Exploring historiography and design through the digital text
The growth of print media in history often accompanies the standardisation of language and the linearisation of the written discourse. The digital website format, despite its own limitations, gives a respite from the need to present writing that is strictly anchored in linearity.
This approach is relevant when we reflect on graphic design history in Singapore, which is in a nascent state. We are aware of the urgency to write and publish, but we are also eagerly anticipating for more discoveries in this largely uncharted area. There is much to share, but delightfully, also many unknowns. How can history in a state of becoming be browsed meaningfully? How can this corpus in flux still contribute to the accumulation of knowledge?
Prewar Sinophone (Chinese-language) graphics are an understudied, yet vital part of Singapore's design history. They provide a crucial starting point for understanding our nation's multicultural design heritage. Before World War II, Singapore was part of the Straits Settlements and had strong trade and ideological ties with Chinese port cities. This connection fueled a high demand for Chinese-language design in product packaging, print ads, and shop graphics. Demand was amplified by economic nationalism—a movement that encouraged buying Chinese products as a form of patriotism. Regional businesses flourished, which in turn led to a growth in retail spaces, events, media outlets, and design studios targeted at the Chinese speaking audiences. This ecosystem provided a vital alternative to the dominant, Anglophone colonial design network.
This site presents a reflexive attempt at providing narratives of Prewar Sinophone Graphics in Singapore. The site orders different content types according to the broad collection themes of design cultures, transnationalism and gender representation. Visual artefacts, keywords and resources are presented as analogous stacks. By using the search and filter functions, the site morphs into different permutations of stacks—revealing the designers, business entities, spaces, publications, and styles and movements of the time. Meaning occurs out of the encounters between the multimodal elements. In writing and designing, we endeavour to lay out knowledge in a way that expands the discourse around Singapore’s design history.
Notes: usage of Chinese characters in this website
When referring to Chinese characters used in the original artefacts from the 1920s to the 1940s (e.g. advertisement slogans, product name in packagings), the original usage of traditional Chinese will be reflected accordingly. Characters from Japanese terms that are written in Kanji use the standard Kanji characters. Other Chinese terminologies used in the writing of this website will be written in Simplified Chinese.
Credits
Lead Researcher: Hera Winata
Designer: Shalom Chew
Web Developer: Lauryn Leow
Editor: Ong Fang Zheng
Research Assistant: Tse Man Nga
This project is supported by Research Project Funding (RPF) Scheme, LASALLE College of the Arts, University of the Arts Singapore.
Whilst efforts have been made to research and fact-check the contents of this site, we apologise for any unintentional errors or omissions. Any queries or comments may be directed to: hera@lasalle.edu.sg