Bringing creativity into new A.G.E

A.G.E Exhibition was organised by the Faculty of Creative Industries (FCI) at UTAR Sungai Long Campus from 2to 6December 2019. The competition aimed to showcase the talent and creativity of FCI students through their FYP projects.

The secretary of A.G.E Exhibition Wong Wei Thong explained that the abbreviation, A.G.E, stood for “Achieve, Grow and Evolve”. She said, “At a certain age as a visual storyteller, we ACHIEVE our goals through the GROWTH of knowledge and skills, and EVOLVE into our greater selves throughout the university period as we create everlasting memories for ourselves. We call ourselves a visual storyteller and this is our journey of evolving into our best selves as designers and animators.”

The Graphic Design students were given the freedom to conduct their FYP projects either through web design or publication. With a total of 23 students’ altogether, eight students participated in the web design category while the remaining 15 participated in the publication category. The eight students from the web design category had to find real-life clients and help them to create a website for their companies.

One of the participants, Camille Wong Yee Nee chose the company called Tas Lighting and Electrical Centre as her client. The company sells lighting supplies and home electronics. Her concept for Tas Lighting and Electrical Centre was to create a minimalist yet fun business website while assimilating the advancement of technology into the modern lifestyle. Camille said, “Minimalism always gives you a calm and comfortable feeling, just like the soft light in your room and the advancement of technology allows you to visualise those lights in your room.” The website for Tas Lighting and Electrical Centre is http://taslighting.com/

Camille showcasing her web design for Tas Lighting and Electrical Centre http://taslighting.com/

Another participant, Chin Wei Xin chose Tabib Cina Chin Kee Siong for her project. This company is located at Hulu Langat. It offers medical services that use traditional Chinese medicine for bone setting such as Tui Na massage. Chin said, “My client is looking for an effective way to promote services that are able to help people in need. Creating this website would help them with brand awareness.” Explaining her concept, she further added, “My objective is to deliver a storytelling concept. I focused on making the website more interactive to provide more engagement. My website has a blend of modern layouts with traditional elements. And I used green, brown and yellow hues to promote the traditional feel.” The website for Tabib Cina Chin Kee Siong is http://tabibcinalangat.com/

Chin showcasing her web design for Tabib Cina Chin Kee Siong http://tabibcinalangat.com/

Choong See Ying chose Wiitrac Elevator Sdn Bhd, a company that supplies and service Home and Platform lift. “My client wanted me to create a new logo design for him. I wanted something bold, modern and vivid. Additionally, I wanted to make the audience feel comfortable, down to earth and have a sense of belonging,” Choong said. She added, “To increase the readability, I used white as my main background colour and different shades of grey to make the division. I also used gradient as it helps to achieve a bold statement and helps to channel users’ emotion which strengthens the sense of wholeness.”The website for Wiitrac Elevator Sdn Bhd is https://wiitrac.my/

Choong showcasing her web design for Wiitrac Elevator Sdn Bhd https://wiitrac.my/

Cordelia Wong Wei Thong’s client was Polyglass & Aluminium Sdn Bhd. Wong said, “Since the target audience were manufacturers, designers and contractors, I had to design the website using a simple yet modern concept. Horizontal scrolling service saves a lot of vertical screen space without displaying the content on a very long webpage. It is an attractive way to impress the visitors.” “The colour green colour is the symbolic colour of the company; therefore I designed a colour scheme consisting of light-dark contrast and monochrome composition of the colour green. I chose marble effect as the background of the website as it gives a dynamic sense to the website,” she added. The website for Polyglass & Aluminium Sdn Bhd is https://polyglassaluminium.com/

Cordelia showcasing her web design for Polyglass & Aluminium Sdn Bhd https://polyglassaluminium.com/

Loi Sin Yee chose LOFT Stationery as her client for the project. The company sells stationery and provides services like menu and name card design. Loi said, “The client was willing to have a brand new design to link with their marketing strategy. So, I created a monogram logo for my client by using a narrow font type to bring the feeling of modern and elegant. Simplicity is the key to my design because a complex design will make the website look messy. The website for LOFT Stationery is http://loftstationery.com/

