Weekender: Working On My Freedom

It's Saturday morning and my head just can't stop working. From sketching to budgeting for the next projects and working on few concepts for our latest products. There are few reasons why I love working and can't leave myself not doing so, but there is one grandeur reason why I keep on moving.

As I went through my process of adultery (boring - sometimes), I realized that working is not something for the present stature, it is for the future. Whenever I work, I think of the result that will come up afterwards. That's quite a jumpy thought, really, but that moves me. Everyone likes to be rewarded and often things in life don't offer instant reward of what you do. Having a big picture of how you want to be in the future is one thing and I highly recommend you to have one, but having smaller goals which bring a feeling of reward is another thing. When you are triggered by the positive thought that you are moving forward, it is usually easier to keep on moving rather than when you feel that you are stagnant. So keep your pace up. 

Speaking about the bigger picture, I clearly have a vague idea of where, what and how I want to be. However, I do possess certain standards that I want to achieve and qualities that I want to have in life. Just like design, you will never really know what your final product will look like, it's all just about styling by the end, but what matter is the qualities it possess from the beginning. One thing that I know is that I am working on my freedom.

People will then ask, what? So you're not really loving what you do if in the end all you want to do is to not work? Well, that's totally the opposite of what's in my head. Working hard while you're young requires discipline, perseverance and a clear vision of what you want to do. What I'm talking about is the future days of freedom to do whatever you want without having the weight to work on things that don't matter as much for you. Whether it's doing social work that matters to you, being with your closest ones or simply working on the things that you love whenever and wherever you want to, all these things are called freedom. The freedom to choose. And that is what I'm working on right now. 

Weekender: Low Season

The best part from traveling, according to me, is the process of getting from one place to another. I embrace this moment so much that I become less happy when I’ve reached my destination. Being on a journey is like buying myself a free time. Let’s say it’s like a guilt-free dessert. There’s no such thing, but it makes you feel like so.

To be more specific, I love the notion of traveling on my own in a low season. It’s like running away from what I’m suppose to do. I didn’t know that I have this mentality of running away, but it’s something that I’m looking forward to somehow. When the low season hits, there’s less people at the airport or if there’s those who are, are those who have to travel. It’s like, no joking matter here, people.

Haha. However, I think that things that happen around us are laughing matter sometimes. I just like to play it seriously. I like to travel at odd times, which might lead to me meeting fellow odd people, seeing few oddities and doing odd stuff at odd hours. Oh fun. Maybe it’s just the distraction-free factor that makes it so enjoyable. I don’t really know.

Flying A Bit Now

A bit of rest is needed at times.

Weekender: A Wet Week

As some people are stuck these weekend if not the last couple of days due to flooding, let's take sometime to review the week. It is funny how it was so hot in Melbourne, yet it was one of the wettest weeks in Jakarta.

I got to talk to a friend earlier this week over a Hoegaarden, which then reminded me a lot about Germany. But what's more interesting is that I found some people here to be highly uplifting. All of us might not share the same beliefs, but when someone holds strong to what he believes, I think that's what counts. The following thoughts were from a friend with interesting worldly views, that as young generation we are holding a much bigger responsibility than what we (would like to) think we do. We have to create precedents for the generations after us and they are looking up to us right now or in the future. What's worse, there is still few people who realize this and rather enjoying the position of being a follower. I think that's one of our tendencies too, to follow. It is truly difficult here to find people who want to step up and play a bigger role. If it is not us, then who do you expect would take the role?

And I was like, yes, man. Not to think highly of ourselves, but if everyone is hiding behind their shells, then there has got to be someone who's willing to make the first steps. I hope we, as a more privileged generation with all these ease around us, can give back more and not drifted away by the pleasant environment we are given. Let's do more.

Weekender: Corporate Branding Relevancy for Start-ups

I always liked to spend my Sundays to enrich myself. Whether it's through reading, exploring new places, going to museums or galleries, listening to Monocle 24 and just browsing through articles on the net. I found that I enjoyed my weekend best when I am inspired and enriched, therefore I have more excitement to apply my new knowledge and flourishing thoughts to start the week on Monday.

This week, I have been truly absorbed in the subject of corporate branding. Particularly, I have been flicking through the pages of Brand! VOL. 5, published by a Hong Kong publisher ooogo.

(Image courtesy of ooogo)

What intrigued me the most is their insights to Lippincott, a brand strategy and design firm with over 70 years experience. That's quite an amazing record, isn't it. Their clients include 3M, Hyatt, Samsung and Starbucks; brands that not only last but also dwell in people's unconsciousness. It is interesting how they said that one of their competitive advantages would be to holistically combine business-based strategic thinking and design excellence that turns brand possibilities into business results. Something that not every design firm would be able to do, nor business consulting firms. And that to me is a fair competence because in the end, business result is one of the things that we can assess. 

Another point that resonates is that we use brands as shortcuts in our purchasing behavior because they reduce the risk of making the wrong choice when we select the products and services we deem necessary in our lifestyle. It is for this reason that they are so valuable in business, precisely because they help to overcome the commodity status (as quoted from Lippincott). True that. I have always kept a believe at the back of my mind that everything without brand is commodity. Then I kept thinking... Hm... Then Muji has got to be one of the greatest brands of all, because they are a no brand!

A brand has a multitude of touch points, where each of those points needs to resonate with the core of the brand itself. It is everything from  your visual language, your tone of voice, logo, color scheme, imagery, graphics and typography. By doing so, so have created a system for your brand to operate without the worry of who will be operating it. A benefit that would be highly relevant for enterprises. 

When you are starting small, these things need not to be that elaborate, but you have to create a firm base for these points to be further developed. There are a lot of gaps still in applying corporate branding strategy to start-ups or small businesses, but there is nothing wrong in setting up a strong foundation. Always, there are so many things we can learn from the seniors, so let's get our homework done and fill in what's still missing! Big brands were once small too ;)