That song by Savage Garden?

Remember the song “I Knew I Loved You” by Savage Garden years ago? If I recall it right, the refrain goes like, “I knew I loved you before I met you…”. I used to mock that line going around saying how on earth is that possible?? Gombal!! (meaning “lies!” in Indonesian, but usually used in flirtations context). But that was then, I had the picture of ‘you’ as a person.

Maybe Savage Garden REALLY means ‘you’ as a person, that I don’t agree (but it’s their song after all, so..yeah haha), but now I have a different personal notion of that ‘you’. My own image of ‘you’. I recently visited Japan, around a month ago. And I instantly knew when I stepped my feet out from Narita airport that this ‘you’ in my mind is Japan. I knew all along that I would love Japan, even before I met ‘him’. (I think Japan is a he, haha, laugh at me, but I’ve got a feeling it’s a he).

Sounds a bit exaggerating I know. But yes I do love Japan that much. I fell in love with it for the second time when I lived there for 2 weeks. I had a great experience during that 2-week time (a really short time, sadly ), but what I love the most about Japan is the friendliness people give me. Well I’m sure there are some people who are not that friendly, but most of them are! English is not a common spoken language there, and with my limited Japanese skills I could merely make sense talking in Japanese, but still, people tried to help me the best they could. And that, I appreciate so much. They were all polite. And the country is pretty much safe too. Anddd….it’s got unique cultures. Cultures I love so much I want to know more. That’s why I have decided that sometime in the future, sometime soon, I’ve got to at least live there for a year. I don’t know what I’m gonna work as, or where, I haven’t looked for English-speaking design agencies that reside in Japan. But I really do there are some. But first things first, I have to master the language (even though I find Kanji characters really intimidating, it puts my courage off sometimes, but not most of the time, my love for Japan still wins over it hahaha).

For now, let’s just concentrate on making money I need to do lots of saving, if I really want to seriously reach my dream. Dreams, actually. (I’ve got lots going on my mind right now).

Have a great day to you all

Typography in a flash.

The art of typography:

http://bigbert.vfs.com/~dd07marcos/mograph/typographics_h264.mov

YUI, DEPAPEPE, and music.

Dua seniman musik yang akhir2 ini gw semakin suka aja… Kalo si YUI sih, dikenalin ama temen baik gw, (identify yourself, pasti anda sooner/later baca postingan ini hehehe thanks udah dikenalin btw). Kalo DEPAPEPE sebenernya udah suka lumayan lama, tapi akhir2 ini semakin seneng aja. Lagunya bikin otak kalem… Kaya lagi summer season panas2 di Jepang gitu, tidur2an di beranda kayunya rumah2 Jepang (tau kan?) pake yukata sambil kipas2, lalu kadang2 lewat bunyi gemerincingnya lonceng2 kecil yang suka digantung di atap2nya rumah2 Asia. Aduh apa sih namanya… Yah itu lah, moga2 ngerti apa yang gw maksud.

YUI sendiri, lagunya mellow2 gitu, kadang2 ada yang cukup bikin badan pengen gerak, tapi intinya, nih anak satu berbakat sekali, masih umur 19 tahun lagi. (aduh jadi ingat diri sendiri, yang main musiknya saja cuma setengah2).

Omong2 tentang main musik… Sebenarnya gw suka main. Tapi nggak suka kalau dipaksa untuk main. Yang namanya suka itu ya suka, titik. Kalau main karena terpaksa, ya itu bukan suka. Ok, kalau banyak yang mikir ini cuma alasan, ya terserah, tapi memang itu kenyataannya. Gw main hanya kalau jari2 pengen main, hanya kalau memang ada rasa rindu datang, gw akan main. Gw hanya bisa konsentrasi main kalau lagi sendiri, kalau ada orang2 di sekitar, serasa ada mata2 memandang yang siap untuk dengan detil menghitung berapa kali tangan gw meleset mencet not. Hehehe, memang gw berlebihan ya deskripsinya? Gw tau memang gak begitu, tapi ya kan namanya juga perumpamaan, dan itu memang yang gw rasakan. Aduh emang gw orangnya suka nervous2 sendiri di depan umum, I get stage frights too often =_= Udah ah, pokoknya musik gw juga suka, hanya saja mungkin bukan untuk jadi my main job. =) But I will never give it up, having my fingers dancing on those white and black notes… Walaupun kadang2 dilalui dengan banyak susah payah menghitung nada2 yang berada di atas/bawah lima garis utama.

