Matthew Wong
Portfolio
2018
Hi.
I‘m a Singapore-based Industrial Designer who has a love for visual storytelling. I spent a year in Beijing as a video editor working in a social media marketing startup called Kinetic One 北京动能之星. On top of improving my mandarin, what stuck with me was the openness to try anything video-related, which led me to discover my passion for visual design — photos and videos, they all play a part in telling a story. This storytelling passion is coupled with the curiousity of a designer who likes to make things with his hands. I see myself being able to value add as a prototyper, and idea generator. I believe in a speedy, iterative process when tackling any design challenges. Sincerely, Matthew
(+65) 81127797 matthewwongyy@gmail.com www.behance.net/matthewwongyy
Works.
Page Product Photography
Experience Design
Videography
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Samsung Gear IconX
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Bow Carafe
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K for Kueh
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TuTu BAR
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Lemon Tart
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RateX: Brand Awareness
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Xavier & Sophia
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Product Photograph
I believe everyone has a passion for something, whether it be sewing, public-speaking, per magic tricks etc. It is this passion that drives a person to complete a task despite fatigue or
Product photography holds true to me in this regard. Not a master by far, but something ab
medium gives me a sense of fulfilment and joy. So often, little details go unnoticed, so I fi product photography gives me a way to pay respect to a creation’s creator.
hy
rforming stress.
bout this
find that
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01
Samsung Gear IconX Client:
Kevin Chiam
Category:
#ProductPhotography #DarkKnightRises
Duration:
3 Days
Team:
Nil
Role:
Art Direction, Photography, Retoucher
Drama. Highlights. Sci-Fi Timelapses, Hyperlapses, GIFs, HDR Photography. These are examples of interesting storytelling techniques. I see compositing photos the same way. By layering various exposures of the same subject together, I am able showcase the Samsung IconX earphones in a way that evokes semantics relating to masculinity, High-Tech gadgetry and overall similar tones to DC Comic’s Dark Knight.
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Refinement
Getting feedback from friends, the colours could have been a little more matching and the composition could be improved on. Overall I was quite happy with the end results of this project.
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Bow Carafe Client:
Kevin Chiam
Category:
#ProductPhotography #TransparentObjects
Duration:
3 Days
Team:
Nil
Role:
Art Direction, Photography, Retoucher
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Transparent Gesture Commissioned to help designer Kevin Chiam photograph his Bow Carafe for ‘The Artling Collectible Design Showcase’ at Marina Bay Sands Singapore.
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The Bow
In Japan, the “bower� expresses appreciation and respect to the person being bowed to by bending at the waist. Coincidentally, this action shares a similar spirit typology with a carafe - one that humbly offers. Accentuating this honorific ritual, the Bow carafe breaks out of its rigid, geometric shell to greet its user. With a simple bend, Bow extends an open invitation for one to serve water, beverage or wine via its newly formed lip.
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Refinement
Colours needed to match better. A larger backdrop could be used to decrease the gradiented effect. Stronger light sources could also be used. As well as having different volumes of water in each carafe.
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K for Kueh Client:
‘K for Kueh’ Studios by Hans Tan
Category:
#DarkPhotography #FoodPhotography
Duration:
2 Weeks
Team:
Nil
Role:
Art Direction, Photography, Retoucher
Real Kuehs with Fictional Backstories I was commissioned to photograph the end-of-semester works of nine students under the tutorage of Hans Tan, a NUS design professor running a material exploration module entitled: “K for Kueh”. To give a better understanding of these products, the brief to students was as such: “Students are tasked to create an original Kueh that does not preexist. Limited to the process of steaming as the key process and any type of flour as the main ingredient, students discover new Kueh forms through the investigation of this interaction. Students also shape the story behind the origin of the Kueh, each narrative though fictional, is woven with historical events, beliefs, tradition and folklore with an affiliation to Singapore.”
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Refinement
Through this engagement, I found that I thoroughly underestimated the amount of time needed to take each shot. Attention to detail (e.g. wiping clean the surface after every shot) is paramount to saving time in post production. Understanding the required end results and then working backwards through the workflow also ensures delivering the highest quality photos to the client.
Credits: ‘K for Kueh’ Studios
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Experience Design
(M
My interests lie in crafting experiences that engages with users through interesting visuals.
I do however have a tendency to be drawn to food, which I find to be a captivating vehicle
to weave a story around. I draw inspiration from Michael Roulier and Philippe LHomme, directors of the video series entitled: Marks & Spencer “adventures in imagination�.
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Mostly related to something to do with food)
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TuTu BAR Client:
Nil (Design Platforms)
Category:
#ExperienceDesign #FoodDesign #Branding
Duration:
11 Weeks
Team:
Joost Schootstra, Esther Ng
Role:
Project Leader, Videographer
A Disappearing Art TuTu BAR rekindles the disappearing art of tutu kueh-making by honouring the craft required to make the steamed rice cakes. By creating a modern sushi bar-like dining experience where freshly made tutukuehs are skilfully made in front of customers, TuTu BAR elevates the humble soft cakes to a premium snack.
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Mode
Plaguing man
take up the ro
that is slowly
have lost its r
By presenting
flavours, it ap
unique mode
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ernist x Traditional
ny traditional Singaporean snacks is the decline of people who would
role of ensuring its heritage is retained. How can we preserve a snack
y disappearing? How might we revitalise something that seem to
relevance in our society?
g to customers a menu that has both familiar and contemporary
ppeals to purists as well as those whose interests are piqued by the
ern flavours such as Brown Sugar Kaya and Golden Pineapple.
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Watch it here.
