Malaysia Design Archive

Design Education | Designs . Politics . Artifacts | Rekabentuk . Politik . Artifak . Understanding Malaysian history through Graphic Design

Pre '57 Signages, Pre-1957

Signages: Fraser & Neave

Enamel signboard by Fraser & Neave from 1910. Soda Water bottle seen in the signage was available from 1848 to 1920.

Design elements - colour, illustration, typeface - cursive, typeface - san serif

Artifacts, Politics, Pre '57 Signages, Pre-1957

Signage: White Area

A sign in Melacca dating from the emergency period in the 50s marking the edge of a ‘white’ or communist free area.

Design elements - photograph, typeface - san serif

Artifacts, Pre '57 Signages, Pre '57: Logos, Pre-1957

Signage: Do Not Use Stick and Stones

Kinta Town Board from 1952

Design elements - black&white, calligraphy, typeface - san serif

In this section you can find graphic design work in Malaysia before 1957

Print - Poster, Billboard
Stamps & Currency - Banknotes, philately
Packaging (3D) - Food, Phillumeny
Logos & Signages - Emblems, brands
Others

In this section you can find graphic design work in Malaysia after 1957

Print - Poster, Billboard
Stamps & Currency - Banknotes, philately
Packaging (3D) - Food, Phillumeny
Logos & Signages - Emblems, brands
Others

Graphic design collections by period

Colonialism - 1800 to 1943
Occupation - 1943 to 1945
Emergency - 1945 to 1957
Independence - 1957 onwards

Graphic design collections by subject

Political - Poster, Leaflets
Movie - Posters
Travel - Posters

From the Archive

Twitter

Kota Kita bi-annual newspaper by ARTS-ED on heritage conservation in Penang is available for download. http://bit.ly/bWPcPd 2010/07/25
Warisan Kertas 2 - Exhibition & Sale of Books, Maps & Ephemera on Malaya & Borneo (19 Jul - 14 Aug) - http://bit.ly/dmJPLo 2010/07/19
"Unravelling the story of Graphic Design in Malaysia" published in Blueprint Asia (May 2010 Issue). Check it @ your nearest bookstores! 2010/06/14
Thanks to @designobserver Malaysian designs are all over the web.. http://bit.ly/bV2GLA | http://bit.ly/d98O6C 2010/04/01
Arkib project mentioned in Design Observer "Observed"! http://bit.ly/c8Im9 2010/03/26
A design take on "The Freedom News", a publication by the Malayan Communist Party - http://bit.ly/9UrmkO 2010/02/17
The invisible gender in Malaysian history - "The forgotten women warriors of the Malayan Communist Party" - http://bit.ly/aN9KE8 2010/02/04

This project is an attempt to trace, map and document the development of graphic design in Malaysia.It is also a project to highlight the importance of archiving as a way to protect and preserve our own visual history.