新年快乐，万事如意！

Blessed Lunar New Year, Arkies!

The atomic bomb of décor exploded as soon as 25th December passed and we chinese do what we do best – go big or go home. We took it literally to paint the town red-est of red, sparkled with the brightest of gold.

For singles, red probably signals the impending danger of barraging questions from relatives you probably meet only once a year, but we painfully smile through every conversation because we believe there should be no shame in still receiving ang pows.

But for the majority of you, we hope you revel in the well-deserved joys of every steamboat, yusheng bits all over your arm and all the endless supply of pineapple tarts or bak kwa this season can bring.

So, the year of the rat is back! We’re at the renewal point in both the Lunar Calendar’s twelve-year zodiac cycle and the Gregorian calendar’s decade. Errrr, what does this mean ah?

Different Calendars, Different Cycles

If you were ever curious about why the Lunar New Year’s date changes every year (or maybe you need an emergency topic of conversation over steamboat), this happens because while the Gregorian calendar (the calendar as we know) tracks the time taken by Earth to make a single orbit around the sun (365 days), the Lunar calendar on the other hand follows how long the moon takes to make twelve orbits around the Earth (354 days). This 11-day difference is all it takes to confuse and get us typing in google search “When is Chinese New Year this year”!

No matter where we are, no matter the different ways we calculate the passing of time, “cycles” help make sense of time and play a crucial role in our lives. In the immortal words of Bruce Springsteen,

“The past is never the past. It is always present.” 

We often find many things ‘new’ around us flavored with hints of the old.

Keen eyes may have spotted easter eggs in our Lunar New Year & Christmas videos. Our furry colleagues first appeared in our 2019 Christmas Card; with a fresh new coat, a single design from the past was refreshed for the present.

Beyond building bridges, these throwbacks may also serve as recurring motifs - providing a sense of familiarity, making great stepping stones and easing minds into receiving new concepts. If intentionally planted into your advertising / branding / commercial / corporate / marketing videos over time, they may even aid brand awareness, recognition and recall. 

In essence, what we are trying to say is - a single video or design has so much mileage that can be repurposed for a variety of new purposes. Content previously created and videos previously showcased do not have actual expiry dates. They are in fact, rich pools of resources and ideas that we can tap into for new creations.

So if you’re about to embark on a project that may potentially laterally birth assets OR if there’s something within your treasure trove that we may re-polish and breathe new life into, don’t hesitate to visit the Ark!

Back to the Lunar New Year

恭喜发财，万事如意! All of us at Arkchetype wishes you Prosperity - Health, Wealth, Protection, Love and Peace in the Lunar New Year ahead. New Year greetings aren’t new, but they never fail to grow old! Don’t you agree?

Read Also: 2020: A Digital Space Odyssey

A new decade has begun and the world is looking forward to a brand new age of technology, communication and development which calls for videos, videos and more videos! As your trusty partner for all upcoming journeys and adventures, Arkchetype has prepared a special series of reads just for you.