School of Design & Media
Overview
The merger of NYP's School of Design (SDN) and School of Interactive & Digital Media (SIDM) created a single organisation but left key aspects of identity unresolved, as both former entities retained distinct visual elements and reputations.
Engaged to unify these legacies and ensure all stakeholders felt represented in the online and offline experience.
The design focus was to emphasise the journey through the foyer as a way to communicate the merged institution’s values and identity to diverse audiences.
Categories
Spatial Experience Design
Design Strategy
Brand and Identity
Date
2020 - 2021
Client
Nanyang Polytechnic, School of Design and Media
Role
Second Design lead: Identity system, Spatial narrative, Stakeholder alignment
|
Design the school's highest-traffic service touchpoint so that the merged proposition is understood, believed and remembered by five audiences; prospective students, parents, industry partners, alumni and the merged staff on a single walk, and build the identity system that survives outside that room.
SDN + SIDM identities, M3 as-is and M3 as proposed; two entrances, opposing footfall, cellular rooms.
Read details below
A merger nobody could see
A merger creates a single organisation chart, but it does not immediately answer visitors’ questions about the institution’s identity or quality. SDN was object-, place- and craft-based. SIDM was screen-, image- and code-based. After they merged, this new entity retained two logos, two colour systems, two reputations, and two applicant pools.
The physical environment also did not support the merger. The M3 ground floor served as a thoroughfare, linking the drop-off entrance to the south canteen, with teaching rooms along the way. This space hosted every open house, industry visit, and parent tour, but it provided no sense of shared purpose or identity, only a route from one point to another.
We approached the new identity and the spatial experience of the foyer as a unified project.
1. The identity needed to ensure both former faculties saw themselves reflected in the merged brand.
2. The M3 foyer had to communicate the combined proposition to five key audiences; prospective students, parents, industry partners, alumni, and staff, within the brief walk from the drop-off to the lift.
The design unit was therefore not the room nor the identity. It was the experience of this entity during a visit, online or offline.
Outcomes
2 Briefs, 2 Outcomes, 1 Approach
While the brief was written as two refurbishments. It was actually one integration problem with a spatial component.
Hover to reveal
A unified identity
2 Schools, 2 Heritage, 1 new identity
Hover to reveal
A Spatial Experience
It handles every open house, every industry visit and every parent tour. What does it communicate?
Identity Design
The identity had political work to do
The insight that shaped everything: the UFP problem can’t be solved by a single intervention. It needs a feedback loop, where each part makes the next more effective. Filtration cuts exposure. Education builds the stewardship that sustains the infrastructure. Monitoring generates the UFP data no institution currently holds at usable scale. And that data feeds the policy case that brings UFPs into regulation at last.
As the service designer on the team, my role was to see the whole system, to map the stakeholders, find the leverage points, and design an ecosystem where the components compound rather than run in parallel.
Connect to Content
Add layers or components to make infinite auto-playing slideshows.
The ecosystem as a closed loop, we placed the moss structure at the centre, where it feeds data collected to research partners, which then informs government, shaping policy,
all while improving the air the community breathes.
For this project we proposed to start with schools as it is the one place where health impact, community trust, educational reach, and funding all converge.
School of Design & Media
Overview
The merger of NYP's School of Design (SDN) and School of Interactive & Digital Media (SIDM) created a single organisation but left key aspects of identity unresolved, as both former entities retained distinct visual elements and reputations.
Engaged to unify these legacies and ensure all stakeholders felt represented in the online and offline experience.
The design focus was to emphasise the journey through the foyer as a way to communicate the merged institution’s values and identity to diverse audiences.
Categories
Spatial Experience Design
Design Strategy
Brand and Identity
Date
2020 - 2021
Client
Nanyang Polytechnic, School of Design and Media
Role
Second Design lead: Identity system, Spatial narrative, Stakeholder alignment
|
Design the school's highest-traffic service touchpoint so that the merged proposition is understood, believed and remembered by five audiences; prospective students, parents, industry partners, alumni and the merged staff on a single walk, and build the identity system that survives outside that room.
SDN + SIDM identities, M3 as-is and M3 as proposed; two entrances, opposing footfall, cellular rooms.
Read details below
A merger nobody could see
A merger creates a single organisation chart, but it does not immediately answer visitors’ questions about the institution’s identity or quality. SDN was object-, place- and craft-based. SIDM was screen-, image- and code-based. After they merged, this new entity retained two logos, two colour systems, two reputations, and two applicant pools.
The physical environment also did not support the merger. The M3 ground floor served as a thoroughfare, linking the drop-off entrance to the south canteen, with teaching rooms along the way. This space hosted every open house, industry visit, and parent tour, but it provided no sense of shared purpose or identity, only a route from one point to another.
