How to: Advocate Local with Yah-Leng Yu
In 2007, shortly after Arthur and I returned to our home island of Singapore from New York, we founded Foreign Policy. It was a very interesting time in our lives—we were embarking on a design journey, founding a small agency in a place with an industry dominated by larger international firms.
Singapore is surrounded by Malaysia to the North and Indonesia to the South. Because of our location, we are an immigrant society. Culturally speaking, we are primarily made up of Chinese, Malays and Indians. We are defined by this confluence of Asian cultures, but we have always had a very western influence. Singapore is a strategic international crossroads, hence the British choosing to colonize the island in the 1800s. Yet, when Arthur and I came home, there was a lot of debate about Singaporean design and what it should be. Singapore didn’t have much in the way of design that it could truly call its own, and there was a lack of discerning knowledge about the purpose of design in the business world at large. It wasn’t viewed as an essential tool to build and grow brands. There were a handful of independent studios who were producing really awesome work. Naturally, we joined them with the hopes of making a deep and lasting impact on the way design is perceived in the county. 
We first proposed embedding Singaporean culture within a brand narrative for the Wanderlust Hotel. They had set down roots in an Indian enclave that at the time was home to no other hospitality ventures. It was there that we realized how important it is to find inspiration in your surroundings. As we looked around, we saw an opportunity to tell the story of the building’s history as a school, the Little India neighborhood and in turn, Singapore more generally within the collateral marketing materials—the Itinerary booklet, a combined in-room directory, guidebook and notepad, and branded luggage tags, for example.
It is equally as valuable to look for influence in local history. From the get-go, it was apparent that the branding for The Clifford Pier, an upscale restaurant serving Singaporean cuisine, should exude heritage and history. We created graphics based on drawings from Chinese painters who were commissioned by William Farquhar, Singapore’s first British resident, to document the flora and fauna in Southeast Asia. These illustrations coupled with typography of that era formed the core brand visuals. The restaurant sits where a very important pier once operated and as such, we built the restaurant’s narrative to reflect Singapore’s longstanding strategic trading position.
One of the best ways to bring identity into a project is to introduce and present contemporary culture in a physical space. In early 2012, we were commissioned to reinvent an empty area in the lobby of the New Majestic Hotel. The Space Program was a pop-up concept—part installation, part museum, part retail shop—where we could offer insight into life in Singapore. Here, visitors were pushed to see beyond kitschy tourist keychains and magnets, to create a deeper connection with the island. It was a place where the audience—in this case, hotel guests—could visualize and interact with Singapore’s culture. 
The National Gallery Singapore’s museum store Gallery & Co. gave us the chance to do the same on a broader scale. We weren’t keen to take the branding down a colonial route. Instead, we wanted to incorporate a contemporary Singaporean mindset that would attract people to the museum at a time when the country didn’t have an active museum-going habit. The retail space is 70% Singaporean brands, and we run a collaborative series with makers to produce store merchandise seasonally. It’s a great platform to showcase talent and also a place where local creatives feel at home—they often come to work or take meetings here. It was a monumental project, and we couldn’t have achieved it if we didn’t work with a project partner who cares in the same way that we do. 
In 2015, we translated much of our work into Brand Guide: Singapore Edition, a book that documents some of the country’s most iconic and progressive homegrown brands and the creative labor behind them. Sometimes you need to harness the power of printed matter—brand and design reports can be dry, but with Brand Guide, we used pull-outs, anecdotes and a variety of papers to showcase craft and community.
From the time when Foreign Policy started, up until now, we have seen a seismic shift in the Singaporean creative and business landscape. New businesses have been created by a more design-savvy and brand-aware generation, which offers increased opportunities for design studios. We are finally able to show our design prowess. Be proud of where you came from. You, too, can be part of a creative renaissance.
