Asher Wen

Strategist, Marketer, Nerd

Post With a Blockquote

This is an example of a WordPress post, you could edit this to put information about yourself so readers know where you are coming from. You can create as many posts as you like in order to share with your readers what is on your mind.

This is an example of a WordPress post, you could edit this to put information about yourself so readers know where you are coming from. You can create as many posts as you like in order to share with your readers what is on your mind.

This is an example of a WordPress post, you could edit this to put information about yourself so readers know where you are coming from. You can create as many posts as you like in order to share with your readers what is on your mind.

This is an example of a WordPress post, you could edit this to put information about yourself so readers know where you are coming from. You can create as many posts as you like in order to share with your readers what is on your mind. This is an example of a WordPress post, you could edit this to put information about yourself so readers know where you are coming from. You can create as many posts as you like in order to share with your readers what is on your mind.

The Fallacy of the Perfect Picture

I celebrated my 26th birthday yesterday.  The day was spent with my oldest friends over food and mahjong, and it was also spent reflecting on my life this past 26 years.  Looking back, I thank God for His blessings in my life and the friends and family who have been with me every step of the way.

I am so thankful for my friends and family
Celebrations over the weekend with the gang and my family

While I was thinking back on the bigger milestones in my life, I realised that I never would have been able to guess that I would end up where I am now.  Yet, I am right where I am supposed to be.  I was just telling Teck yesterday that somehow all the skills that I picked up in school has come into use in some way or another at work.  Like what Steve Jobs said in his Commencement speech to Stanford University, you can only ever connect the dots retrospectively.  I now have a newfound understanding of what he meant.

To try to engineer your own future by trying to fit your life into some sort of mould that someone else told you is good would only bring about unnecessary angst and pain.  Unfortunately, so many of us fall into this trap because of familial and societal expectations.  I call this the fallacy of the perfect picture. [Read more…]

Identity Design: Yoga in the Citi

Yoga Backdrop White 5
Yoga in the Citi

Yoga in the Citi is a mass yoga event planned by Citibank as a part of their corporate celebrations for International Women’s Day. I was brought in to help with the branding of the event, including coming up with the event title and identity.

The Brief

The brief included coming up with an idea for the name of the event together with the logo. Some restrictions was that the logo had to play with the main colour theme of Purple, Black & White. This was actually really helpful at the beginning because it saved one round of colour exploration and I could just focus on getting the logo elements right.

Part of the brief was also that the logo and event should include an element of women finding their balance between wellness and work.

Some initial ideas for the event title included “Hit the Mats” and “Find Your Balance”. The client decided that “Yoga in the Citi” had a good ring to it, and aptly included the company into the event, and so it was chosen.

Part of the work included designing a customisable electronic direct mailer template, 2 event backdrop designs and a t-shirt design visual.

The Concept

The big idea behind the identity was that of balance. By using familiar yoga poses as a device, I wanted to show that it is possible to have it all: to balance your work, and yet still spend some time to take care of your health. The participation in the event would culminate that idea, where hundreds of Citibankers take time off their busy schedule to attend a mass yoga event.

The additional stroke added an anchor to the design as well as alluding to the yoga mats that participants will be using during the event.

For the backdrop design, a mandala symbol was used to add to the idea of balance and yoga.

The Event

Yoga in the Citi was held on 4th and 6th of March, 2014 in the two different offices of Citibank Singapore.  What you see above are some of the highlights of the event.  There is something enchanting in seeing people coming together and doing something in unison.  It is admirable that Citi took the effort to organise such a large scale event for its employees and in support of International Women’s Day.

I was glad to be able to bring a face to the event that the team had planned, and was especially proud to see my designs on The Business Times the following day:

Business Times Coverage
The event was covered in Business Times the following day

See the article here.

What did you think of the design? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

The Importance of Internships

Hello My Name is Intern

Last Friday marked the very last day of internship for me, EVER. (okay, I might still have internships when I do my MBA, but you get what I mean right?).  I have just completed my Marketing Analytics internship (more on that in a future post!) with Mondelēz last week, and I have been on a period of ‘unemployment’ since.  Since it’s been so very long since I had so much time on my hands, I thought it would be good write a post on the importance of internships. [Read more…]