Presenting Forecept’s new Design Machine: She comes in a small package, barely five feet tall, with long black hair (that still keeps on getting long because she finds the hair salons in Singapore very expensive) and bright-colored shoes. A Filipina with 6 years of design experience behind her, this little woman braves six people (read: Project Managers/Account Executives) who regularly turns on “The Design Machine” to create new web design, revise the new web design, create simple flash animations, draw stick figures and rough storyboards, create direct mail marketing designs, design new logos, brainstorm for a pitch project, understand creative briefs and try to create a design brief for clients who wanted to have a website but don’t have any idea on what to place on their websites. This design machine can work with grace under pressure, fragile yet hardened by experience, works best when listening to her favorite music and knows how to laugh at her own mistakes.

This is most likely what will be written in my product brochure if I happen to be a design machine. And I’d like to think that I am exactly that.

On Tuesday, I will be celebrating my 2nd month as Forecepts’ (http://www.forecepts.com/index.php) new design machine. They say that the company is known for its back-end programming and web development services with its back-end operations done in their Johor office in Malaysia. The sales/account executive office is situated near Jalan Besar in Singapore. Companies seek out their web development and programmers and along the way, they were also faced with clients requiring the whole package that includes web design. In the past years, they were able to outsource the design until finally, they decided to hire a new web/graphic designer on board due to increasing demand for the complete package. 

The Road to the Forest

It was April 24 when I first set foot on Forecepts’ cozy office for my first interview with the manager and, like any other job interviews that I’ve had in my whole life, he delivered the default ending to every job interview conversation, “We’ll call you”. Six days after the interview, I received an e-mail from him and told me that they’re having a final round of choosing their new designer, so they decided to hold a sort of “web design contest”, the lucky winner will get the job as the coveted prize. He asked me if I will be participating and of course, the design machine that I am, I bowed to the challenge and willed myself to create a good design.

It was the 5^th of May when I received an email stating a job offer. I thought to myself, so I’m the winner huh? In the field of design, being chosen as the new designer or winning a pitch project does not mean that you’re better than the other designers. I think all of us, the designers, the account executives, the clients, the boss are all playing mind games. Its just a matter of second-guessing what design approach will work for a certain client, and when you hit the target bulls-eye, then you get the job, or the project.

So I think I have to add some new text in my product brochure: Forcepts’ new design machine also comes with the ability to play mind games with clients, account executives and other designers.

To date, this Design Machine was able to produce 9 new web designs, some flash animations and a lot of internet direct marketing materials. She was able to win a pitch project for an international water technology company.

Now, the account executives pressed the “pressure” button, so that the machine can produce Forecept’s new corporate identity that includes logo, letterheads, business cards, new website, the works! The Design Machine just smiled and a button started to light up, blinking are words in red letter, “Grace Under Pressure”.

It was just a split second of falling light. It’s around 3 a.m. on the summit of Mt. Talamitam and we’re still outside our tents, staring at the darkness of the night. Stars did not elude us and we were blessed with an endless sea of small twinkling lights above us. This time, the city lights below us are far too low to outshine the stars that seemed to hover near us. As we lie down in the open air, you can almost feel that you’re part of that piece of universe. In the stillness of the night, we’re between the earth and the sky, floating among the clouds and witnessing the death of a star…and another…and another. We’ve witnessed quite a number of falling stars that night.

We wanted to climb two mountains so we decided that the best possible way to do it in just three days is to climb Mt.Talamitam on the first day and Mt.Batulao on the second day. There were four of us in the group: Flor, Sarah, Miguel and myself.

It was one of those moments when we’re so tired of life and we just want to let loose and find our souls again…up there in the high altitudes.

The second night in Mt. Batulao turned out to be a crazy one. This time, there were no stars, but the downpour of rain was like a christening. We got drunk and danced in the rain to the tune of Pinikpikan band’s ethno-rock music. It was a truly magical night. There’s just us, the mountain, the mountain spirits, the body movements and the music that seemed to come through as a colorful, multi-layered prayer to Bathala.

When I decided to leave the Philippines to work abroad, I have left behind some five year’s worth (and it feels like a lifetime’s worth) of extraordinary experiences in the mountains with my mountaineering friends (I even consider them as my mountaineering soul mates).

Left with just some pigments of these multi-colored memories with my HAKAMS group, (Hakbang Kalikasan Mountaineering Society) I’m struggling to remember the essence of these experiences. I want to write about them and immortalize them all in my heart and my memory.

It will be a painfully sad and happy recollection, but the need to write about them had been gnawing at me for the last five years.

