Creative strategy for Nhà mới (2024-2025)

Nhà mới, which translates to ‘new home’, in a figurative sense as well as a literal house with walls, is one of the first Vietnamese storytelling projects based in the Netherlands. What started as a voluntary initiative of a handful shakers and makers with a Vietnamese-Dutch background, has grown into the wildly successful series of community events in Rotterdam about untold stories of the Vietnamese diaspora in the Netherlands. All events have been sold out within days of their launch, showing the enormous interest and the awareness of the urgency to keep the stories alive, and share them with a broader audience. This year also marks the 50th anniversary of the fall of Saigon, which has let to many other similar initiatives by Vietnamese diaspora around the world. 

As a freelance creative strategist and communication manager, I am responsible for all visual and other artistic products from the project. Nhà mới is a storytelling project consisting of community events, communication campaigns, a documentary, and an exhibition that will open its door on April 19, 2025 at Verhalenhuis Belvédère in Rotterdam. 

I created the visual identity of the project, made illustrations, produced (social) media content, coordinated and executed the other communication efforts with support from volunteers and in collaboration with artists like Phi-Yen Phan, designed flyers and posters, among other things. For the exhibition, I consulted in the overall design and display of the information gathered by the research team, using my experience as a museum professional.  Click here to visit the Instagram page of Nhà mới. 

Visual identity
The client looked for a visual strategy that was balanced, flexible, and distinctive. Given the storytelling nature of the project, it was crucial to incorporate subtle symbolism that hinted at the diverse narratives of the Vietnamese diaspora in the Netherlands.

We aimed for iconography that resonated with both Vietnamese and Vietnamese-Dutch identities, such as imagery of mountains, specific food items, but also household items such as the traditional house slippers that many families brought with them from Vietnam. These subtle reminders would connect viewers to personal memories and evoke a sense of nostalgia. 

To visually represent the Vietnamese-Dutch experience, I explored the concept of duality, juxtaposing Vietnamese elements with their Dutch or European equivalents.

The colour scheme was inspired by the natural beauty of Vietnam. The vibrant color palette reflects the lush greenery of the country, while the logo features the lotus flower, a symbol of purity and resilience, as a powerful visual metaphor for the Vietnamese spirit.

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  • Creative strategy for Nhà mới (2024-2025)
  • Pan Asian Awards (2023)
  • The second edition of AziëxNL (2024)
  • Exposition at the Nieuwmarkt (2023)
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