Loi showcasing her web design for LOFT Stationery http://loftstationery.com/

New Chun Kiat’s client was EX Fundamental Sdn Bhd (Ez White). New said, “The Company is looking for an effective way to pass the message about the importance of oral hygiene. The white background on the website portrays the concept of being clean. Other than promoting the products on the website, they also wish to attract more people to join their team as a product contributor.” The website for EX Fundamental Sdn Bhd (Ez White) is https://ezwhite.online/

New showcasing his web design for EX Fundamental Sdn Bhd (Ez White) https://ezwhite.online/

Tee Xin Yi chose Signature Wedding, an event decoration company, as her client. Tee said, “I hope I can help Signature Wedding to reach out to a large crowd and different types of audience. The website adopted realism website style. Most of the content is real-life decorations made for clients.” The website for Signature Wedding is http://signature-wedding.com/

Tee showcasing her web design for Signature Wedding http://signature-wedding.com/

Wong Qi Yuan’s client, Temptation Florist, provides products that are made of premium fresh flowers and dried flowers. It provides different types of services including flower bouquets, flower box, flower basket and flower stand. “Temptation Florist wanted to create awareness about their brand. The colour scheme that I chose was dark pink, light pink, white and black. Pink was the main colour as it brings sweet, romantic, charming and feminine feelings. White colour represents understanding, faith and softness; this will create a feeling of harmony in the background,” Qi Yuan said. The website for Temptation Florist is https://www.temptationflorist.online/

Wong showcasing her web design for Temptation Florist https://www.temptationflorist.online/

(From left, fifth and sixth) FCI lecturers Katharine Ting Zhen Ling and Mohd Fairuz bin Ali with the eight students from the web design category

Fifteen talented students from Bachelor of Arts (Hons) Graphic Design chose publication as their FYP project. They were required to create their own creative content.

Callie Pan’s publication was titled “Urban Escapes”, a travel magazine featuring places and events in South East Asia. Callie said, “As a designer, I am hoping that it would bring a different experience to the reader who loves and wishes to travel South East Asia.”

Callie with her publication “Urban Escapes”

Choy Kar Yee’s publication titled “Mainan”, focused on cultural activities and it aimed to introduce the traditional games of Malaysia. Choy said, “The objective of this magazine is to retain the culture of Malaysia’s traditional games. It also serves to promote traditional games in Malaysia by encouraging the younger generation to explore and learn about it. Traditional games are now being left behind, we as the younger generation need to preserve it,” she said and added, “This magazine also shares some instructions on how to play the traditional games. I truly believe that ‘Mainan’ will be able to bring people together.”

Choy with her publication “Mainan”

Chye Min Xin’s publication “Story Time” is an educational periodical publication for children. The “Story Time” includes different stories and activities for children like writing, drawing, colouring and mini-games. Chye explained, “The objective of “Story Time” is to build a strong relationship between parents and their children. The ‘Story Time’ will create a better family bonding and better interaction between parents and children. Besides, this publication will help to build children’s developmental skills and create a foundation for learning.”

Chye with her publication “Story time”

Lim Shar Maine’s publication was named “Creative Speaks”. She said, “I am hoping that this magazine would attract more readers from the younger generation. I created this magazine because youngsters these days are more attracted to technological devices. ‘Creative Speaks’ will showcase many interesting stories. It has also captured the voices of many writers around the world. Hence, readers can use this platform to know more stories.”

Lim with her publication “Creative Speakers”

Tan Ying Xue’s publication was titled “Dive in Doodle”. The publication focused on sharing ideas of doodling art besides providing tips and tutorials on how to make doodles. “With the publication of ‘Dive in Doodle’, I hope to promote the art of doodling. Doodling is also one of the ways to relieve stress. And I hope that readers will find it fun to doodle and spread the happiness of doodling with their friends and family.”

