Happy Chinese New Year, Happy Valentine’s Day, and all other happy days there are in February.
During the second month of 2024, VCD UPH had the opportunity to host various and diverse activities, which can be seen and compiled in this edition of SEE. Even with the increased number of activities documented, these aren’t all the activities that happened during the whole month. Hopefully, the next publication may be able to document all the activities reported back to the department.
In the even semester, VCD UPH had the pleasure of inviting alumni, such as Regina Susanto from Graphic Design 2018, and also Daniel Purnama from Animation 2013. Both shared their working experiences after graduating with their juniors. Other opportunities that VCD UPH had included collaborating with KIEHL, collaborating with Tata Rupa, and also visiting Institut Kesenian Jakarta.
Lastly, we feature the work of Aurellia Levina, Dafy Bintang Natanael, and Tiara Kiatama from their Photography 2 class, which was also featured in the World Biennial of Student Photography 2023.
We hope that as we see, we may learn more and be humbled to learn more and more.
On Friday, October 20, 2023, the Graphic Design specialization at UPH conducted the Typolog 3 Webinar with an alumni speaker from VCD UPH itself, Fredella Agatha. In this event, Fredella shared her experience in designing the ‘Pantjoran’ lettering as her final project. Fredella explained the process and also shared tips on lettering design with all the webinar participants.
Fredella Agatha, The Speaker for the Webinar, and Yolanda Tumilisar, The Moderator for the Webinar
In addition to Fredella’s sharing session, the Typolog 3 Webinar also featured the announcement of the winners of the Typolog 2023 competition. The Typolog 2023 competition challenged participants to create designs in the Tote Bag format, which would later be produced as merchandise by VCD UPH. The grand winner of the Typolog 2023 competition was Tiara Kiatama, a student of VCD UPH from the 2022 batch. Meanwhile, the favorite winner of the Typolog 2023 competition was Joshlyn Tee from UPH College.
“Berbeda-beda Tetapi Tetap Satu” by Tiara Kiatama
This work emerged from the exploration of the definition of “Nusantara,” which is a synonym for describing the unity of the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia introduced by Ki Hajar Dewantara in 1950. Nusantara refers to the unity of several islands, which I combined with Indonesia’s official motto, “Bhineka Tunggal Ika,” which means “Diverse But One.” The diversity of Indonesia, comprising various provinces, ethnicities, cultures, and religions, is the uniqueness of the Indonesian nation itself.
This concept resulted in this work, a collection of diverse typefaces, yet still displaying the number one. Diversity was also achieved through the use of different colors, but there was still a unifying element, including its placement within a text “box.”
This is my interpretation of the theme ‘Nusantara’ provided.
“The title of this work is Nusantara. This typographic work is inspired by the cultural diversity of Indonesia and draws inspiration from the art of wayang puppetry. Each letter in the word ‘Nusantara’ is inspired by the different shapes and styles of wayang characters. I attempted to incorporate the unique features and characteristics of various wayang characters into each letter. I also used wayang puppet heads in some of the letters. I played with the thin and thick aspects of the wayang figures and used them in letter composition to create an engaging design.
I created each letter’s sketch individually and drew inspiration from the trendy ‘molten chrome typography’ and sharp typography seen on various social media platforms because I believed this style was suitable for the wayang aesthetics. In the modern world, we often get caught up in new trends and things happening around us, and we tend to forget our rich and diverse culture. So, I incorporated trendy typography styles like combining different font styles into one text and experimenting with the typography composition to make Indonesian culture modern and trendy.”
Thank you to all participants, organizers, and everyone who participated during the Typolog 2023 event. Hopefully, we can meet again in Typolog or other activities.
