Three Bachelor of Arts (Honours) Graphic Design and Multimedia students from the Faculty of Creative Industries (FCI) excelled, under the Magazine and Newspaper Design Category, at the Indigo Design Award 2022. The results were announced virtually on 25 April 2022.
From left: Choong’s certificate and winning project Military Gospel.
Choong Wei Lun won gold for his project titled Military Gospel. He also received a certificate, ribbon and two badges.
Choong enthused, “I was overjoyed to be awarded Gold for that category, and I am glad that I participated in the competition because it was an eye-opener for me and a great encouragement for the work I have done. I believe my work stood out because my project is a very niche market magazine design, which is a military history magazine. Many people consider historical content to be monotonous or boring; not everyone is interested in military content. Therefore, to make it appealing to readers, I designed the layouts in a fun but also serious concept so that readers can enjoy reading the content.” He also thanked his Fundamental of Layout Design lecturer Lee Kin Keong, who motivated his participation.
According to Choong, Military Gospel is a magazine that talks about military history. The content includes wars, conflicts, the ancient Roman army, and the political impact of the fall of the Berlin Wall, which eventually led to the end of the Cold War. “With the fun layouts in the magazine, I hoped that it will intrigue people to read and learn about the military history because wars are important events that shaped the history of many countries, cultures and politics. The impact of wars on society is still visible today and perhaps with such a magazine, people can also be more aware of the current geopolitics and reasons for conflicts that are happening around the world,” explained Choong.
Meanwhile, the other two magazine design projects, namely Eighteen by Lok Jing Ning and Jammin Lad by Yu Jia Le were awarded silver awards. They also received their respective certificate, ribbon and badges.
From left: Lok’s certificate and winning project Eighteen.
Lok commented, “I was delighted to receive the award because my hard work has paid off. I also believe I did well in the competition, and I believe my sense of colour in the design set me apart from the rest. I am a huge fan of the Hallyu culture and my magazine design is inspired by that culture. Since Hallyu is vibrant and dynamic popular culture, I wanted to create something that reflects that culture and, hopefully, radiates that Hallyu vibe, moods and feelings as well.”
She added, “I am grateful to have the opportunity to participate in this competition and I thank my lecturer, Mr Lee. In his lessons, he shared much on effective design techniques and his experiences with us, and that has enabled me to acquire more information and skills for my project.”
Lok explained that Eighteen focused on the trends in the South Korean entertainment industry. The magazine explores the various scopes of the Korean Wave, such as Korean fashion, movies and beauty, and draw global interest towards the Korean culture. She hopes the magazine will be able to introduce cultural diversity and increase society’s awareness of Hallyu culture.
From left: Yu’s certificate and winning project Jammin Lad.
Yu Jia Le’s silver award-winning project was titled Jammin Lad. It introduced the designer’s collection of powerful, uprising indie music to the youth. “The magazine is inspired by my name and personality. I designed it to my heart’s content. Nowadays, mainstream music is heavily influencing the younger generation. In comparison, Indie music is somewhat underrated, although the music produced in this genre is based on the musicians’ passionate hearts. I hope this magazine will be able to promote Indie culture to readers and encourage the young generation to discover and explore the creativity and quality of Indie music. I personally believe that the youth today should not be limited to common and repetitive patterns. Hence, why I came up with my design; to convey the idea of enabling young people to indulge in the free musical universe,” explained Yu.
He also enthused, “I am happy to be able to work on this project and I believe my work stood out because I focused on presenting the Indie music genre. My strength in designing lies in the visual hierarchy of different layouts. In the magazine, I established my sense of visual on the layouts based on elements, such as typography. These applications and techniques have helped me a lot in conveying the whole design concept of the magazine, which is to give it the look and feel of a young and free person, like the musicians of Indie music. So winning this award has not only strengthened my portfolio, but also given me an opportunity to bring to light the greatness of Indie music. All these were possible thanks to the guidance of my lecturer Mr Lee, who encouraged me to participate in the competition, and from it, I gained a meaningful experience.”
The Indigo Design Award ceremony is held annually in the world’s most fascinating and cutting-edge cities. Participants’ design works will be judged by a jury handpicked for their innovative contributions to the digital design world. The organiser promoted the event globally to their vast network and made press materials available to all nominees and winners.
Online Education Fair 线上教育展
Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (UTAR)
拉曼大学
https://edufair.fsi.com.my/utar
