Boon Hau Tan - NAFA 70th Anniv. Symposium: New Asian Imaginations

Co-art directed the inaugural 2008 Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts' NAFA Symposium.

The brand identity was built from scratch, working with the academic departments to create a visual vernacular that reflected the theme and the zeitgeist of the symposium. It featured notable academics from around the world, descending upon the campus grounds for two days of talks. The event was organised in conjunction with NAFA's 70th Anniversary celebrations.

The identity for the symposium was centered around the idea of "imaginations". All materials were rendered in a duotone; Pantone 3015C. The Symposium adopted the motifs of "eyes" — which were drawn from a painstakingly shortlisted, then selected people. Eyes of notable personas, in thought, in negotiations, in inspiration. The theme of inspiration also lent itself to the book, the idea for which — the ocean is a vast body of knowledge and wisdom, and with this volume, one can have a literal "piece" of that ocean.

Flyers

Invite and Electronic Direct Mailer

Merchandise and Collaterals

Badges were to distinguish different featured speakers, participants, committee and student ambassadors — alongside the identifying lanyard tags.

Installation wall panel, for visitor's lobby

Flat-plan view of the Symposium Programme Sheet.

Folded as a booklet for ease of browsing — the reverse side, folds out to be a collectible poster.

Symposium Programme Sheet

Print Advertisement

Print advert that appeared in Art Asia Pacific, New York Times and The Straits Times. The "wistful eyes" motif became an secondary, identifying brand symbol for this edition of the symposium.

Symposium Book

The book was a compendium of ideas and the complete speeches of all the invited speakers. It was extensively and comprehensively produced, to coincide with the opening of the event.

The idea for the book was that the ocean is a vast body of knowledge and wisdom, and with this volume, one can have a literal "piece" of that ocean. All "book" visual indicators, like a traditional hardcover, had been chopped off (with all sides flushed), and spine was exposed — to lend to the idea of this as an object — a slice of the water — and not so much a book. The logotype was debossed into the hard cover instead of being printed, as to not intrude with the waters, and retaining an ethereal quality. The book was printed entirely in duotone, with Pantone 3015C.

Section Openers in the Symposium Book

Bespoke illustrations were created by the team, to capture and embody the content of each chapter.

Iconic eyes of iconic people.

Silhouette of an iconic chair (Ludwig Mies van der Rohe's Barcelona Chair, in this case) denoting the chairman.