The year is off to an exciting start, with us having made our first product to ever be sold: our hand-drawn typophilia calender is being sold at BooksActually for $7.50!

BooksActually is located at No. 9 Yong Siak Street Tiong Bahru Singapore 168645. Call them at 6222 9195.

Click here for more photos.

One of the best ways to “waste” time is to browse the myriad of “designpiration” sites out there. Everyone has their favourites (we have too many favourites to list!). It was on one of those 15 minute sojourns into cyberspace that I chanced upon these very cute posters by Sam Bevington.

Sam’s take on commonly spoken idioms and sayings are wickedly clever, and I definitely enjoyed the visual puns as well as the mix of typography and illustration. See the rest of the posters for yourself here.

BibliOdyssey has this stunning post on the typography featured in maps and map publications issued between about 1880 and 1920 from the Sanborn Map Company. A little blurb we’ve borrowed from the blog (who has definitely done their research!)

Sanborn’s fire insurance enterprise produced not only excellent and detailed urban maps, but they also maintained an elegant aesthetic in the headings and legends on the maps themselves, and in the title pages of the (larger) city volumes. The ornamental flair is diverse – I don’t think any of the examples above repeat type styles – and lends an air of individuality and refinement to each of the towns surveyed.

Although this sort of artistic embellishment was unlikely to have increased map sales on its own, it’s a charming addition which will have perhaps made the purchasers feel a sense of pride and a little more secure about their own unique town. And it’s certainly in keeping with the cartographic tradition of decorative trimmings.

We’ve been seeing some of these here and there on the web, but to have a whole set — well, we almost needed to reach for our pills, our hearts were beating that fast. All we can say is, make sure you have your pills nearby, before you click the link.

We’re really loving this “photo-lettering” series by Bela Borsodi — whose fashion editorials have a touch of the surreal. Definitely in the Man Ray vein. These were shot for WAD Magzine #39, ALPHABETS.

Designers and spectacles often come together, somehow we like channeling the “geek” look. Sadly, we don’t have the likes of these around! A really amazing video from 1955!

1950s Glasses Fashions – Sexy Spectacle Trends! (1950s)

Mark De Winne, Creative Director of Relay Room was profiled for Men’s Folio October 2011. We love the vest! Thanks to Andre Frois, previously from Men’s Folio.

Relay Room is developing its own app! Yes…it will be typography-related, so watch this space. In other “On The Way” news, we are designing a client mobile app right now, and tying up the loose ends for a government agency book:) Catch you soon.

Relay is proud to be the design partner for Luxola.com, Singapore’s premier online shopping portal for luxury skincare and beauty products that are hard to find anywhere else:)

Check out www.luxola.com to see how we’ve designed the Luxola experience:)

Thanks to http://tiny.cc/e6k2u for reviewing the Luxola experience:)

If you are eager to feast on design, and you know your Caslon from your Baskerville – we want to hear from you!

Are you…

A diploma holder or degree graduate in Graphic Design?

Full of excellent typographic sensibility with a strong portfolio in print and editorial design?

Amazing with the Adobe Creative Suite: Illustrator, InDesign, Photoshop – the works?

Able to multi-task, work independently and contribute as a team player?

Self-motivated and able to deliver under tight deadlines?

A “people person” with good communication skills?

At least mildly interested in applying typographic principles to Web and other interactive applications?

Able to start work at short notice?

If so, we’re hungry too – to hear from you!

Email us at hello@relayroom.com by 30 Sep 2011 with your CV, portfolio, current (if any) and expected salaries. ☺

We’ll offer competitive remuneration based on your experience and qualifications.
Fresh polytechnic and degree graduates are welcome to apply.
We’re also looking for full-time/part-time interns to work with us, so if you fulfill some of the requirements above, drop us a line!
Love, Relay Room

www.luxola.com

Branding & Art Direction, Web Design, User Interface, Graphic Design, Editorial Design

We release some sneak peaks of the brand identity, logomark, bag and namecard design here. More shots coming soon upon their first website launch in mid-September!

I came across these the other day, and, while I’m not sure if the magazine exists, or even used the cover as is; but they are beautiful. The illustration was done by a Swedish illustrator, Jonas Bergstrand. The detail on these are astounding. Loving the clean composition and mid-century feel to these. Inspiring!

My favourite is the Sean Connery, the eye in the mirror really does it for me. What about you?

Mark De Winne, Creative Director of Relay Room, is on this month’s edition of Catalog Magazine (p47)! We’ve been so busy working we haven’t dipped out to get a physical copy ourselves – do let us know if you’ve got your hands on one!

We’re in Hong Kong for a few days, and although it’s just as hot (if not hotter) than Singapore, it’s been a blast so far! We’re pigging out on Dim Sum and other HK goodies, looking for interesting books/objects for the office and meeting new people.

Stay tuned…

Sarah Cheng-De Winne & Alecia Neo

One of our dearest friends in photography Alecia Neo, has collaborated with Clarence Chung (sound artist) to present Villa Alicia, an installation of photographs – both real family photos and re-creations – as well as sound effects that create phenomenological nostalgia. We got first peek at the private opening tonight….

A photo that captured my attention - loved it!

Villa Alicia is an attempt to preserve the memory, personality and spirit of an old 1970s home that is about to be vacated by its tenants, Tan Ying Hsien, a winebar owner and his mother Dr Nalla Tan, 88, a prominent physician and feminist suffering from Alzheimer’s Disease.

It is the intersection of the personal and public, the historical and the present, and Alecia’s ability to capture and recreate specific moments in original family photos (by using other real-life families as sitters for her photos) is a brilliant suggestion of how much we have in common with the Tan family – we live, grow, forget… and then try to remember.

The house is slated to be demolished a few days after the exhibition closes – this is a MUST SEE during the National Holiday period. We strongly recommend that you go during the day time to take advantage of natural light, which fills the house wonderfully.

Villa Alicia takes place from on 6 to 11 August 2011, from 9 am to 9 pm at 43 Binjai Park, Singapore 589843. Admission is free. For enquiries, please email villaaliciashow@gmail.com or visit www.villaalicia.info.

Congratulations once again Alecia and Clarence!

An interesting fact: “Villa Alicia” is the name of a novella written by Dr. Nalla Tan. Relay Room acquired a copy – it’s a lovely book as well with beautiful illustrations.

From left: Sean Lee, Alecia Neo & Clarence Chung (artists of Villa Alicia), Sarah Cheng-De Winne

Check out this invitation poster by Relay Room – and also the photographic work of Mark De Winne, Creative Director of Relay Room at:

WHAT LIES BETWEEN

In conjunction with Month of Photography Asia

Venue: The Arts House, 1 Old Parliament Lane, Singapore 179419
Nearest MRT: City Hall
Dates: 3 – 24 August 2011

Relay Room congratulates our friend, Sean Lee, for winning the ICON de Martell Cordon Bleu 2011 award! We’ve we had sneak peaks of his photos and were amazed at how his process was realized in the final photo series of “Homework”. His commercial portfolio can be found here: seanthephotographer.com

To view his award-winning body of work that beat the likes of John Clang and Zhao Renhui (and of course view the extremely aesthetic work of these two photographers as well…), head down to the ICON de Martell Cordon Bleu 2011 Photography Exhibition between 2 and 25 July 2011 at the Helutrans Artspace Gallery 3 in Tanjong Pagar Distripark. Open Monday to Friday, 11:00am to 7:00pm, and on Saturdays from 11:00am to 5:00pm.