Singapore is one of the most designed cities in the world. From transport systems and public housing to the airport, retail and digital services, design is deeply embedded in how the country works. The DesignSingapore Council describes Singapore design as “creative while pragmatic”.
Could that pragmatism be holding back Singapore’s design ambition?
Spending time looking at contemporary design across Southeast Asia, an interesting contrast emerges. In Indonesia, there is an increasingly confident willingness to build brands around local stories, vernacular culture and visual codes. In Thailand, contemporary designers are deliberately reinterpreting local craft and cultural references to create a unique design language that is playful and contemporary, while rooted in an unmistakably Thai identity.
Singapore, by comparison, has become very good at a particular kind of design: rationally futuristic, cosmopolitan and beautifully executed.
These are genuine strengths, seen in awe-inspiring and internationally awarded architecture projects (Jewel and the PARKROYAL hotel on Pickering Street, to name a few), the National Gallery’s visual identity, SMRT’s wayfinding, etc.
However, beyond the well-justified international recognition, one would be hard-pressed to define what Singapore’s unique design signature is. If you came across it in an international exhibition, without a country label, would you confidently recognise its provenance?
Perhaps the next opportunity for Singapore design is to become bolder, more emotive and more distinctive?
Singapore, by comparison, has become very good at a particular kind of design: rationally futuristic, cosmopolitan and beautifully executed.
It is a pragmatic call. In the UK, the creative industries accounted for around 5.5% of the economy in 2024. In Singapore, the six creative industries officially tracked contributed S$11.4 billion in nominal value added in 2022, or under 2% of the economy.
While the definitions are not directly comparable, as the UK notably includes its large software sector in what is termed “the creative industry”, the difference is still revealing: Creativity occupies a much larger space within Britain’s economic ecosystem.
There is certainly no shortage of creative talent in Singapore. The design sector’s broader economic footprint is estimated at S$13.8 billion. Not a paltry sum, but the comparison with the UK should go beyond dollars and cents. Britain has spent decades treating creativity not as something that makes businesses look better, but as an industry in its own right. London, in particular, has historically provided room for subcultures, eccentricity, experimentation and ideas that initially appeared commercially questionable, but later proved to be global financial and cultural successes.
Interestingly, Singapore’s neighbours are moving in precisely that direction. Thailand’s Creative Economy Agency talks explicitly about transforming cultural capital into intellectual property.
The opportunity is to become more confidently Singaporean: multicultural yet Asian, hyper-modern yet with heritage, orderly yet occasionally irreverent, rational but also tugging at our heartstrings.
To be clear, Singapore does not need to imitate Bangkok, Jakarta or London. Quite the contrary, the opportunity is to become more confidently Singaporean: multicultural yet Asian, hyper-modern yet with heritage, orderly yet occasionally irreverent, rational but also tugging at our heartstrings.
AI has made competent design available to all, cheaply and instantly. Being polished is becoming less of an advantage. It is distinctiveness and ideas that people did not expect that are becoming more valuable. For Singapore design to succeed in the next creative evolution, it will need the confidence to be original and unmistakably Singaporean.
All ingredients are already here. The chefs need to be willing to experiment even more so that they can continue to surprise and delight Singapore’s sophisticated gourmet diners.
About the author: Singapore-based Joël Céré is Managing Director, Southeast Asia at Landor.
