Being funny and fearless with Singaporean art director Jonathan Chen

As junior art director at BBH Singapore, Jonathan's beautiful work mostly covers advertising – but he leaves plenty time to create playful personal projects too.

Date
13 April 2023

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The work of Singapore-based graphic designer and artist Jonathan Chen is incredibly varied, but still manages to maintain a cohesive vision throughout his portfolio. Contemporary lettering and subtle motion graphics give Jonathan an edge, making him one of the most promising young talents working in Singapore’s art and design field today. “I personally enjoy infusing my work with a bit of humour, and then create a visual direction around it,” Jonathan tells It’s Nice That.

The humour of Jonathan’s work is definitely apparent – nothing takes itself too seriously, despite the craftsmanship being incredibly refined. Fun colours and juvenile type mesh together harmoniously across all of Jonathan’s work, but the designer remains humble about it. “While these projects may not be much, I truly enjoy working on them,” he says. “An example of my work involves selling a blind box that contained my own belongings, ranging in value, or designing my name cards in the form of receipts since they tend to stay in our wallets for a long time.”

As someone who is inspired by fearlessness and a “seeming lack of care”, Jonathan is always looking to take risks, push boundaries and experiment in his future projects.

GalleryCopyright © Jonathan Chen, 2023

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Copyright © Jonathan Chen, 2023

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About the Author

Joey Levenson

Joey is a freelance design, arts and culture writer based in London. They were part of the It’s Nice That team as editorial assistant in 2021, after graduating from King’s College, London. Previously, Joey worked as a writer for numerous fashion and art publications, such as HERO Magazine, Dazed, and Candy Transversal.

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