Concept Design
Type Design
Type Production
Type Design
Type Production
2022-23
Thesis Project
Thesis Project
Straits Sans
A love letter to Singapore’s print history
Context
Straits Sans is a year-long research into local print archives that culminated into a nine-weight typeface. Straits Sans references the Straits Times Annual: a discontinued annual publication by the Straits Times from the 1900s.
Outcomes
Straits Sans was initially 3 different typeface revivals. Under mentorship from local type designer Mark De Winne, I went back to the drawing board and selected 1 of the 3 typefaces to refresh and expand.
The first version: Straits Sans Deco was very much influenced by my idea of what ‘Art Deco’ was but I realised that although Art Deco appeared in The Straits Times Annual, the captions very much showed a society that’s still developing. It’s not lavish, like in the West.
I decided to introduce more humanistic elements instead of geometric ones. It is not as rigid, there is a human touch to it.
Straits Sans has been used for the exhibition SAM Contemporaries: Residues and Remixes.