TRAVELERS’ TALE Belok Kanan: Barcelona!

Judul di atas adalah buku terakhir yang gw baca baru2 ini. Buku karangan empat penulis muda (eh muda kan? iya deh kayanya hehe) Indo (Adhitya Mulya, Alaya Setya, Iman Hidajat, dan Ninit Yunita) ini bercerita tentang love square (no, not triangle, since there are four people involved in the love trap, and a triangle can’t possibly consist of four angles, after all it’s called TRIANGLE for a reason hehe…) empat manusia berumur 30-an, yang telah bersahabat baik sejak masa SMA. Dasar masa SMA, memang penuh cinta ya? Hehehe. Sebenernya gw udah nyari buku ini sejak awal tahun ini (refer to older posts), tapi baru sempat hunting lagi kemarin pas ke Mal Taman Anggrek ama temen.

Sejujurnya sih nggak nyangka kalau bukunya sendiri punya empat arah cerita yang berbeda, masing2 arah diceritakan oleh salah satu karakternya. Jadi ingat ama salah satu buku yang pernah gw baca juga, uh apa ya judulnya, yah gw yakin ada beberapa buku lain kok yang mirip2 gaya ceritanya. Tapi yang ini unik, dari judulnya saja bisa dilihat kalau buku ini ngomongin tentang travel. Uniknya di mana? Selain menghibur dengan unsur komedinya yang kadang2 bisa bikin senyum2 sendiri kaya orang gak waras, kita juga ditambahin knowledge2 baru tentang berbagai macam benua, beserta negara2nya, tentu saja beserta kota2nya masing2 yang seru. Banyak banget nama2 kota yang asing banget, mungkin memang dikarenakan oleh pengetahuan Geography gw yang gak bisa diandalkan. (bayangin aja masa gw ditanyain ibukota London apa masih pake mikir segala… keterlaluan) Jadi buku ini bener2 meninggalkan impression yang cukup lekat di hati gw, eh otak maksudnya. Hehehe…

Pendek kata, buat orang2 yang suka novel2 cinta, ditambahin percikan bumbu humor dikit, novel ini cocok deh. Apalagi kalo pembacanya suka travel, wah jodoh deh. (wong gw aja yang jarang travel suka, hehehe…) Eh tapi itu cuma opini pribadi lho ya, gak tau lagi hahaha. (maksudnya, saya gak mau kena getahnya kalau ada yang gak suka ama bukunya^^)

Tau nggak, setelah baca buku ini, even in the midst of reading this book, gw punya ambisi baru. Ambisi yang sebelumnya gak pernah kepikiran, gw mau kerja keras buat dapet duit biar bisa jalan2 ngelihat sisi lain dunia! Tentu saja, top list gw masih tetap Jepang, Irlandia dan Rusia. Hehehe. Dulu sih mikirnya cuma yah sekedar mengunjungi ketiga negara itu sudah puas… Tapi kayanya nggak deh. Traveling ada probability besar buat jadi hobi baru gw. Nah masalahnya, hobi yang ini perlu dompet yang agak tebal dari biasanya. Hehehe…

Speaking of hobbies, hobi baca buku gw rada nelongso nasibnya akhir2 ini. Kasihan… (lho kok yang kasihan hobinya? ya kamu toh Kar Kar… jadi inget temen baik gw pernah bilang, “Inget Kar, buku itu jendela pengetahuan..” jadi kalo akhir2 ini kurang baca buku ya yang kasihan saya toh? eh bener gak sih… whatever deh. hehe..) Kenapa terlantar nasibnya? Karena TUGAS! Eh bentar, tapi temen gw yang satu kelas, masih bisa kelarin tugasnya dengan baik, dan juga baca buku. Hmm, berarti salahin time management gw!… Kebanyakan tidur sih. (eh iya lho, sekarang gw kalo tidur sehari bisa 12 jam lebih hehe) Ya pokoknya akhir kata, gw masih cinta ama yang namanya membaca, harus mulai dipupuk lagi deh…

Seminggu lagi masuk tahun ketiga kuliah. Benar2 nggak terasa ya… Hidup jalan terus memang. Kadang2 gw-nya mau nge-rem, tapi apa daya kaki tak sampai… Rem-nya kejauhan, dan kayanya bakal jauh terus tak tergapai, atau jangan2 hidup memang nggak ada rem-nya. (memang nggak ada, namanya hidup ya jalan terus hehehe…kalaupun punya rem, blong kali. eh tapi gimana taunya kalo itu blong? nyampe aja kagak. hahaha…)

Next book to read Harry Potter buku ketujuh. (iya gw lupa judulnya, something with Hallows, makanya gak gw tulis hahaha) Asik…!!
Oh ya, ada juga a book titled something with “Traveler’s Wife” gitu deh, hmm something like that… Kata temen bagus. Nanti dulu deh.

