Oleh John Kudos

Hello, my name is John, I’m a graphic designer.

Often, when I find myself in the presence of non-designers, I have to explain what I do in length. Most people think graphic designers draw logos and make pretty packaging, but this definition scratches only the tip of the iceberg.

After practicing as a graphic designer for over 10 years, I have long realized that sketching ideas is only 1% of the things I do on a daily basis. It also happens to be the most enjoyable part of my “job,” one that convinced me to do this for a living. The rest of the time I would spend researching, writing, designing, and most importantly meeting with the clients. The later proves to be the most crucial part of graphic designing.

Graphic design in Indonesia

Once a year I return to Bandung to visit my family and friends. It is during these trips that I began to make my curious observations on the state of graphic design in Indonesia. I once read that every country has its own history of graphic design. Where would Indonesia be if one were to include it in a world graphic design history book? Is it still early in the making? Or is it already in the post-modernism era?

When not visiting my family back home, I live in New York, a city where all cultures meet and curious people from all over the world interact with one another. Every month or so I would see new store displays and advertising billboards. Every company wants to be different, communicating different messages, but one thing is always consistent: they all want to be original and stand out from the rest. It makes sense, because New York city is filled with local pedestrians and tourists, all of whom are attracted to the New York spirit (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Love_New_York).

Back to my vacations in my tropical hometown, a point-and-shoot camera in hand, I snapped pictures of advertising billboards which I thought were very Indonesian. I never put much thought on why I thought they were very Indonesian, but there is something straightforward about the messages on these advertisings. An Air Conditioner ad reads “Satisfieeeeed with the savings, the cold breeze is reaaaaaly nice.” This, paired with a picture of a bizarre guy wrapped in all-white winter jacket, gloves, and snowcap. Another ad reads “Indonesian food is taaaastier with ‘Coca-Cola’,” which appears to be the tagline for this worldwide soft drink brand.

When I returned to New York, I wen to Time Square to see the bright billboards there. I was sure that a brand like Coke would have a prime advertising spot there, and I was right http://www.mywindpowersystem.com/2009/06/coca-cola’s-wind-powers-ny-bill-boards/ . I was dumbfounded by how this compares to the Coke billboard in Bandung. It also happens to be powered by green energy.

To satisfy my curiosity, I started googling for Coke billboards in other countries and found an interesting article about how companies need to localize their brand so it can be accepted by the people. http://www.namedevelopment.com/blog/archives/2007/06/your_brand_name_1.html

Another interesting finding: In India, the controversial Coke billboard is commendable because of its transparency, using a photograph of hand-drawn Coca-Cola symbol found everywhere in India as the main graphic. http://www.designboom.com/weblog/cat/11/view/7902/business-heads-by-indian-photographer-sharad-haksar.html

It’s interesting to see how an international brand like Coke was adapted in different countries. It made me think about where things went wrong in the brand localization process that the billboards in Bandung felt like they were designed 20 years ago, overly simplistic and—dare I say—lack ideas, sophistication and intelligence? Is this really what’s fitting for Indonesian consumers?

Often I spend a lot of time listening to the clients’ goals and contemplating them. We, graphic designers, are after all, problem solvers. In order to do our job, we must become true collaborators, working with the client, educating them of the upcoming trend, the potential pitfalls in their marketing schemes, all done from the point of view of a design executor.

Graphic design is not about making pretty pictures, it’s about being the catalyst of change.

“We must become the change we wish to see”

—Mahatma Ghandi

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John Kudos
Desainer Grafis menetap di New York

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