A persistent narrative of design history tends to center around modernisation and industrialisation, especially Western modernisation and the industrial revolution. This entails the conception of design as universal and revolving around the professional designer. This universal narrative of design has been much debated for producing epistemologies that reflect the dynamics of colonialism and imperialism. Design historians have been arguing for the decentring of design history to embrace the multitudes of design cultures.1 This collection brings together artefacts and ideas that sketches out the unique design cultural paradigms surrounding prewar Sinophone graphics in Singapore.