From 14 November to 6 December 2026, Sony is running free, hands-on stops at Dhoby Ghaut and Punggol Coast as part of New Everyday Life, By Design (NELBD), a design trail across all 17 North East Line MRT (Mass Rapid Transit) stations. If the purple line is part of your daily commute, you can try a PS5 controller built for players with disabilities, or join a photowalk led by deaf photographer Isabelle Lim, without spending a cent.
Design on Your Daily Commute
NELBD is presented by the DesignSingapore Council (Dsg), the national agency for design, and produced by FARM. Dsg describes it as a first-of-its-kind design journey. The idea is simple: instead of a gallery you have to plan a trip to, the festival lives in stations you already pass through. There are two main hubs, an Impact Hub at Dhoby Ghaut and an Innovation Hub at Punggol Coast, and Sony has set up at both.
When DANAMIC covered Singapore Design Week 2024, our writer opened with Don Norman’s The Design of Everyday Things. NELBD takes that title almost literally, because the “everyday things” here include your train ride home.
The festival opens on Saturday, 14 November with the NELBD Quest, a team challenge along the line.
A Photowalk Through Isabelle’s Eyes
If you only make time for one Sony session, make it Picturing New Perspectives with Sony and issyshoots, a guided photowalk on 21 and 28 November that starts from Temasek Shophouse at Dhoby Ghaut. It’s led by Isabelle Lim, the photographer and artist behind issyshoots.
Lim’s Silent Studio is a non-verbal portrait session where sitters communicate with her through gestures and visual cues, and it has appeared at the Enabling Lives Festival 2025 and Singapore Art Week 2026. A photowalk led by someone who reads the world visually first is a rare chance to learn to see differently, and that’s worth a Saturday.
There are two dates, so you can pick whichever fits. Sign up through Sony’s event page.
Seeds of Emotion at Temasek Shophouse
For those who prefer a talk to a walk, Seeds of Emotion with Sony is the second programme at Temasek Shophouse. Gerald Teo, Senior Manager at Sony’s Design Center Asia, will share how the company turns sustainability principles into design you can touch and use.
The session draws on Sony’s “Seeds of Emotion” campaign and covers environmental sustainability, diversity, equity and inclusion, and accessibility. Teo’s examples include Yuru Street Music, the Sony/Taiyo Corporation partnership, and furniture made from Original Blended Material (OBM) that Sony exhibited at Milan Design Week. It’s a good pick for design students who want the thinking behind the products, not only the products themselves. Registration runs through Eventbrite.
Gaming Built for More Hands
The most practical stop for gamers is Game On, For All, where you can get hands-on with the Access controller for PlayStation 5 (PS5). Sony designed it for players with disabilities. It’s a flat, circular pad with buttons and stick caps you can swap around, rather than the usual two-handed grip.
So it built a controller that adapts to the player instead of asking the player to adapt. Whether you need it yourself or want to understand what accessible play looks like, holding one says more than any spec sheet.
Timing matters here. Sony says hands-on trials at Plaza Singapura run on weekends only, while Nexus at Punggol Coast Mall runs them daily. Weekday visitors should head to Punggol Coast. Back at Temasek Shophouse, Sony lists Climate Station, an interactive experience that uses PS5 to bring climate data to life, as exclusive to that venue.
What’s Inside an Earbud Box?
At Plaza Singapura, Products with Purpose puts selected Sony gear on display alongside its eco-conscious features, including the WF-1000XM6 earbuds and their packaging.
Sony says the WF-1000XM6 box is plastic-free, made from its Original Blended Material, a paper blend of bamboo, sugarcane fibre and post-consumer recycled paper. It’s the quietest of Sony’s stops, but anyone who’s ever wrestled a gadget out of a plastic clamshell will appreciate it.
Music From Your Heartbeat
Sony has two interactive music installations that play with sensing technology and AI. Nexus Music turns your movement into music in real time. Heartbeat Music, which Sony lists as exclusive to Temasek Shophouse, uses facial movement tracking and heartbeat sensing to shape the rhythm and lighting around you.
These won’t change how you shop or game, but they’re a fun detour once you’ve finished the photowalk. Your resting heart rate finally has a soundtrack!
🗓️ Date: 14 November to 6 December 2026 (photowalk on 21 and 28 November)
📍 Location: Plaza Singapura and Temasek Shophouse (Impact Hub, Dhoby Ghaut); Nexus at Punggol Coast Mall (Innovation Hub, Punggol Coast)
💰 Price: Free; selected programmes may require pre-registration
🔗 Details: designsingapore.org/nelbd
Sony’s line-up turns two ordinary MRT stops into places where you can learn something about how other people see, play and live. If you do only two things, book the photowalk with Isabelle Lim on Sony’s event page and drop by Nexus at Punggol Coast Mall on any day for a go on the Access controller. Then check the full festival map on the DesignSingapore Council’s NELBD page and see what’s waiting at your own station!
Visuals courtesy of Sony Electronics Singapore and FARM.
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