The Vatican at Night

My boyfriend always complains if I mention him as an artist. He has a rigid distinction between artist and designer - and he chooses to be the latter one. In his humble opinion, the artwork is something multi-interpretative, and it really depends on the eye of the beholder. Sometimes, the psychological condition of the audiences also contributes to defining the art they see. On the other hand, the designer is someone who helps audiences to understand a matter with ease and hopes to help their life get easier, too. For him, good designers are those who provide beautiful yet memorable and usable things. As an impact, he is not a fan of art installations and galleries because he has trouble getting the meaning of an artwork, and he feels helpless every time he's in it. And for months, we have had good times together both outdoors and indoors, but we never visit an art exhibition together.

I got a clear picture of his stance after finishing a book by Don Norman, The Design of Everyday Things. In this book, Norman brilliantly explains how to design failures happen every time, everywhere. He invented "The Norman Door", a condition when you find bad doors which you can't identify whether you should pull or push. He also notes that if you don't understand how something works, don't blame yourself - blame the designer. I actually bought this book because my boss asked me if I am interested in being more involved in our Human-Centered Design projects, but after finishing this book, it even gets me into a bigger question that I need to answer: have I been a good designer at work?

I've been designing for conservation and environmental issue since 2011 - around 8 years already. I remember that my first masterpiece was the symbol of Greenpeace Youth, a subgroup of young activists of Greenpeace Indonesia. Back in 2012, I was actively engaged with a bunch of energetic young people who were willing to spare their busy time at college to do something for the environment. It came to my surprise that when I visited the Greenpeace office in Jakarta in 2018, a big banner of this logo was still in their big meeting room. I was proud, but then re-questioning myself if this design represents the group and is able to explain to the audience what the group fights for without the need to explain? But then I remember times when my boyfriend critiqued me when I was designing tourism and a Komodo dragon flyer for Komodo National Park; he emphasized that what matters in design is that the audiences understand. Extravagant drawings or colors might help our design to be stunning - but sometimes, it doesn't help at all.

Campuhan Ridge Walk