Urban ‘NICE’ with BKKDW2023 Key Visual

As the Covid situation is gradually resolved, we’re starting to see people coming out and returning to their normal lives in the city space more. So, this year BKKDW 2023’s key visual under the theme urban‘NICE’zation features the imagery of people engaging in many activities in the urban city area.

Nut-Nuttapong Daovichitr or many known as Nut Dao, is a freelance illustrator, co-founder of Practical School of Design, and Owner of Lig whose works mostly consist of ‘people’ imagery as the main element in the design. He has taken the role to express urban‘NICE’zation theme through Nut Dao-style illustrations. The combination of selected shapes and forms, as well as the color palette for the Key Visual, has made the URBAN feels NICE at first sight.

The important challenge this year is to invite creators from various fields to come together and be NICE to the city. The Key Visual can also be regarded as an important invitation card sent out to creators’ doorsteps to inspire and invites them to make the city better together.

Start understanding urban‘NICE’zation 

Understanding the city, particularly a nice city, is the first step Nut Dao takes before starting the design process. 

“I started with searching for the definition of a Nice city to understand what a nice city consists of. I found that Nice city doesn’t have to be just equipped with wide roads or a good commuting system but it should have diversity and well-covered convenient utilities that everyone can use in their daily lives, be within walking distance and don’t require cars. 

Another factor that makes the city better is mixed-use space where people can utilize, and engage in activities, or anything they want. This provides opportunities for people to use free of charge and I believe that ‘people’ is the most important – the heart of the city. City development should have people in mind and must be people-centric.”

The first and second direction Nut Dao proposed before combining the best elements from both into the final work.



People + City = Nice

Urban‘NICE’zation means the city is nice to the people, the people are nice to the city, and the city will be nice when there are nice people – these three definitions are the foundation for urban‘NICE’zation.

“I always like to draw people into my work or some kind of human elements, so this theme is up my alley. The first direction I proposed didn’t mention the city at all, and focused on people and activities in the city – reflecting the notion that the city should provide space for these activities to make a Nice city.

“Another direction proposed is more focused on the city, playing with shapes of mixed-use space and text layout. By creating the space first and later incorporating people into the space, showing the diverse use of space as represented through public space.

“So, the final is taking the best of both directions into one. The small people in one direction are expanded, doing more activities and showing both the city and people together. I am focusing more on the friendly aspects of the designs that are accessible and easily understood by everyone.”

Whether personal or commcercial projects, there’s always a human element in Nut Dao works.

People, the Heart of urban‘NICE’zation  

Without the people, the city would be lifeless. Because the people are the heart of the city, Nut Dao’s characters are intentionally designed to represent every citizen in the city and express the friendship between the people and the city through the elements in the designs.

“It is important for me to draw characters that represent diversity. I want to represent the disabled, elderly, kids, and entrepreneurs coming together. Through the use of a variety of shapes and figures that overlap to refer to the living together and the relationship between each other.

“I used a variety of shapes, playing around the with the combination to create characters. The abstractness allows more layers and meaning that is fun to explore. I tried to mix every element of the city together.”

Sketches for a diversity of characters where Nut Dao experiment with a variety of lines, shapes, and forms to represent the notion for different people living together in the city.

A Nice Cool Tone

Colors are important elements that give refreshed feelings and make the city nicer.

“When I think about a nice city, green space comes to mind. The color is easy on the eyes so the overall design comes out in a green tone. Apart from the urban nice notion, I consider its use for communication purposes in printouts, signage, and online materials as well. So, I added a more vibrant green, mix with other muted colors to create the depth and balance of the design to be easy on the eyes.”

Hidden Districts

The creative districts participating in BKKDW this year have expanded into many areas, so Nut Dao cleverly designed and hide the elements of the districts in the Key Visual as well.

“BKKDW 2023 will set dispersed around Bangkok, so I designed the elements to use within each district as well. Each district has their unique charms if I picked a place to represent each district. It may be hard to communicate so I chose to incorporate the initial letters of the district instead. Simplified the letter designs, incorporate them into the space and colors and hide them in the designs. You may not see it at first, but once you see it you see it always”

Nice City at Everyone’s Hands

Apart from utilizing graphics to communicate a memorable visual for Bangkok Design Week 2023, the festival and Nut Dao both agree that making the city nice is something everyone should be concerned about and can better the city just by doing small things that create a ripple towards bigger change.

“I want this year’s Key Visual to represent the big picture, showing a diversity of people. I hope that the viewer will get the sense of contributions, though it’s small it is an important part of the bigger picture.”

–

Art Director & Illustrator: Nuttapong Daovichitr (Nut)

Assistant: Ployjaploen Paopanlerd (Bamie)

Graphic Designer: Nayada Sangnak (Da)

–

Bangkok Design Week 2023

urban‘NICE’zation 

เมือง-มิตร-ดี

4-12 February 2023

#BKKDW2023

#BangkokDesignWeek

#urbanNICEzation