Hi there,

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to share some of my thoughts and experiences, you are very kind. And yes, I’m very interested and honored to be a part of your very encouraging activities at the ThePerfectDesign.com.

I live in Bandung, Indonesia. It’s located about 2 hours driving south from Jakarta, the capital city of Indonesia. I’ve been living here since 1994, so it’s been like 15 years now. Bandung is my mother’s home town. I was born in Bangka island in 1977, and grew up there. Bangka island was considered to be the largest Tin mining site in the world. My father was working for a government owned Tin Mining Company there. His job required him to move from place to place, and took the family along with. As consequences, I spent my education time attending 2 different elementary schools, 5 junior highs, and 2 high schools, can you believe that? So when my father retired from his job in 1994, he decided to move to my mother’s home town, Bandung. I went to college here, took Product Design major, and got a Bachelor degree in 2001.

What got me into graphic design? Hmmm. As I mentioned, I took Product Design major back in college. I don’t actually know why I got ’stranded’ into graphic design, but let me put it this way: there are a lot of opportunities in graphic design that even graphic designers don’t know about it or maybe just too proud to take part of. Being a product designer by education and concerning graphic design in profession,  I think it is a very good combination. Just say that I have a better angle when looking at something. Like when working on a packaging projects, I have a better sense of 3D and technical matter than an actual scholar graphic designer. You see, nowadays in Indonesia, graduated graphic designers are mostly influenced by graphic designers profession trend of the world, either dreaming to work in a glamorous advertising company or a hit making brand consultant, you know what I mean. They tend to forget that many other fields of business need graphic design attentions, like publishing, printing, packaging, etc., which they think are not too promising fields for their career as a designer. So, while they are busy pursuing high end graphic design professions, I took the opportunity to fit in. What was my inspiration for going into graphic design? Well, to be honest, I just see so many opportunities here. That’s all. But I prefer to be considered just a designer, since my former projects were not only graphic designs, but also product designs, interior designs, architecture and landscape designs.

As a designer, I freelance, and Yes, I love it. Why? The best thing of being freelance is that I got to work independently and directly with many different clients, my own clients, real clients, real users of my services. If I were working corporate, your boss at the office is your actual client, if your boss doesn’t like what you’re doing, you can assume that your client doesn’t too.

My favorite aspect of Graphic design is Making prepress, because it means that your job is almost done! ha-ha.. Seriously, page layout. I just love putting objects into a page harmony.

Let me think of something… no, blank, I don’t know, I don’t have that kind of desire to work with particular event or individual. I just go along with anything. Something noteworthy? well, I had something which I think I am very proud of. I was working as National Design Development Manager for Indonesia Design Center (IDC) from 2002 to 2008. IDC was a non-government body for design promotion. While working there, I managed to hold 6 time annual Indonesia Good Design Selection (IGDS) and re-structured its adjudication system which went better every year. I managed to establish a system for Regional Design Promotion Body establishment and established one in Bali (2004). I had the chance to speak at Asia Design Network Conference 2007 in Kuala Lumpur. And the most important thing was that I got to know, learn, and understand more about Indonesian design, its resources, its capabilities, obstacles, everything. It is considered to be almost impossible to have a designer at my age in Indonesia..

A word of advice, you may think that you’re big enough to do a big deal, but never turn down a small deal, you never know that it may be the deal that will make you even bigger. I once worked at a design firm, developed a pretty good business. At one time there was a publishing company in dire need of design assistance for a cover of a book they published. Maybe because it was considered too small for the capacity of a design firm, a few colleagues refused to accept the job. With the intention to help, I took the job and completed it myself. Some time after I finish the job, the publishing company called me and they said they liked my design, and they wanted to make a contract with me to design 20 books for a year, and will pay upfront. And you know what? This year is the fourth year of the contract, until now I have designed more than 80 books for them. And they did not mind when I asked for an increase in unit price of the book cover design. And since that also, I began to be known as a book cover designer by other publishing companies.

Perhaps the answer to the question above is the key to the shaping of my career path. Not who, but a situation which later changed my mind how to accept a job with a sincere heart. Not because its a big job and promising, but a job that desperately needs our services. Not that I do not need money, but how we can serve people with what we have, the money will come by itself. Because of this situation, I later learned more in graphic design, and it was fun, because I am a product designer so it is not too difficult for me to work in different creative media.

When I need to spark creativity, I think that nothing is impossible, because the possibility may appear. Think as a user of our services, not as a service provider.

I am passionate about traveling, seeing new things, new places, but sometimes is difficult because my job requires a special time that is sometimes uncertain. Me and my family often go together, although mostly only around town, but there must be something new to see and admire. My life may seem boring to others, but the important thing is I really enjoy it.

In the future, I want to form my own design firm and widely provide design services for small and medium business needs. I’ve started it with a senior colleague, but it is not easy, because the understanding of design in our society still do not like in developed countries, such as American, European, or Japanese. Design is still regarded as something that is  only used as a complement, rather than as a solution as shown by developed countries.

Ok, that’s all, I give up… you were right, those are very tough questions to answer. I apologize if my answers might be somewhat incompatible with the question, but I hope it is good information to share with others.

Once again I thank you for the opportunity.

Best regards,

Damang – SARUMPAET, INDONESIA