Here’s a complete list of mountains in the Philippines that I was able to climb:

1. Mt. Manabu
2. Mt. Daguldol
3. Mt. Batulao
4. Mt. Talamitam
5. Mt. Pico de Loro
6. Mt. Tayak
7. Mt. Sembrano
8. Mt. Romelo
9. Mt. Pundaquit
10. Mt. Gulugudbaboy
11. Mt. Susong Dalaga
12. Mt. Cabuyao
13. Mt. Banahaw – Guisguis Trail
14. Mt. Ugo
15. Mt. Pulag – Akiki – Ambangeg Trail

 Other Outdoor Adventures:

1. Bat Caves at Wawa
2. Camping by the Daraitan River
3. Tanudan Kalinga Province – Big Brother Big Sister Outreach Program

May 15, 2008

34 days and 2,285.75 miles away from the Philippines, my employer informed me that I have to wait another 7 days for the approval of my Employment Pass from Singapore’s Ministry of Manpower.  So it’s another week of doing what I want to do whenever I feel the urge to do it. I’ve really tried to plan my activities for each day, and at times I was able to follow them. But most of the time, I would take a detour from my plans and let my whims and mood take over.

It was the 5^th of May, 23 days and 5 interviews later, that I received a job offer as a web designer for a web design company.  I felt utter relief and the plain old feeling of happiness when you have finally been given the thing that you need most. 23 days of stress and a feeling of uncertainty is a sad companion, even more so when you’re in a foreign land and you have this feeling that you’re just an outsider looking in.

That was 10 days ago and at last, I was able to really relax and sink in the still unfamiliar way of Singapore’s life. I even received another job offer a week after I received the first one, but hey, first come first serve. For the past ten days, I had watched TV series on video streaming until the wee hours of the morning. I slept late, ate breakfast at 10 a.m. and had lunch at 3 p.m. At times I would go to this place called Kovan City, some 3 or 4 bus stops away from my place. It’s quite near our place and if you’re in the mood, you can walk all the way up to there. I would usually eat my lunch at the hawker food stalls and spend the rest of the afternoon at MacDonald’s. I read Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s “Strange Pilgrims” and indulge in melancholy as the characters in the short stories mirror the way I feel to be in a foreign land on my own and for the first time. When I don’t want to read anymore, because these short stories are meant to be indulged one at a time, I would open my sketchpad and doodle my thoughts away.

When my eyes got tired from all the reading and doodling, I would enter the Heartland Mall to feast my eyes on things I couldn’t buy. I only have meager allowance and I reserve it for food, rent and necessary things that I need. Sometimes I would just wander around this small space aimlessly, looking into things that I don’t really see and hearing spoken words that I can’t understand. I feel so detached from the mall and the people, and there I am again, an outsider looking in. I never would have thought that I’m going to miss the familiarity and the “happy atmosphere” that one can feel whenever I enter malls back home. I never would have thought that I’ll fondly remember SM Megamall or the smiles and “good morning ma’am, welcome to Jollibee” warm greetings from fast food chains. Now, I can see and feel with my own eyes that Filipinos are one of the warmest and welcoming people I know.

So here I am, still suspended in the anxiety of waiting. But I carried in my heart the things that can’t fit in my luggage. Faith and hope.

I boarded the 2:45 flight of Philippine Airlines and arrived at Changi Airport at almost 7 pm on April 12, 2008. I felt really strange, for the sun sets late along Singapore’s horizon, and the sun is just starting to hide at 7 in the evening. I had this feeling that the clock is only pointing to half past five. It’s a bit disappointing, ‘coz I thought I’ll be witnessing a magnificent sunset while the plane is landing as I set foot on Singapore’s land for the first time. Turns out that it’s not the cinematographic event I had in mind.

I felt like a zombie, an outsider looking in on another person’s life. Slowly, I became an outside observer of the person living inside me. I watched as I mechanically go through the immigration and collect my luggage, headed where the arrow pointed the exit and thought to myself, at the late age of 28, I was able to enter a foreign land on my own. I only have meager allowance loaned to me by my cousins and a suitcase full of hope. I didn’t even get to bring all my favorite things, for fear of paying excess luggage.