We approached the new identity and the spatial experience of the foyer as a unified project.
1. The identity needed to ensure both former faculties saw themselves reflected in the merged brand.
2. The M3 foyer had to communicate the combined proposition to five key audiences; prospective students, parents, industry partners, alumni, and staff, within the brief walk from the drop-off to the lift.
The design unit was therefore not the room nor the identity. It was the experience of this entity during a visit, online or offline.
Outcomes
2 Briefs, 2 Outcomes, 1 Approach
While the brief was written as two refurbishments. It was actually one integration problem with a spatial component.
Hover to reveal
A unified identity
2 Schools, 2 Heritage, 1 new identity
Hover to reveal
A Spatial Experience
It handles every open house, every industry visit and every parent tour. What does it communicate?
Identity Design
The identity had political work to do
The insight that shaped everything: the UFP problem can’t be solved by a single intervention. It needs a feedback loop, where each part makes the next more effective. Filtration cuts exposure. Education builds the stewardship that sustains the infrastructure. Monitoring generates the UFP data no institution currently holds at usable scale. And that data feeds the policy case that brings UFPs into regulation at last.
As the service designer on the team, my role was to see the whole system, to map the stakeholders, find the leverage points, and design an ecosystem where the components compound rather than run in parallel.
Connect to Content
Add layers or components to make infinite auto-playing slideshows.
The ecosystem as a closed loop, we placed the moss structure at the centre, where it feeds data collected to research partners, which then informs government, shaping policy,
all while improving the air the community breathes.
For this project we proposed to start with schools as it is the one place where health impact, community trust, educational reach, and funding all converge.
School of Design & Media
Overview
The merger of NYP's School of Design (SDN) and School of Interactive & Digital Media (SIDM) created a single organisation but left key aspects of identity unresolved, as both former entities retained distinct visual elements and reputations.
Engaged to unify these legacies and ensure all stakeholders felt represented in the online and offline experience.
The design focus was to emphasise the journey through the foyer as a way to communicate the merged institution’s values and identity to diverse audiences.
Categories
Spatial Experience Design
Design Strategy
Brand and Identity
Date
2020 - 2021
Client
Nanyang Polytechnic, School of Design and Media
Role
Second Design lead: Identity system, Spatial narrative, Stakeholder alignment
|
Design the school's highest-traffic service touchpoint so that the merged proposition is understood, believed and remembered by five audiences; prospective students, parents, industry partners, alumni and the merged staff on a single walk, and build the identity system that survives outside that room.
SDN + SIDM identities, M3 as-is and M3 as proposed; two entrances, opposing footfall, cellular rooms.
Read details below
A merger nobody could see
A merger creates a single organisation chart, but it does not immediately answer visitors’ questions about the institution’s identity or quality. SDN was object-, place- and craft-based. SIDM was screen-, image- and code-based. After they merged, this new entity retained two logos, two colour systems, two reputations, and two applicant pools.
The physical environment also did not support the merger. The M3 ground floor served as a thoroughfare, linking the drop-off entrance to the south canteen, with teaching rooms along the way. This space hosted every open house, industry visit, and parent tour, but it provided no sense of shared purpose or identity, only a route from one point to another.
We approached the new identity and the spatial experience of the foyer as a unified project.
1. The identity needed to ensure both former faculties saw themselves reflected in the merged brand.
2. The M3 foyer had to communicate the combined proposition to five key audiences; prospective students, parents, industry partners, alumni, and staff, within the brief walk from the drop-off to the lift.
The design unit was therefore not the room nor the identity. It was the experience of this entity during a visit, online or offline.
Outcomes
2 Briefs, 2 Outcomes, 1 Approach
While the brief was written as two refurbishments. It was actually one integration problem with a spatial component.
Hover to reveal
A unified identity
2 Schools, 2 Heritage, 1 new identity
Hover to reveal
A Spatial Experience
It handles every open house, every industry visit and every parent tour. What does it communicate?
Identity Design
The identity had political work to do
The insight that shaped everything: the UFP problem can’t be solved by a single intervention. It needs a feedback loop, where each part makes the next more effective. Filtration cuts exposure. Education builds the stewardship that sustains the infrastructure. Monitoring generates the UFP data no institution currently holds at usable scale. And that data feeds the policy case that brings UFPs into regulation at last.
As the service designer on the team, my role was to see the whole system, to map the stakeholders, find the leverage points, and design an ecosystem where the components compound rather than run in parallel.
Connect to Content
Add layers or components to make infinite auto-playing slideshows.
The ecosystem as a closed loop, we placed the moss structure at the centre, where it feeds data collected to research partners, which then informs government, shaping policy, all while improving the air the community breathes.
For this project we proposed to start with schools as it is the one place where health impact, community trust, educational reach, and funding all converge.