Category: Progress work

What is Entrepreneurship?

This words was born recently and now it has been use widely around the world expecially in US culture as being a critical component of its capitalistic society. Is entreprenuer is another word for branding. Its in bussiness world and the main mission is to gain profit.

Defining entrepreneur

An entrepreneur is someone who organizes a system to create a product or service in order to gain profit. However though there is a general sense that entrepreneurship involves the establishment of a new venture while adopting some of the risk, there is no common definition as the word has been used many ways in many times. Some scholars of entrepreneurship, such Prof. W. Long have tried to develop a definition by looking at the historical use of the word, as it evolved (outcart 2000). Perhaps the first person to create a theory about entrepreneurs would be Schumpeter, although instead of using the French word adopted by the American literature, he used the German word “unternehmer”.

Taken from – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entrepreneur#Defining_entrepreneur

There are more about being as an entrepreneur, as I will continue later..soon!

I always love visual. I guess just by looking at an image, our imagination just fly free. Many stories we can tell just from an image. So I try to relates or shows my research through other media such as movie snap shot, cartoons and images. It might help, I guess. I honestly don’t know where is this going. Let’s move to Lat’s story.
I think Lat’s cartoons provides an invaluable guide to Malaysian culture, expressed in a way mere words never could. I still remember that I always looking forward to read Lat’s Cartoon Strip in Malaysian Newspaper called Mingguan Malaysia when I was 14 years old. It’s been recommended to me by my ‘Pak Long’ my uncle. Since then I become Lat’s Fan. It’s only publish once a week, but I always waited for it.

His cartoons depicts everyday scenes of Malaysia. From the bus driver to the Prime Minister. Everybody is included. He also include every race from Malaysia’s multicultural society: the Chinese, the Indians, the Malays to the “Orang Putih” the Europeans. His cartoons are funny and witty, Lat enjoys poking fun at everyday situation and reading them brings back my own memories of growing up in Malaysia. Most of them still makes me laugh out loud! Lat’s cartoon can also be serious with a political or environmental message.

Lat’s early life taken from Lat Cartoon Website
http://www.geocities.com/woo_ben/lat/lat.htm

Lat was born Mohammad Nor bin Khalid in March 1951, in a kampung (village) house in Kota Bahru, Perak, Malaysia. He grew into a chubby little fellow and got a nickname as Bulat, or Lat.

Words from Lat about his life in the kampung (extract from “Lat 30 Years Later”):

“To say my family was a crazy would be an understatement. Growing up in the kampung, I remember being surrounded by family members who seem to have nothing else to do except joke and be merry.

My father was like most fathers in that he would scold us and get angry but he was never all that serious. He was a joker and we learned, from very young, never to take what he said for granted. Even when he sounded serious, he was probably making fun on things.

My mum was the more serious one but even then she had her moments – once she actually went to a photo studio to pose in a saree (Indian dress) with her sister.

Ours was a closely-knit community and the kampung folks were similarly jovial. The way they spoke and ask questions hinted of mischief. I think it was because we were so close that we could have such a relationship. After all, you don’t speak to strangers this way.

Without the distractions of modern living, we had to find out own diversions. One of the first thing we did was to mimic others. I still remember the Chinese grocer name See Han who would speak in a very slow melodious voice. We had a lot of fun mimicking that.

I also remember the ‘Mak ciks’ and ‘Pak ciks’ who would, just by their appearance, make you roll over with laughter. In the 1950s, for instance, when it was fashionable to have rambut karan (saloon perm), watching the kampung women on parade with their hair done up was really hilarious.”

Some of Lat’s cartoon that relates to Malaysian cultures.

More about Lat

Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.5 License.

DESIGNING A RESEARCH REPORT (2007)

End of last year I was asked to design a research report for School of Applied Communication by the Director of Research, Dr. Vaughan. The whole point is to presented the research activities that the school have done in 2007. Also if it’s possible to put some images from the researcher. The task sounds easy and I agree to take. The whole design process included collections of information from all the researcher, collections of images and the design process. We decided to make a from so it will be easier for us to have the information instead of keeping the emails that contained the details. But because the researches life is pretty busy, we need to keep reminding them to fill in the form. And yes, when it comes to the very end, we still receives some changes and new forms. Then we have to fit in all the information in one document and categorize the topics. Later when its ready, Angelo (the administration person who handle the emails and enquires) sent the whole document to me. I then have to transfer the words file to indesign. That’s for the collections process.

