Behind the Brand:
Inside Singapore’s Creative Industry
Programme at a glance
- Level
Young adults aged 18 to 35
- Duration
4 hours + 7-day digital learning journey
- Cohort Size
Up to 30 participants per workshop
- Format
In person at your campus or at our Creative Lab in Woodlands
What participants will take away:
A team brand concept (mood board, logo sketch, tagline and pitch), a written score card, the Creative Industry Career Map, a set of Random Cards and a certificate
A real brief, not a simulation
What participants learn changes when the work is real. Instead of working through an invented scenario, they are given a genuine creative challenge and have to think beyond the classroom, considering the business, audience and constraints behind the brief.
A Real Business, Real Context
Most careers programmes describe an industry. This one hands participants a piece of its work.
From Creativeans’ Portfolio
The brief comes from the portfolio of Creativeans, a Singapore brand consultancy established in 2012. C-Academy is its education arm. It is sanitised for confidentiality but the problem is the one the client actually brought: a real business, a real audience, a real constraint.
A Different Way of Thinking
That difference matters more than it sounds. On an invented brief, people optimise for what they think the marker wants. On a real one, they have to consider a client who has a budget, a deadline and an opinion.
What happens in the session
The industry and the brief
Kimming opens with real stories from Creativeans’ work and what creative people actually do all day. Teams of five or six then receive a simplified brief from a real Creativeans project, with a client persona and its needs and constraints.
Research and define
Teams interview each other as the brand’s users, build empathy maps and group what they find into themes. They finish with one focused “How might we” statement. The lesson: good creatives start with people, not looks.
Develop the concept
A Random Cards sprint, with Idea Dice for structured brainstorming, produces unexpected concepts. Teams choose the strongest and build a mood board, logo sketch, tagline and one-minute pitch. Nobody needs to be able to draw.
The pitch
Teams pitch to Kimming and an assistant facilitator. Each team gets a written score card on four criteria creative agencies use: originality, user-centredness, visual communication and presentation clarity. Then participants put their own questions to Kimming for ten minutes, and take home the Creative Industry Career Map.
The session includes two short breaks, and teams score points on a live leaderboard throughout.
The creative careers most people have never heard of
Six of the roles on the Creative Industry Career Map that participants take home. The map covers more than 12 creative roles, with typical entry routes and salary ranges.
- Brand strategist
Works out what a company should stand for, before anyone designs anything
- Design researcher
Interviews real users and turns what they say into decisions
- UX designer
Shapes how a website or app works for the people using it
- Creative Director
Sets the creative vision and answers for the work
- Packaging designer
Designs how a product looks on the shelf and feels in the hand
- Brand Manager
Looks after a brand day to day, on the company side
Why we can run this and a training provider cannot
- C-Academy is the education arm of a working brand consultancy.
- The briefs are ours.
- The facilitators bill client work when they are not teaching.
- Pitches are judged by Kimming Yap, Managing Director of Creativeans and Vice President of the Design Business Chamber Singapore. Creativeans has received 60+ awards and recognitions across branding and design.
How institutions and organisations run this
Behind the Brand is commissioned by polytechnics, ITE, universities, youth organisations and public agencies. We match the brief to your group’s level, and where you have a specific interest such as sustainability or technology, we select a brief from that sector.
Behind the Brand is led by Kimming Yap, Managing Director of Creativeans. He is Vice President of the Design Business Chamber Singapore, a Campaign Asia 40 Under 40 honouree (2025) and a member of the NAFA and ITE advisory boards, and holds a Master in Design from Domus Academy, Milan.
C-Academy has been appointed by the National Youth Council (NYC) to deliver Behind the Brand: Inside Singapore’s Creative Industry as part of its Discover programme, supporting youths as they explore career pathways and transition from school to work. Programme information and registration will be available through the Discover platform.
If you are a young person looking to join
You will not be sitting through a talk about the creative industry. You will be doing a piece of its work.
Your team gets a real brief from a real client, a few hours to develop a response, and then you pitch it to someone who does this professionally and will tell you honestly what works. You do not need to be able to draw. Several of the roles you will meet involve no drawing at all.
Registration for Discover runs will be through the National Youth Council’s Discover platform, at no cost to participants. Your institution or organisation may also run it for its own group.
Common questions
Do participants need any design background?
No. The brief is a thinking problem before it is a making problem, and several of the roles covered involve strategy, research or writing rather than visual work. Mixed cohorts work well.
Is the brief really from a live client?
It is drawn from real consultancy work and sanitised so no confidential information is disclosed. The problem, the constraints and the audience are real.
Who gives the feedback?
Kimming Yap, Managing Director of Creativeans, with an assistant facilitator. Each team gets a written score card on four criteria creative agencies use: originality, user-centredness, visual communication and presentation clarity. The point is that the feedback comes from someone who does this work, not from a facilitator playing a role.
Is this for students or working adults?
Both. It is for young adults aged 18 to 35, whether they are studying or working. We match the brief to the group.
What if our participants are not considering creative careers?
Many will not be, and that is still a good use of the session. The transferable part is learning to read a brief, develop a position and defend it in front of someone senior. That applies to any pathway.
