Indonesia: Influences on characteristics and emotions in design

Like a person, a design has characteristics and emotions that make it unique. Growing up in Indonesia, a nation of contrasts and rich cultures has influenced my personality in design.

Characteristics

Characteristics of the city where I grew up, Bandung, were very energetic and loud. I remember that my aunt often visited my house every Sunday morning. I was usually still in my room or on my computer. She always came with full energy. She would called everyone the house with her loud voice to say hi.

These are common characteristics of the people I grew up with. These energetic and loud characteristics can be seen in the design of the city. Signages of street food vendors are mostly big and bold. If the signages were humans, they would wave their hands energetically and call your name loudly to come to their vendors.

Emotions

Indonesia is a tropical country. There are only hot and rainy seasons. The sun always rises 6 am and sets on 6 pm. The temperature in my city was usually from 17 to 27 degrees. All year long.

It feels that the weather what makes Indonesians happy and warm people. It also shows to its design. Indonesian traditional clothing uses bright and warm tone colours. They often contain bright red or yellow colour.

“Bhinneka Tunggal Ika” is the official tagline of Indonesia. It means unity in diversity.

Characteristics and emotions what makes a design alive. Inspired by my background, I am challenging my skills to create a harmonious design by giving characteristics and emotions. I love a project when I can play with design elements of the project to have bright and contrast colour, and bold fonts. It makes a design pop. It is exciting, energetic, and fun. It is me.