Now it comes to design process. I started with a concept and did some brain storming. I discussed with Dr. Vaughan about it and added some other information that they want to be in. We try to standardize the design to RMIT design layout. I make few design mock-up and showed to the member to get some feed back. Came back with pretty much changes. I did few rounds in that steps. Then finally managed to get the final design look that please everybody. The whole project took nearly three weeks time to finish. Here are some of the samples and the full version in PDF.

REDESIGNING SBS ANNUAL REPORT (2005)

There are few design job that I did last year for my Masters in Design by project. The last one is a case study project on SBS annual report. It is more about designing an annual report as a Information Design System.

I’m researching about what people call ’emotional design’ which is from my opinion is not much different than branding (I figure this after the research). Then I tried to find a way of putting ’emotional design’ together with ‘information design’.

Some of the reference I got are from Marc Gobe with his book called Emotional Branding.

“In many, many more words than needed, Marc Gobe makes an argument for using the corporate and product attributes to build a brand. For example, the name. “Lexus” sounds like luxury. “Viagra” suggests vigor and virility.

The Ford Expedition, the Ford Excursion and the Ford Escape are all named with less than subtle ulterior motives.

Use of color may also assist in conveying a desired brand image. Red conveys one thing; blue another. Blue, pink, orange, black – each color is stereotyped with certain personality traits. The shape of the bottle that holds your soft drink; the texture of the paper that brochure is printed on; the font used for the corporate logo; all these things add up to build a brand image.”

Taken from link to reviews of Emotional Branding Book – http://www.v7n.com/emotional-branding.php.
Belows are the brief page:

From this I thought may be I can suggest SBS to come out with a new promotion kit, just for certain season. My idea is for SBS to have a new look, not to replace the look that they are now but just to make a little bit different for a period of time.
So I came out with the theme ‘Turn ON SBS’, this idea came from a discussion with Keith, SBS Promotion Manager in Sydney. He wanted to have something different but still he wanted to use the same content as the old brochure SBS have.

DESIGN AS A SERVICE

In one of my Masters Class we did this exercise to understand the the concepts then visualized it through different layout. We’re designing an event. Under the event umbrella we have to provide the corporate logo, stationary set, brochures and other printed material that we can think of. I choose rock climbing event in Melbourne CBD. I got inspired by the architecture of the Federation Square, modern and challenging structure. I thought it would be a good if we could climb the fed Square.

Independence and Onward: 1957 – present day

With 1957’s independence, a new series of difficult decisions lay ahead of Malaya, the first of which was to determine exactly what territories would be included in the new state. In 1961, the term “Malaysia” came into being after Tunku convinced Singapore, Sabah, and Sarawak to join Malaya in a federal union (Singapore later opted out of the union, peacefully, in 1965). Afraid that the union would interfere with his expansionistic plans, Indonesia’s president Sukharno launched attacks against Malaysia in Borneo and on the peninsula, all of which were unsuccessful.

Another immediate problem was the determination of a national identity. Malaysia was a mix of people from many races and cultures, and uniting them under a common flag was not an easy enterprise. Because Malays represented the majority, the constitution gave them permanent spots in the government, made Islam the national religion, and made Malay the national language; but the Chinese firmly dominated business and trade, and most Malay were suffering economic hardships. The government, controlled by the United Malay National Organization, passed the New Economic Policy, which attempted to increase economic opportunity for the Malay by establishing various quotas in their favor. Unsurprisingly, many Chinese opposed the new arrangement and formed a significant opposition party. In 1969, after the opposition party won a significant seats, riots swepts through Kuala Lumpur and the country was placed in a state of emergency for two years. It was a painful moment in the young nation’s history that most Malaysians prefer to forget.

In the last two decades, Malaysia has undergone tremendous growth and prosperity, and has arguably made significant progress in race relations. Many attribute the country’s success to the dynamic leadership of Prime Minister Mahathir bin Mohammed, who has led the country since 1981.

(source from Malaysian Forum website)

Malaysia’s flag is based on that of the United States, a country whose democratic ideals the young nation sought to emulate upon gaining independence from Great Britain in 1957. The 14 stripes represent Malaysia’s states, while the square in the upper left contains the moon and sun of Islam.

