When Singapore Post invited us at Brainwave Design Consultants to submit designs for the Historical Railway Stations stamp issue, everyone was thrilled because it is not very often that we get the opportunity to design something as small as a postage stamp. To us, not only is the project unique, it also provides many new and exciting challenges, such as the constraints posed by the stamp size itself.
Before we sat down to brainstorm for design ideas, our design team spent some time on the internet to look for information on both the Tanjong Pagar and Bukit Timah Railway Stations. An immediate challenge we faced was the recent closure of the Tanjong Pagar Railway Station to members of the public. For this reason, we were unable to enter the grounds and take close-up shots of its interiors or exteriors. Everyone in the studio was tasked to check with their friends, scour the internet for picture albums, or enquire with the various photographic clubs for possible solutions. In short, we tried anything and everything we could that will gave us access to the pictures we needed. Some images we found were perfect, however, we could not trace them to their owners. While others have declined to let us use their work. After two weeks of frantic search, we managed to gathered those pictures we need and obtained written permission to use them in our project.
Then came the issue on the quality of the pictures collected. We realised that each photo varied greatly from one to the other. In order to maintain consistency in the final output, our designer carried out digital retouching work to improve the overall appearance of the images.
To finalise our design concepts, we discussed, among other things, whether the images should be in full colour, sepia toned or in black-and-white. How tight the cropping of the images should be was also taken into consideration.
We were overjoyed when one of our design proposals had been selected by Singapore Post. Our team made further revisions to the stamp design and that was how the Historical Railway Stations stamp issue came into being. We hope that stamp collectors will enjoy our work as much as we had designing them.
Kenny Ong
