Dunia desain di Indonesia berada dalam kekacauan yang, bila dilantunkan menjadi lagu, menyakitkan. Iya, pernyataan menyebalkan ini sepenuhnya tanggung jawab saya, karena seiring semakin kaya dan ramainya lagu-lagunya tercipta disekeliling saya, nada falsnya tidak kurang juga. Dan (rasanya) tidak banyak juga yang menyadari, apalagi peduli.

Saya tadi duduk di bangku tunggu penumpang di terminal satu bandara Soekarno Hatta, di lorong sebelum masuk ke gate. Bangku rendeng tiga tempat saya duduk berada di depan pintu keluar ruangan merokok, menyisakan jarak 50 cm dari pilar. Terlalu sempit untuk jadi lorong, terlalu lebar untuk tidak dilewati. Jadilah itu lorong ‘tidak resmi’ yang membuat jadi terdorong-dorong setiap orang memaksakan lewat. Fals.
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2 years preparation, 1 week exhibition. Something you don’t wanna miss.

If you love portraiture photography, you don’t want to miss IN MY ROOM. Featuring more than 100 public figures in Indonesia, the photos were taken in their most sealed domains: their own private rooms (okay, mostly the bedrooms).

Come and see: Martha Tilaar, Dian Sastrowardoyo, Ade Rai, Titi DJ, Nirina Zubir, Hermawan Kertajaya, Subronto Laras, Denada, Sebastian Gunawan, Sam Bimbo, Rachel Maryam, Ghea S. Panggabean, Happy Salma, Ferry Salim, Wimar Witoelar, Ahmad Dhani, Nadine Chandrawinata, Ki Kusumo, Darwis Triadi, Davy Linggar, Ringgo Agus Rahman, Sandra Dewi, Dewi Sandra and many more!

You can also buy the book at the exhibition venue. Published by Gramedia Pustaka Utama, it comes in hard-cover edition, 216 full color pages (with such good bargain price). It will be available very soon in all bookstores in Indonesia.

Ouuch!! The exhibition is closed for public on Fri, Oct 23, 5-9 pm.

This event is supported by: Senayan City, Hewlett Packard, Audi Indonesia, Canon, Venus Tiles, Gramedia, Equil, Belle de Jour Florist, Maverick, Thinkweb.com and Chronicles Production.

I love making posters!
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Forum Grafika Digital (FGD) Expo 2009, held from 30th July – 2nd August at Jakarta Convention Centre (JCC), has 3 new icons: Publy (representing publication), Packy (packaging) and Printy (printing). We decided to focus on these 3 new kids on the block as our main characters in designing our contributing posters.
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Press conference at Poste

Again, endorsing brands has never been my biggest interest. But when a good brand approached you and let you talk about it freely without being obliged to say good things about it, it became interesting. This was my second time endorsing Samsung. The first one was Samsung’s mobile, Innov8.

I see Samsung as a fastest growing electronic brand. I know that Samsung was the brand with the most new models in mobile phone industry, back a couple of years ago. I don’t really know about its monitor market though.
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For those who happen to be very passionate in their hobbies, opportunities knock, and the door to real business opens.

I love batik!

FGD (Forum Grafika Digital) is the biggest graphic expo in Indonesia, exhibiting the work of designers, photographers, graphic digital producers and many more. First launched in 2003, this forum has attracted hundreds of thousands of visitors in its two yearly events in Jakarta. I am glad that I have been a part of it since its first show. This time I was asked to give a mini-seminar with Herman Pratomo, an offset-graphic expert, for the students of Sekolah Tinggi Manajemen Informatika & Teknik Komputer (Stikom) Surabaya and Universitas Surabaya (Ubaya).

From hobby to business? Sounds tempting and promising? 90 percent would say yes. How many have done it? Less than 10 percent. Why? Well, because not all of us have hobbies . Once we have it, we might not have enough passion to really make it an important part of our lives. For those who happen to be very passionate in their hobbies, opportunities knock, and the door to real business opens.
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Let’s start with definitions: As a noun, “a design” is used as either the final plan or the result of implementing that plan in the form of the final product of a design process. As a verb, “to design” refers to the process of originating and developing a plan for a product, structure, system or component with intention. Some people simply see it as applied arts.

I don’t think we can build the understanding of design through its definitions if we are really interested about knowing what it actually is. The most interesting part is the fact that our understanding may not stand too long as the design world is spinning so fast, we will be introduced to new experiences, new meanings every day. I think it is pretty much the same as the definition of marketing. If you ask marketers about this, they either come up with a very ambiguous answer or no answer at all.

I believe that design was born because of necessity. Human beings need solutions to their problems. They need solutions that function well and look beautiful at the same time. Early on, people started to insert aesthetic influence into these solution, making them artistically functional, and/or functionally beautiful. But it always comes back to the effectiveness of the solution. So we, designers, often call ourselves problem solvers, although not many remember this while actually laboring at our jobs.
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My design firm is not a big fan of pitches. HM Sampoerna, one of the biggest tobacco companies in Indonesia, and in the world, is one exception. I have handled HM Sampoerna since year 2001 and have done many projects for them, which mostly successful and satisfactory.

I have to say, HM Sampoerna is still one of my favorite clients. It respects creativity. The people have good taste. It always applies clean business and good corporate governance. No wonder Phillip Morris bought it from Sampoerna family with super deal price 3 years ago.
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At FGD Expo 2007, the biggest digital expo in Indonesia, 40 designers from all over the world participated in a poster exhibition that was held during the event. The theme was: One Globe One Flag.
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It was my very first time judging a fashion competition. LPM Femina, a competition that started back in year 70s, has already been there before I was born. Judging it was quite an experience.
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