Singapore Chinese Cultural Centre
Making a cultural institution part of the culture
I've worked with the Singapore Chinese Cultural Centre since 2021, across different roles and different stages of the brand's evolution.
What began as a hands-on design relationship, creating campaigns, social content, digital experiences and work throughout the Centre, gradually became something broader: helping shape how SCCC presents Singapore Chinese culture to Singaporeans.
Over the years, that has meant reimagining its flagship Cultural Extravaganza, building digital experiences around cultural traditions, guiding the everyday expression of the brand, and helping define the relationship between SCCC and its consumer-facing identity, SINGAPO人.
As the brand evolved, so did my role — from designing the work, to leading the people who made it, to becoming a creative voice in how the organisation communicates.
An identity that could evolve
Rather than reinventing the festival every year, we built on what came before.
From 2021 to 2023, characters, styling and visual cues returned and evolved across successive editions — turning the idea of
(Re)presenting Culture For Every Generation
into a visual system that could itself move between generations.
From 2024 onwards, the expression matured further, becoming more editorial and sophisticated while continuing to find contemporary ways of representing Singapore Chinese culture.
But evolving the way SCCC presented culture meant looking beyond individual campaigns.
SCCC's role extended beyond the programmes happening within its walls.
For Chinese New Year, we created a digital repository that brought together the traditions, stories, practices and festivities surrounding one of Singapore's most widely celebrated cultural occasions, making them accessible to audiences in one place.
First launched in 2021, the experience grew into an extensive cultural resource and received a mention from then-Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. While the site has since been streamlined, the repository continues to be maintained and expanded today.
From a place for
culture to a brand
for culture
As SCCC's role grew, so did the need to rethink how it presented itself to the public.
Its corporate identity carried the authority of an institution, but also perceptions that could make it feel formal and distant from the audiences it wanted to engage. The challenge was not to replace SCCC, but to create a more relatable consumer-facing expression alongside it.
In 2024, we worked with SCCC to define the relationship between the institution and SINGAPO人 — an identity initially created for its permanent exhibition, but with the potential to bring SCCC's programmes, content and cultural initiatives closer to everyday Singaporeans.
SCCC remained the institution.
SINGAPO人 became its voice to the public.
One institution,
two expressions
Working closely across creative and account teams, we mapped how the two brands should coexist, defining when SCCC should lead, when SINGAPO人 should take prominence, and how the relationship should work across owned programmes, partnerships, sponsorships and corporate communications.
The objective wasn't to replace one identity with another, but to give SCCC greater flexibility in how it showed up: institutional when it needed to be, and more accessible and culturally expressive when speaking directly to audiences.
A system designed to flex
A cultural brand needs room for many expressions.
Rather than making every SCCC programme look the same, we developed a visual system that established consistency through hierarchy, typography, brand relationships and application — while leaving individual programmes room to build identities of their own.
The goal wasn't to make everything look the same. It was to make everything feel like it came from the same place.
My Role
changed with the brand
My relationship with SCCC has spanned more than five years and several stages of my own creative career.
I began on the account in 2021 as a Senior Art Director, working hands-on across campaigns, social content, websites, microsites, OOH and environmental applications. As my role evolved, I moved from executing the work myself to leading the designers responsible for SCCC's day-to-day creative output.
Today, as Associate Creative Director, my involvement is less about individual deliverables and more about direction. Consulting on major campaigns and events, reviewing how the brand is expressed, and helping solve broader communication problems. For the 2024 SINGAPO人 brand study, I worked closely with my ECD and account team to define its relationship with SCCC, before guiding the development of applications and use cases with my Art Director.
That evolution has been reflected in my relationship with the client as well: from being the art director they turned to with design questions, to becoming a creative voice in the room when they need a perspective on how the organisation should communicate.
Creative Direction · Brand Stewardship · Brand Architecture · Team Leadership · Client Partnership
The Team
DSTNCT:
Executive Creative Director Cheah Wei Chun
Associate Creative Director Shawn Heng
Art Director Beverley Ng
Art Director Dawin Ho
Art Director Shannen Sutanto
Jr Art Director Gwendolyn Chan
Jr Art Director Joreen Teh
Business Director Chloe Lim
Senior Account Manager Sarah Tan
Account Manager Jaslyn Jeffery
Account Manager Kathleen Leong
Account Manager Zack Onn
Singapore Chinese Cultural Centre:
CEO, Director (Corporate Communications), Manager (Corporate Communications).
Years: 2021—Present