Projects
Beverage Container Return Scheme Brand Strategy Samsonite APAC Communication StrategyShop–House By DECK Brand StrategyWhoscall Brand StrategySingapore Polytechnic Campaign Strategy
Flexpay Brand StrategyBengal Tiger Line Brand Strategy
Writing/Editing
Raffles Hotel Singapore CopyeditingMilan Design Week CopywritingPresident*s Design Award EditingSTPI Social Media WritingSaison International Content WritingEconomic Development Board Content WritingSingapore Design Week Content WritingAubette Café Brand VoiceSingapore International Photography Festival Campaign WritingTaipei American School Content Writing
Writing 4 Funsies
A Gift For the Beast
Slouching towards Singapore
Sex, Toilets, and Video Calls: How are Singaporeans Getting Off in a Pandemic?
Alex G’s Lonesome Crowded West
About
Project, Client
01 Overview
02 Define
03 The idea
04 Execution
Shop–House for DECK Photography Art Centre Brand Strategy
Naming
Copywriting
After leaving its iconic container venue at Prinsep Street, DECK found a new home in the heart of Geylang for the next two years: two adjoining shophouses housing a ground-floor gallery, artist residences and project spaces above, and offices on the top level. DECK is a beloved independent arts organisation in Singapore and the organiser of the Singapore International Photography Festival, one of Southeast Asia’s longest-running biennial platforms for photography.
Practice Theory worked closely with the DECK team to define what this new space could represent within the organisation’s ongoing journey. As lead strategist and copywriter, I was responsible for bringing it to life through its name, strategy, and voice.
The move placed DECK in transition: continuing to fundraise for a permanent home while operating from a temporary one. The space needed to remain recognisably DECK while still carving out a distinct identity for artists, art workers, art lovers and—most crucially for an independent arts organisation—donors. This raised a crucial challenge: How do we talk about a temporary space with a sense of permanence and purpose?
Through a tailored strategy workshop, we helped DECK articulate a truth it had always lived by: the organisation was not defined by its buildings, but by its belief in bringing people together through photography and the visual arts. Even as its physical form shifts, its mission endures—to champion visual literacy, celebrate diversity and support artists at every stage. In other words, reframing impermanence as possibility. Rather than disguising the temporary nature of the space, DECK embraced it, inviting artists passing through its residency programme to use their time there to pause, reflect, and experiment without the pressure of a predetermined outcome.
This thinking informed its identity and--most importantly--the name Shop–House. A literal interpretation of the nature of the space, an en dash, typically used to communicate a period of time, separates the public-facing “Shop” and the residential “House”, emphasising its dual functions. This idea of pause, resourcefulness, and duality shaped the visual identity. The logo merges the live-work space into a single, recognisable silhouette that echoes the physical structure. A custom headline font, Shop–House Display retains a link to the parent DECK brand through a stencil typeface, now softened with rounded terminals for warmth and approachability. This softness is further articulated through a mature, pastel colour palette, designed to serve as a neutral canvas for artists and photography.
A modular block system divides any layout into four equal parts, vertically and horizontally. This creates dynamic yet simple compositions that remain flexible across all touchpoints. Inside the building, compact wayfinding and playful iconography and copy extend the graphic language, tying together old DECK and new Shop–House, artist and audience, temporary and long-term.