Migrant workers in Singapore, primarily from countries like India, Bangladesh and China, — involved in unskilled, physically strenuous labour — lead very monotonous and exhausting lives. Motif as a record label and music community provides a space for the musically inclined migrant workers to collaborate, create, and ultimately produce music that can be publicly distributed — representing their talent, culture and brotherhood outside their identity as simply labourers. Strategy and visual identity at Somewhere Else, Singapore, 2023 Read full case study here
By connecting migrant workers from different countries among each other and with locals in a creative and supportive setting, Motif fosters a sense of belonging and collaboration — connections that build a community of support even beyond Motif itself.
About the graphic system
The graphic system explores abstracted and exaggerated letterforms from the Bengali, Tamil and Chinese scripts in the RGB colour space. It makes use of only 4 colours along with “Exclusion” and “Difference” transparency modes to create individual overlapping graphics for the music — as the truest form of the unique outcomes of collaboration. It provides Motif a distinct yet expansive library of visuals for years to come.