NANA again

NANA FRONT

NANA BACK

NANA Contest

There is a contest of creating a card based on the popular manga/anime NANA.  Click here if you want to know. I am actually just in for the prizes (duh Karen, who isn’t?)… They’re too tempting, since it’s very rare here to find NANA’s merchandises.. (is that the correct spelling? whatever…)

Did this last night between my college projects. Please pray for me! >.< I really really really want the prize! Tee hee hee…

NANA card front

NANA card back

global warming

from a friend of mine. please help save the world.

==================================================

Hi everyone!

I would like to share with you some facts about global warming, in hopes to raise awareness for this crisis the Earth is facing at the moment. For someone who live in a developed country, awareness of global warming is everywhere! But when you look at the Earth, just how much of that land is a developed country? How much do they know or just how aware are they of the tragedies that global warming has caused.

I have such a deep concern for the lives of my loved one as well as my own. Also, for the lives of my future children and their grandchildren. Even worse, I will go through the worsening of global warming and I will see its effects in front of my eyes, taking the lives of the many we love. To say that it won’t happen anytime soon is wrong. Look around the Earth now! Hurricanes and Tsunamis hit top numbers during 2005 and are still on-going until this year, 2007.

Here are some facts about the truth behind global warming, and the things we can do to help Earth, and save ourselves.

Global Warming:
Raising temperatures on Earth caused by the emission of Greenhouse Gases (carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide and ozone) – these gasses are naturally produced on Earth, but there are many human activities that add to the levels of these gasses.

Greenhouse Effect:
In simple terms – Sun rays the Earth. The Earth absorbed 70% of it as radiation, which keeps the Earth warm. Greenhouse gasses increased in volume, affecting the athmosphere. So, as radiation is absorbed, they can’t be released back out from Earth. Just like a greenhouse!

• Although the Earth’s temperature has been rising over the years, it is now increasing even faster, and in 2005 – is the hottest year so far, and it’s just getting hotter!

- Hide quoted text -

• With the melting of glaciers, cold fresh water are mixed with warm salt water in the ocean. So, what happens? The ocean’s temperature plays a great role in climate change – and that’s why hurricanes, floods and tsunamis are happening more often.

• Agriculture production will be affected greatly.

• The ozone layer is reduced (doh, don’t we all should know this by now?)
• Spread of disease like malaria and dengue fever.
• The world’s economy will affected too because there so many claims for damaged properties, people not buying homes in certain places because of the weather changes, business not doing well in many places because of the dangerous weather condition, etc.

There are even more facts which I’m not going to post here. If you have not watched the DVD “The Inconvenient Truth” with Al Gore as speaker, please do so right away. You will see in pictures and videos, just what we have done to ourselves! It’s sad to see this happening to our own home, our planet, our Earth. It’s more saddening for the fact that people are worrying more about the war, politics and the such when we are all living our lives towards hell.

No, people, this will not happen thousands of years from now, this is already happening and it’s just getting faster. Ever seen the movie, “The Day After Tommorrow”? Looks scary doesn’t it? It’s POSSIBLE! No, not a thousan years from now, but a lot sooner than that.

I am no scientist, so please go around the internet (with liable sites of course), encyclopedias, go through the National Geographic Channel and Discover Channel and find out more about global warming and what you can do to make it better!

Things you can change right now in your home!

