From Classroom to High Street Store
School of Design & Media
It is the dream of every young designer to have his or her works picked up by a major fashion retailer. For Vicki Ng, her dream came true last year when the Japanese fashion conglomerate, UNIQLO offered to launch her designs at its store.
The designs were part of her final year project, titled “50 Types of Singaporeans” which portrayed 50 uniquely Singapore colloquial phrases such as “chop chop kali pok”, “ya ya papaya” and “sabo king”. Worried about how Singaporeans may be losing their Singaporean identity, the Diploma in Visual Communications graduate hoped to reignite the spirit of community and connect Singaporeans across the island in a fun manner.
As part of her design research, Vicki interviewed 100 youths to learn how they defined themselves. She discovered that there were many elements that represented Singapore and was reminded how culturally diverse Singapore is. The end product was a comical display of colourful characters representing the city’s melting pot.
Vicki shared, “Through my final year project, I realised that there are several elements that are uniquely Singaporean which include Singlish. Singlish is part of the Singaporean identity and one that we can identify closely with. With these 50 characters, I hope that Singaporeans will be able to reconnect with their fellow countrymen in a fun way.”
Her designs first intrigued the South West Community Development Council which connected NYP’s School of Design & Media (SDM) with UNIQLO Singapore. UNIQLO Singapore was so impressed by the designs thatit offered to launch “50 Types of Singaporeans” under the UNIQLO Street Tales initiative in August 2015. The Japanese retailer further collaborated with Vicki to select and enhance eight characters from this project for the UNIQLO-LINE Christmas collection in December 2015. Customers were able to view the quirky and creative designs online and customise their T-shirts at the store.
Mr Sei Tomohiko, Chief Operating Officer of UNIQLO Singapore said, “Vicki’s designs offer a touch of humour for good measure. This collaboration with Vicki demonstrates our spirit of supporting local talent and we were delighted to partner Nanyang Polytechnic for this project.”
Her designs first intrigued the South West Community Development Council which connected NYP’s School of Design & Media (SDM) with UNIQLO Singapore. UNIQLO Singapore was so impressed by the designs thatit offered to launch “50 Types of Singaporeans” under the UNIQLO Street Tales initiative in August 2015. The Japanese retailer further collaborated with Vicki to select and enhance eight characters from this project for the UNIQLO-LINE Christmas collection in December 2015. Customers were able to view the quirky and creative designs online and customise their T-shirts at the store.
Mr Sei Tomohiko, Chief Operating Officer of UNIQLO Singapore said, “Vicki’s designs offer a touch of humour for good measure. This collaboration with Vicki demonstrates our spirit of supporting local talent and we were delighted to partner Nanyang Polytechnic for this project.”
When asked about this collaboration, Vicki shared, “I was over the moon when I first learnt about the news. I was extremely excited that a huge brand like UNIQLO takes notice of the works of local design students like myself.”
Vicki’s “50 Types of Singaporeans” project also won the 2015 Crowbar Silver Award (SG50 category), presented by the Association of Accredited Advertising Agents Singapore. In addition, Vicki received the Singapore Packaging Star Awards for her two other projects on Chinese New Year and skincare packaging last year.
Driven by passion and enthusiasm, one of this 22-year-old’s goal is to continue to apply her creativity and make things happen. She shared, “I hope to contribute in my own way to help elevate Singapore’s design industry to even greater heights. Design is in every aspect of our lives. We can use design to help generations of Singaporeans bond and share similar values.”
Looking ahead, we believe NYPians can expect to see more of Vicki’s "Stylo Mylo” designs.
Indeed, NYP helped Vicki achieve one of her dreams.
Because We Can
