Four years ago, I was crying on the passenger seat of my ride to uni, forcing myself to attend chemistry, physics, and math classes, not knowing if I was taking the right path in my life. Every day, I would compare myself to my classmates who were smarter than me, while I was stressed out with all the exams that I have failed.
I felt so fortunate to have such supportive and loving parents who were willing to understand what I was wrestling with at my last university taking a major in Food Tech. Being a spontaneous and undecisive teen I was, the choice to do graphic design was a last-minute thing but I knew that I wanted to return back to my creative and artistic core that I have swept under the rug for years of not taking any art classes, so why not?
Nonetheless, this choice that was led by my gut-feeling was the best decision I’ve ever made, so don’t disregard your gut. Throughout my studies, I was always down to dive deep. Graphic design isn’t easy. There were countless of challenges waiting ahead, but because I was doing what I love innately, I was able to push through and create works that I am proud of, with the help of my professors at Binus.
Getting through such an emotionally drained experience years back, and feeling guilty for doubting my passion for art and design is what pushes me until now to really fully be myself and take full advantage of the creative field.
@eln.draws_ is an Instagram account of my own that I am currently trying to manage in my free time, particularly focused in lifestyle, and at times, surrealist digital art. The specific style that is perpetually used in this account is one that I am most drawn to develop as my own authentic style, influenced by a number of artists that I look up to, combined with my own take. The concepts of my art are centered around my daily life, experiences, and escapism ideas that appears in my mind. Displayed are a few of my favorite posts.
This is a branding project whereby I visualized the brand identity of a particular brand, which was Kopi Cat’s Cafe. The brand identity is in the form of loge, choices of color scheme, as well as brand pattern, which was then applied to products such as the cafe’s front sign, takeout boxes, coffee cups, paper bag, menus, and stationaries for the company.
Kopi Cat’s Cafe is a cat cafe owned by a pet service company Groovy that provides a hang out place where cat lovers can dine and play with cats. Kopi Cat’s known for its cozy interior that is relaxing and memorable, and its high-quality cats that are clean and friendly. I have chosen this brand because it has so much potential with its quality service that is unique in Jakarta, with few competitors. There is also room for improvements for their current logo and brand identity.
Mamake was a brand that I had the opportunity to work with, during a business startup event, hosted by Grab. The brand identity, which is applied solely on this particular product, vegetable chips was to some extent, predicated upon the personality of the owner, that I had a a consulting session with, as well as the quality of her product. Her personality can be described as bubbly and youthful, despite her mature age. Hence, I chose to use bright, light-toned colors. The vegetables used for her product are organic and fresh. Hence, I have incorporated organic shapes in the logo, as well as the illustrations on the packaging.
Moreover, compared to the old one, not only is the new design more modern, but it is color coordinated per type of vegetables, creating identity for them. To maintain practicality for the owner, a check box system is still used for the flavour choices, which were not available in the old packaging.
The Daily Routine of My Cat was one of the illustrations work I am quite proud of. The Illustrations were done by me and the content was written by a poet named M. Tarun Prasad. In short, it tells the whole story of a regular cat’s routines from morning until night.
For a long time, I have always wanted to try to illustrate a children’s book. Thus, this was a project I was very excited to do. It was also a very challenging one as it was the very first time I have actually illustrated a more complex concept with the story.
The Habits and Lifestyles of Happy People is a fact-based book written and designed by me. Each spread talk about one or two ways of how people pursue a happier life.
After brainstorming book ideas and browsing through some available journals, I have finally chosen to do a book on the habits and lifestyles of happy people. This topic is appealing to me because it highlights the practical ways in which people can obtain happiness, which is something that can be challenging considering the fact that we live in a highly competitive and stressful world. It also touches on psychology, which is a subject that I am very interested in. Personally, I think that this project was a great opportunity for me because not only did I designed the whole book, but I was also writing the whole content, which I took as a learning opportunity for myself.
