kakireka and wrega

Sometimes, I wonder how exactly is the true state of our design industry. Do people really care? Do designers really care?  How many of us really care? Who cares? 

If designers were given the opportunity to charter the course of the design industry in this country, what would they do.

Are these some of the forthcoming responds?

"I don't have time, I have other commitments, I have to concentrate on jobs that put food on the table, I have to live, I don't have time on things that do not provide me with monetary returns."

wREGA was established almost 10 years ago, what is its present state of affairs?

KakiReka was launched less than a year ago, how is it surviving?

The irony of it is both are champions and authority in Brands. 

Will KakiReka end up like wREGA?

How about doing a Brand audit on these two good natured voluntary non profit organisation?

Monkeys in the City

Right in the middle of Taman Tar, if you are lucky enough you can catch wild monkeys being hand fed almost everyday once in the morning and once in the evening.

Monkeys of another kind ...

What a week

Reccee through palm oil plantation of Felda Palong in Gemas Negeri Sembilan, took us through the long and winding road of Kuala Pilah and small towns of Juasseh, Bahau on route to Gemas

A must stop at the Kuala Pilah Bus Station to savour the best Cendol in Negeri Sembilan.

Superb combination, Mee Rojak and of course Cendol..In the background Self-Endorsed Advertising (ala Richard Branson of Virgin) featuring the Man himself Abu Backer Sitihiq of KP Cendol.



It was a hectic week, preparing for an important presentation throughout the weekend and had to turn down a couple of meetings which include, my condo's management committee meeting, wREGA annual general meeting, also turned down a talk at kakireka. (Fortunately, managed to persuade TinToy as a replacement speaker).  Turned down another meeting today with wREGA at Koh's place.

Cafe@Lui

Cafe Lui, Hulu Langat's best kept secret, headlines nor write ups needed. You just need to be there!

Good ride with good company

Nothing more rejuvenating than a ride to the East coast.

Brand new truck

Fresh from the workshop snapped up by the client.

No news is Bad news

Yes the long absence has a reason..

I lost my Macbook, I lost important files, I lost few hundred Pictures, I lost my Nokia E90, I lost my Address book, I lost my skype contacts.

For certain, I did not loose my mind.!

Let's start everything, all over again.

Be right back. soon.

721 post-mortem

A day after my trip to bandung kenneth, izu and me had a late night meeting at izu's resident in federal hill.
We went through the event in detail and concluded that it was actually a good start to all the effort.
There is still a lot more room for improvement and it would be more productive if there are more contributors.
The challenge is to invite more writers and guest speakers.
Anyway we ended our discussion at 5 in the morning and felt good that we have been very honest in making
things happen.
I cant write much at the moment as i am waiting for my flight home from jakarta.
Too bad I can't join the Teh tarik session tonite.
Yes a technological marvel to be able to write out of your i-phone.

721 small talk

Personally i was very pleased that two things happened within a couple of weeks after our EGM. A blogsite was created and a talk series was launched. Very significant for the graphic design industry. The turnout for the talk was double than what was expected 24 attendees. Not bad for a three days notice. I wont go into detail as it would be reported i presume on the www.kakireka.blogspot.com.

My concerns were.. The talk was somewhat diverted from the intentions of what I had expected. The host ie Izu of www.galleriiizu seems to have taken over the night propogating more of himself and his future programmes. As a host he has taken the limelight from the guest speakers. I have to frantically signal him to cut short is introduction as it has taken up more than the time allocated to him. I thought it was suppose to be more of a dialogue among the attendees.


The second concern is the blog www.kakireka.blogspot.com is now featuring news from others. I was hoping that the blog would be more focus on design.

I always remind myself that whatever we do we must not forget that the central idea of the association is to help fellow designers share news, knowledge and expertise that is relevant.

I sincerely hope that it should meant well!

Rebranding the association

A couple of weeks ago I was invited to attend the graphic design association of Malaysia's wREGA emergency general meeting to address its current state of affairs. Being the founding member of the association I was compelled to look into the situation and conribute in any way I possibly can.

I lost touch with the association almost three years ago to concentrate on the business that I am currently in and thought I would start getting back into the association next year.

Unfortunately, the circumstances does not permit the delay.

Here are some thoughts I brought forward during the meeting and also during the Teh Tarik session...


wREGA moving forward

B4 coming out with a strategy lets look back & analyse.

Lets identify wrega's central idea so that first thought that comes to mind would be easily established within the targetted audience.


Brands are about 'what is there in it for me'


wREGA is all about giving ......HELP

Only then it would stay relevant to all designers.


HELP in.....

Help me in my studies

Help in my career

Help me excel as a designer

Help in making me be cool being a designer

Help in making me experience the life of a designer

Help me improve my life as a designer

Help me in giving opportunities to make decisions as a designer

Help me realise my dream of being a designer.


Otherwise you are no good to me.....period!!!


Once we have established this central idea of what wREGA is then the next best thing is to prove it.


The objective of 'help' comes in various forms.

.-Assist (advise, guide, etc)

- Share (experiences, knowledge etc)


LETS DO IT !


How. ....?


Establish our audience.


Design students and design related schools eg. Mass comm

Young designers

Established designers

Clients

Govt. Agencies.


Younger designers and would-be designer make up the the mass targeted audience that we are after.

Currently there are not much events catering to their professional needs. Naturally they are more inclined to be seen in social events like clubbing, etc. To attract them we need to offer them what they fancy.

Offering sources of knowledge with social interaction in an informal environment could trigger an interest in for them to participate.


The fundamental idea of these activities is to start changing the designers mind set from a 'visual' designer to a 'thinking designer'. We give them a platform to exchange ideas with speakers of various background, young or old within the creative industry so that they can decide or think for themselves whats best in this wide and multi discipline industry.

Secondly we need to inject reality that the 'glamour' world of designers is not as easy as you might think. Bring out into the spot light the behind the scene of the design world and reveal the hardship and etc in achieving success. Catwalk is the result of fashion, a furnished room is to an interior designer, an mtv clip or an animated ad or a website. They are all the finished end product that is tangible and be seen by the mass. What about the graphic designer. Are their work visible enough to the mass?

COMMUNICATING with THE AUDIENCE.

All these need to be communicated in the current new medium from blogging , you tube , my space, facebook, sms. etc .

What comes out of it is...





721 small talk on the 7th and 21st of every month.

Sharing experience etc. Dialoque rather than presenter's monoloque. Audience participation is crucial. End up with an open topic of local design issue to discuss.

Its all about Branded Identity like an FMCG it has a life cycle and needs to evolve to stay relevant with the times.

Comes this Wednesday the 7th history is in the making.