Graphic Research & Typography
BA Graduation Project
‘Mari Kita’ is the opening line of the Singaporean national anthem. Most Singaporeans are able to recite the entire anthem with ease, but most failed to comprehend its meaning because it is written in the Malay language, while the majority of Singaporeans are Chinese. This project aims to investigate and develop a graphical language that aims to transcend the linguistics of the English language, while bringing in cultural references that makes Singapore truly unique.
The original Malay anthem is translated into Singlish (Singapore English) – a colloquial mix of Chinese dialects, Malay and Indian Tamil language. Robert Plutchik’s colour theory of emotion is then used to colour the translation. Each colour used from the spectrum denotes a specific emotion, and the different colours used hope to give the viewers a chromatic understanding of the various emotions of the anthem, even without understanding the language in which it is written.
Drawing inspiration from how visible speech is annotated, a new language of consonants, vowels, glides and diphthongs is designed to translate the spoken Singaporean language into graphical symbols. The new visual language designed is based on a grid that drew references from Malay Islamic patterns.