Tan with her publication “Dive in Doodle”

Introducing her publication title “Hidden Gems”, Evelyn Liew Siaw Qi said, “This magazine is passionate about exploring hidden food, culture, people and architecture located around the world. Every city has its own hidden gems, so my publication provides the opportunity for the readers to explore interesting places that are uncommon and least explored.”

Evelyn with her publication “Hidden Gems”

Kuganeshwaran Saravanan publication titled “Spirituality”, provides fascinating information about one’s spiritual journey to the readers. Kuganeshwaran said, “My magazine ‘Spirituality’ focuses on religious issues of the three races in Malaysia, namely Malay, Chinese and Indian. Malaysia is a multi-racial country and it has a lot of interesting religious facts to share. In ‘Spirituality’ readers will find interesting information such as places for prayers and important facts for all races regarding their religion.”

Kuganeshwaran with his publication “Spirituality”

Lean Jin Jie shared his hobby and interest towards cosplay with the public through his FYP publication titled “Coscraft”. Lean said, “The publication shares the history of cosplay from the east to the west, tutorial and tips to dress for cosplay and also cosplay events that will be taking place soon.”

Lean with his publication “Coscraft”

Ng Yu Qi target kids and students with her publication “Hallo Squad”. Ng said, “I have always been interested in illustration and craft since I was young. Therefore, I decided to come up with “Hallo Squad”, a comic art crafts magazine that combines education and entertainment.”

Ng with her publication “Hallo squad”

Paw Kah Kei’s publication “Chopsticks” involves introducing various foods from Japan, China and Korea. “The inspiration for my publication came after seeing the people from these three countries using chopsticks to enjoy their food. It is also because I enjoy the different types of cuisines they offer. My publication involves recipes, restaurants and also chef reviews,” Paw said.

Paw with her publication “chopsticks”

Chong Peiyin publication “The desserts” explores the traditional desserts of Malaysia. “An introduction to the history of Malaysian traditional desserts of the three main races, namely Malay, Chinese and Indian is given in the publication. Besides exploring the variety of traditional desserts in Malaysia, ‘The desserts’ also featured festival celebration in Malaysia and traditional desserts prepared during those festive seasons. And lastly, there will be a column for various traditional dessert recipes for the readers,” Chong shared.

Chong with her publication “The desserts”

Siew Peng Seng’s publication “Tropical Delights” aimed to share popular Malaysian desserts with readers. “Tropical Delights” is a dessert magazine that introduces popular Malaysian dessert, provides a recommendation of shops to buy and taste Malaysian dessert, and provides recipes for readers to make Malaysian dessert at home. Siew said, “This publication is not only meant for Malaysians but the foreigners as well. Foreigners can use this magazine to begin their dessert hunting journey. My publications should be able to provide them with a good start.”

Siew with his publication “Tropical Delights”

Siow Fook Quan’s publication was named “CityPets”. Siow said, “CityPets is an informative lifestyle pet magazine that includes pet’s information such as pet’s healthcare, pet’s common disease, pet’s breeds and many more. It also contains some stories from pet organisation where they shared valuable experiences and information about pets. Besides, there will be a pet’s café introduced in the “CityPets”.”

Siow with his publication “CityPets”

Sivaneson Saravanan’s publication was titled “Indian Feast”. Sivaneson said, “Indian Feast magazine features Indian healthy foods and provides tips to be healthy by consuming more vegetables and less meat. For this season ‘Indian Feast’ is focusing on Malaysian South Indian dishes. It partnered with Chef Santhi from Santhi’s Kitchen to promote the list of great Indian healthy dishes.”

Sivaneson with his publication “Indian Feast”

Last but not least, Yean Wei Shin with his publication named “World Rambler” said, “I am a person who loves to travel, therefore I decided to do travel magazine for my FYP. For “World Rambler”, it will focus more on backpackers and cost-saving travel. This magazine will share tips on how to save money for food and accommodation, do’s & don’ts for backpacking travel as well as nice places to explore.

Yean with his publication “World Rambler”