1. Inflate your tires (keep it adequately inflated)
2. Use compact flourescent bulbs
3. Change your air filter – for your car
4. Fill the dishwasher! – no more one plate wash!
5. Use recycled paper – they’re pretty too
6. Start recycling! – it’s REALLY easy.
7. Adjust your thermostat – 2 degrees lower during winter, 2 degrees higher during summer. basically, dont even use AC at all
8. Check your water heater – no higher than 120 degrees!
9. Change the AC filter – change those dirty ones, yes.
10. Take shorter showers (yes ladies, no more 1-2 hours showers!)
11. Install a low-flow shower head – basically less water.
12. Buy products locally (I guess in Jakarta, local markets are easy to find right!)
13. Buy energy certificates (wind certificates, green tags)
14. Buy minimally packaged foods – reduce your garbage by 10%
15. Buy a HYBRID CAR (my own dream car actually) – u could save up to $3,750 per year!
16. Buy a fuel efficient car
17. Carpool when you can (not every individual on Earth needs a car!)
18. Reduce garbage
19. Plant a tree – please please do!
20. Insulate your water heater
21. Replace old appliances
22. Weatherize your home – caulk weather strips on your doors and windows
23. Use a push mower – time to exercise!
24. Unplug unused electronics (even when they’re turned off, they still use energy!)
25. Put on a sweater
26. Insulate your home
27. Air dry your clothes
28. Switch to tank-less water heater
29. Switch to double-pane windows
30. Buy ORGANIC food
31. Bring cloth bags to market (no, it will no look silly, silly!)

*Taken from: Stop Global Warming Organization [ http://www.stopglobalwarming.org/sgw_actionitems.asp]
*Other Sources: “The Inconvenient Truth” DVD, Wikipedia.

Please guys… Let’s help ourselves, and our children. NO KIDDING!!!

Thaa!

So much for the occassion…

Stumbled into him on the way home from church about 3 weeks ago.
It was a perfect scene, so I took a photo of him. Tee hee hee…
*might be good for an ad. material…maybe…*

matching-customer2.jpg

resourceful

Few interviews with Stefan Sagmeister, can be found on his website.

Chapter #1: Running a Design Studio

Q: Did your work experience at the Leo Burnett agency play a large role in your deciding that maintaining a small business was better than running an office of over 100 people?
A: Yes, that was the major reason: I saw at Burnett that I will not be able to actually design when my office is bigger, and I saw the advantages of a large office for the clients as tiny, while the disadvantages were huge.

Q: How do you know when to say no to a potential client?
A: When the product is bad. When I don’t like them. When they have rush jobs (clients who are bad at scheduling a job are often bad in other areas too).

Q: How do you convince your client to buy into your obsessions, and that your personal concerns are interesting to their audience? And why should an audience be interested in your obsessions?
A: Same. First select the right client.

Q: In another interview, you were asked how far you go to maintain your concepts, and you replied, “I scream, I yell and I beg.” It obviously works, but how do clients normally react at first?
A: Our “normal” client reaction is that they like it, we have not have an unsuccessful first presentation in some time. But we had some adverse reaction to what we showed in the past. I also did lose many fights. Also: Often I was wrong.

Q: Why did you feel you needed to take a sabbatical?
A: Outwardly our last year with clients had been the most successful to date, we had won the most awards in our brief company history and the then booming economy had filled our coffers. But actually I was bored. The work became repetitive.
At the same time I went to Cranbrook giving a workshop and actually got rather jealous of all the mature students there being able to spend their entire day just experimenting. Then Ed Fella came into the studio and showed me all the notebooks with his freewheeling typographic experiments. That did it. I settled on a date a year in advance and I called up all my clients.

Q: How much work volume do you have and do you see it growing?
A: We are full with work. I don’t want to grow the studio.

Q: Are the projects you’re currently working on similar to what you’d done before the sabbatical? Do you feel you want to continue to do CD packaging design?
A:  We are shifting the focus. I still want to do some CD’s, but not as concentrated as before. I’d love for the studio to also focus on socially responsible projects.

Q:  You often refer that one of the best decisions you had made, was keeping your firm small (i.e., normally you have two other employees besides yourself). This makes the selection of talented individuals very personal to you. What are your main selection points when hiring?
A: A. A sweet personality. Matthias and I are spending more time in here than me and my girlfriend do in a typical week, so the fact that we get along well is important.
B. Good work. Hopefully not the same kind of work as I did before (I know how to do that, I don’t need another version of me in the studio), but somebody who complements what I do (and loves to do the things that I don’t know how to do, like most of the computer work).

Q: Keeping the firm small has also allowed you to be very selective with the clients you work for — a luxury that other designers only fantasize about.
Do you attribute your successful designs to the great clients you have worked with?
A:  Yes. It is not possible to do satisfying work for an indifferent client. We need the support and the willingness to collaborate on many levels. They have to want something good. In our case some did.

random drawing

I just did this quick hand drawing using a marker (hand drawing here means both a drawing of a hand, and also a drawing made by hand). I am going to use this hand drawing for my publishing book cover. It is one of my current projects, where I have to compile all of the publishing terms and combine them together in a book as a guide I will use later in the future as a designer. Such a good project.