Things to Bring: (Dated April 5, 2008, 6 days before my departure)

IMPORTANT DOCUMENTS:

1. EPEC – Employment Pass Eligibility CertificateI applied for my EPEC online through Singapore’s Ministry of Manpower website. I submitted the application last December 30, 2007 and got my approval on January 2, 2008. I can use this Certificate to apply for an extended social visit pass, so that I can stay in Singapore for a whole year and legally look for a job
2. International Passport
3. Resumes, I printed around 85 sets (these papers took up at least 10 pounds from my 20-kilo luggage allowance)
4. Cover letter
5. Portfolio of my previous design works
6. DFA approved college diploma and transcript of records. My diploma was translated into the English language for UP diplomas are written in the Filipino language.
7. NBI Clearance (although until now, they haven’t asked me to present this kind of document yet)
8. NSO Birth Certificate (just in case I need it)

ART STUFFS AND GADGETS:

1. 1 small sketchpad, hardbound
2. 9×12 sketch pad, a collection of sketches/drawings from my Fashion Illustration Course at the Fashion Institute of the Philippines.
3. A collection of my sketches from college up to present. (Maybe I can sell them if I haven’t found a job yet and I ran out of money)
4. Carandache colored pencils, a remnant from my college days and has been with me for almost 9 years.
5. Prang watercolors, a leftover from my Fashion Illustration course.
6. Aaron’s Mac iBook G4 (I’m happy that Aaron was able to let go of his beloved Mac and lent it to me for a few months)
7. My Wacom Tablet (I’m more comfortable in using the tablet rather than the mouse)
8. My new 80-gig Lacie external hard drive, loaded with gigabytes of Adobe Psd and Illustrator files, photos, music and some tutorials.
9. 1 small figure of Bulul (rice god of the Kalingas)
10.  An Ifugao-woven cloth from my former Art Director
11.  Jessica Zafra’s Twisted Flicks (if I had known that they wouldn’t be strict on the hand carry’s weight allowance, I wouldn’t have left my favorite author’s new book, Laura Esquivel’s Malinche.

 PERSONAL STUFFS:

1. 2 formal jacket for job interviews (I already have 3 scheduled interviews)
2. 1 pair of denim pants (I wish I can bring more but denims are heavy)
3. 1 pair of black slacks from Plains and Print
4. A few of my favorite blouses and shirts
5. 2 pair of short pants
6. Undies (I shopped for new sets)
7. 5 pairs of high-heeled shoes (a bad decision though, coz I have to do a lot of walking and high-heeled shoes are not that advisable) I wasn’t able to fit all my shoes in my luggage and it breaks my heart to leave some of my favorite ones.
8. 1 pair of leather boots the color of old rose
9. 1 formal dress I bought last Christmas for our company’s Christmas Party
10. 1 Single-sized set of bed sheets and pillowcases (turned out my bed’s size is Super Single, though  I’m not sure if we have this size in the Philippines)
11.  2 small bags: a white Mango and a black Nine West (again, I was not able to pack my big bags, and  the ones I’ve brought, I can’t even fit my big wallet)
12.  1 pair of rubber slippers

TOILETTRIES:

1. 1 big bottle of Finesse Shampoo
2. 1 tube of Cream Silk Conditioner
3. Modess feminine napkins
4. 1 Big Dove Cream Bar soap
5. 1 Big stick of Rexona
6. 2 bottles of perfume, a CK and an Elizabeth Arden
7. Body Polish Scrub from Icelandic Waters
8. Touch of Sun Body Lotion from Lacoste
9. 2 packs of Clean & Clear Oil Control film
10.  3 bars of papaya soap
11.  6 pots of moisturizing creams

There…27 kilos of my whole life inside a luggage and a hand carry bag. The things that won’t fit I carried in my heart: guts, hopes and dreams.

I met Camille at around half past seven in a coffe shop located nearby Terminal II of Changi Airport and we boarded the taxi to our apartment in Lorong Ah Soo.

This site pays homage to the humble crayon. A life shared with many children (and some adults). A small but colorful textured life.

My love affair with crayons started when I first held it in my little hands. Its one of those precious little things you can have as a child. I use them to draw stick figures on pad papers with big red and blue lines and our home’s walls. I imagined that it can change forms through heating and melting by placing them on top of burning candles. I placed them on little plastic cups from Jelly Ace to serve as molds. To my delight, my crayons turned to little cupcakes and a “Curly Tops-ish” chocolate with its round, curly mold.

I discovered watercolor and colored pencils in my pre-teen years, color pastels and charcoal in my high school days. In college, poster color came into my vocabulary. I learned that it’s also possible to create art from found objects and label them as “Dadaism” or “Mixed Media Art”. Casting busts with plaster of paris replaced my crayon cupcakes. I’ve learned to use Adobe Photoshop 4.0 and html codes and used the very first I-Mac on my first job and been introduced to Macromedia Freehand. Macromedia is now the property of Adobe, with CS3 as its latest version.

I’ve been to advertising, graphic design, packaging design and web design studios but I just can’t forget my little friends. Until now, its smell still brings back fond memories from my childhood. The crayon is my true introduction to the crazy, fun and colorful world of visual design. And whatever new medium I might be using, I’ll still be holding my little crayons in my other hand. Like most visual artists, my designing life all points back to the crayon.