Archiving Malaysian Popular Print Artefacts Through Digital Technology

Since Malaysia independence, not many of part of the domain of popular print such as magazines, newspapers, comic books, etc., are recorded or stored extensively in the national archives or libraries. They are not accorded significance as historical records in Malaysia. Only in the beginning of 2010, the archiving of the popular print culture such as magazines and cartoons began to be collected but the collections only started mainly from 1990s. In some other countries, the popular print artefacts have gained recognition as important cultural artefacts and have been allocated their own space in libraries, national archives, and even in some museums. This is because, through this historical print artefact, queries about the cultural histories and social evolutions may be discussed and answered. Preserving and archiving the popular print artefacts is a challenge in Malaysia. As pop-print artefacts are mainly considered as ephemeral artefacts, most of the early print have gone ‘disappeared’ and are not able to be retrieved even in the publisher’s resource centre. Scholarly communities, concern citizens, publisher and personal collectors are now began to engaged in the efforts to resolve the problems associated in preserving these artefacts in another kind of common resource: digital archiving

Exploring the semiotics of the Dayak Motifs in Sarawak

Dayak traditional motifs once played as an important element in the non-verbal communication among the Dayak’s people. Some of the motifs are still considered sacred and as medium of communication representing the spiritual beings or as a source of warlord power, which believed of capable to weaken their enemies or opponents. In addition to spiritual means, Dayak motifs also widely used in objects such as war artifacts, ceremonial arts, costumes, architecture and transportation. Complexity, inconsistency, and misinterpretation on semiotic of the traditions Dayak motifs were gradually suppressed its communicative significant, which eventually shifted to a mere manifestation of the modern Dayak symbolic identity. This paper aims to discuss the roles of the Dayak motifs in the current society of Dayak people in Sarawak. This paper will explore the accuracy and standardization in semiotic interpretation of the Dayak people’s traditional motifs. This will also present semiotic theories as research method to define semiotic of visual sign or symbols within the context of the Dayaks visual communication. It hopes to facilitate better communications among the Dayaks of various regions in Sarawak

Malaysian Design

Malaysia is a federation of thirteen states and three territories spread around the South China Sea, in the Malay Peninsula and the north and west of Borneo. Mostly populated by Malay, Chinese, Indian, and indigenous peoples, its history and culture, and therefore design, have been infused by multiple ethnic groups, religions, and beliefs

Labelling for Good: A Descriptive Study of Nutritional Label Format and Design to Help Consumers Make Better-Informed Choices

Nutritional labels are commonly used on food packaging in Malaysia, but currently the standard format of nutritional label design in Malaysia are not defined to help better inform the consumers. The lack of format determinants used by manufacturers was barely discussed. A very small number of studies were done in the area of information design in Malaysia on the consistencies in the format of nutritional label. This paper aims to explore the aesthetic value and design attention as the prime commodities of a nutritional label to meaningfully convey about what is consumed to keep the consumers better informed. This paper will look at the nutritional label format and design on packaged food available in the Malaysian hypermarkets, and provide discussion of the new insights for better visual representation through information design. It will draw on the descriptive studies of nutritional label format and design that encompasses the existing format used on imported and local packaged food, which can be found in Malaysian hypermarkets. The findings will be supported and addressed with qualitative approach to provide rich information