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A Gourmet Experience
Incorporating Japanese elements into the storefront, TuTu BAR creates a unique bar-like experience that mimics the feel of an “omakase� restaurant where customers leave it to the chef to decide the course of dishes they should have. TuTu BAR also brings customers up close to the chefs so they can watch in fascination as the skilled Tutu Kueh chefs craft the freshly steamed snacks before them. 50
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Inspiration
How might we ensure the experience of eating the Tutu Kueh is one that is slow and intentional yet remain light and casual? By drawing inspiration from Eastern rituals such as tea ceremonies and natural materials, we felt that this would draw people who want a premium, zen-like experience. We combined that with the concept of
Italian coffee joints where people remain standing as they drink their espressos.
Location
Among the many food halls in Singapore, Takashimaya’s basement food hall stood out with its variety of gourmet food stalls. Despite the potential competition, we felt that the clientele the food hall attracted, made the investment in the area worthwhile.
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Our Menu
The menu we crafted catered to two main groups of people: The Purists - People who want the same familiar taste of Tutu Kueh. Recommended flavours: Peanut Roast, Coco Nuci. The Modernists - People who want new interesting takes on a traditional snack. Recommended flavours: Brown Sugar Kaya, Golden Pineapple, Mild Cocoa with Matcha
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Refinement
More business considerations could be given to the location of TuTu BAR. The food itself could use more experimentation to create a modern, more abstract form of Tutu Kueh instead of using the current mold which yields a very literal form. Over the past two years since this project has launched, we have gotten 3 inquiries regarding our Tutu Bar Concept via our facebook and instagram platforms.
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Lemon Tart Client:
Nil
Category:
#ExperienceDesign #FoodDesign #BehaviouralScience
Duration:
1 Week
Team:
Koh Jing Ting, Lim Xin Yuan
Role:
Ideator, Photography
Food = Fun when done with Friends United in a passion for food, two friends agreed to join brains to come up with something visually interesting that we could put in our mouths. Because our intent for this design sprint, was to
explore the interaction with food, we did not over-complicate the design brief but settled on a Lemon Tart as an object to design because of it was simply the item we were eating when we came together.
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Food as an object
Our discussion led us to question was what if the lemon tart was viewed from the perspective of its interaction? More specifically, how does someone eat a tart? Divide it down the middle? Could the subtle visual cues or affordances affect the way we experience food and help give its creator a means to better sculpt the eating experience?
Division Dilemma - How do you divide a cake?
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Benchmarking
Taking to both physical cafes and online platforms, we searched for unique foods to gain inspiration for our Lemon Tarts. Actually tasting various versions of Lemon Tarts helped us to draw up certain qualities we looked for in our tart as well. The crust had to be thin and delicate, too thick and it would feel more like a biscuit, too thin and it would not feel like a tart. For the size of tart we were creating, we found 2mm to be the sweet spot for this. The lemon curd also had to achieve the right balance between tart and sweetness.
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Tetrahedron
Could geometry be translated into the food we eat? Normally meringues are piped on to a tart, however we wanted to see if we could precisely shape each meringue segment, thus we ‘cast’ meringues in paper molds in an attempt to achieve the desired shape.
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Lotus
What if we marry the action of peeling to a tart? Could the unhurried sentiment of this particular action create more enjoyment in a food?
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Chain Mountain
Instead of purely circular-shaped tarts, we wanted to create the look of chain mountains, encouraging people to cut the tart at the valleys.
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Scales
We attempted to create a layered fish scale look for this tart but were unable to achieve it due to the thickness and size of our meringue discs after baking, thus we opted for a half-moon variant.
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Above: An attempt to document the devouring of the tart.
Refinement
Through this fun exercise we concluded that visual cues do indeed affect the way we interact with food. However, further refinement to our methods of testing would ensure more accurate results.
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Videography
While I was in Beijing, I purely handled video editing with little or no control over the footage handed to me. Akin to the person packaging the final product before shipping it out, it meant to make the video watchable with whatever I had.
Returning home and getting my own camera, I now cherish the creative flexibility I am affor capturing footage I imagine myself needing as an editor.
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e that was that I had
rded from
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Above: Adblock Video(Left) vs RateX Video (Right)
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RateX Brand Awareness Client:
RateX
Category:
#Videography #SocialMedia #DrivingEngagement
Duration:
3 Weeks
Team:
Nil
Role:
Videography, Editing, Graphic Design
Brand Awareness RateX wanted to drive awareness for its main product — a browser extension that allows users to save on credit card fees and exchange rates. Due to the tight timeline, the art direction was primarily fixed, referencing a succesful Adblock promotional video.
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Watch i
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it here.
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Location Scouting
A vital part to this shoot was the location we were filming at. Thus I recommended scouting a location prior to the filming day.
Adblock Reference:
Proposed Location:
Backup Location:
Props
In preparation for the shoot, I designed posters to look particularly atrocious with mismatching gradients. The intent was to elicit a mild irritation which would relate to unwanted advertisements popping up while browsing the web.
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Scouted Locations:
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Refinement
At the end of the marketing campaign which used this video, engagement was less than ideal with no one commenting on the Youtube video. Distribution As the popular saying goes, ‘Content is King but distribution is Queen’. I felt that greater user engagement and viewership could have been achieved if the video was posted on RateX’s other media platforms such as facebook or Instagram.
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Xavier & Sophia Client:
Xavier & Sophia
Category:
#Videography #Proposal #Engagement
Duration:
1 Week
Team:
Other Friends
Role:
Videography, Editing
Fairy Tale As with most videographers, most start out in the field with engagement or wedding videography. In this project, I was helping a friend capture his courageous moment.
Watch it here. 81
fi
in.