It’d be a disservice to pin Singapore’s design down to one style, but I will say the amount of quirky, playful work I’ve seen from the country so far is certainly refreshing. Especially given the clean, minimalistic trend I see so often otherwise.

Here are just a few Singaporean studios I'm enjoying at the moment, thanks to Foreign Policy's excellent recommendations.

Kinetic

Founded in 2001 by Pann Lim, Kinetic has an eccentric yet earnest personality. This is perfectly illustrated by its website, which won the studio several awards, and subsequent video apologizing for the poor usability of its website.

Bravo

“If we are talking breakfast, we'll be the Everything Bagel,” states Bravo studio about their capabilities. True, as their work spans print, identity, retail, content strategy and more. My favorite project is their identity for Red Tail bar, featuring an expressive cat in a panda costume.

Roots

Led by Jonathan Yuen, Roots is an independent studio focused on brand identity, creative direction and graphic design. The studio has earned recognition for projects like “Unfettered ink: The Writings of Chen Chong Swee,” which demonstrate their fresh and intentional approach.

Do Not Design

Do Not Design is a creative consultancy focused on, well, design. More specifically, editorial design. I most appreciate the studio’s DEAR project, a zine that “collects, archives and immortalizes in print, all things fun and unique.”

Foreign Policy

Founded Yah-Leng Yu and Arthur WeeSheng Chin, Foreign Policy’s work is respected and admired the world over. I had the opportunity to visit the studio in Singapore to meet the team in person and interview Yah-Leng for our Design Around the World series.

“The Singapore design community is a young and vibrant one,” says Yah-Leng in our interview. “...this is absolutely the best time to be a designer in Singapore. Everyone is driven and inspired to do good work, to up the design standards and to have their own voice in each project. I think this is really heartwarming to see as the landscape was different when I first left the country compared when I came back.”

Learn more about the Singaporean design community in our interview with Yah-Leng here.

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Explore design communities in Iran, South Korea, Pakistan, the Philippines and more in our Design Around the World series.