Jacques Tati is a man of contradictions: He claimed not to have read much of anything, but his films were nevertheless embraced by France’s intellectual elite as vanguard Modernist works. He is praised in equal measure for reviving the silent comedy and revolutionizing the sound film. In his films he used state-of-the-art technology to critique a society being smothered by automation and gadgetry.

Tati is perhaps best known as and inseparable from his iconic creation M. Hulôt, who wanders silently through his four most famous features, attired in a rumpled trench coat and slouch hat, observing or (more often) inadvertently instigating comic catastrophes. Like Chaplin’s Little Tramp, Hulôt is baffled by technology and has bad luck with jobs.

In Mon Oncle he manages to nearly destroy an entire factory on his first day of work, though in all fairness the factory, which seems to be engaged in making one infinitely long hose, isn’t the most efficient operation to begin with. Infected with a clumsiness that marks his encounters with mechanical devices and people alike, Hulôt endures these humiliations with a Buster Keaton-like stone face.

More about Jacques Tati

A Brand is a name, a visual image in peoples mind. Some people said brand is a myth. Or perhaps it is not a myth, it is real..if it’s in our everyday life, if it is in our culture.

Or can we say the brand world is a world that is full with the theory of dematerialization and materialistic. The mission is to make profit and create empire. Regarding to Al and Laura Ries in their book called “The 22 Imutable Laws of Branding” brand name is nothing than a word in mind.

But yet is it brand is the one who makes the customer choose when they decide to buy any product? Or the product itself?

Al and Laura Ries says there is always a preference brand in customers mind when they choose a product. Why people dont trust the product it self? Why do we have to trust the brand to choose a product?

H2O for example is a only a water but in branding they were called commodity category. Almost every person in America has access to good, clean water out of the tap, there is no need to buy water from the store, but many people do.

Why? May be because the water that been sold in the store contains mineral? Make its different from the ‘tap water’.
Product such as Spring Water and others sells this h2o other wise known as water to people and make people believe that these water is better that the other water. How and why?

How powerful is that? If is only a name how can it be so strong? What else in brand that make the brand famous and known? What about the product and the designer?

Brand, it is only a name.
What make brand different is the product, the values and the qualities of the product, the acceptance of the community of the new creation in the market and the experiences of the people when they use the product.

Questions:

Can brand survive without design and culture?
In John Thackara book, he talks about how industrial society and information society evolve. How information society suppose to replace or to make the industrial society lighter but at the end, its actually just adding into the society. It bring more pollution and problems.

“A few years ago we hope that digital communication networks would lead to a lighter economy and a cleaner environment. But unfortunately it does not happen. Global temperatures are rising faster than ever before recorded, bringing increased instability to weather systems across the world.”

How the waste of computers, microchips, manufactures of eletronic devices and old-media matters has impacted the world and us.

Information technology has been added to the world; it has not made it lighter.

Questions:

How can designer help to save the world? What can we do to sustain the world?
Are we creating design that help the world to survive or we actually participate in killing it?

A Brand is a name, a visual image in peoples mind. Some people said brand is a myth. Or perhaps it is not a myth, it is real..if it’s in our everyday life, if it is in our culture.

Or can we say the brand world is a world that is full with the theory of dematerialization and materialistic. The mission is to make profit and create empire. Regarding to Al and Laura Ries in their book called “The 22 Imutable Laws of Branding” brand name is nothing than a word in mind.

But yet is it brand is the one who makes the customer choose when they decide to buy any product? Or the product itself?

Al and Laura Ries says there is always a preference brand in customers mind when they choose a product. Why people dont trust the product it self? Why do we have to trust the brand to choose a product?

H2O for example is a only a water but in branding they were called commodity category. Almost every person in America has access to good, clean water out of the tap, there is no need to buy water from the store, but many people do.

Why? May be because the water that been sold in the store contains mineral? Make its different from the ‘tap water’.
Product such as Spring Water and others sells this h2o other wise known as water to people and make people believe that these water is better that the other water. How and why?

How powerful is that? If is only a name how can it be so strong? What else in brand that make the brand famous and known? What about the product and the designer?

Brand, it is only a name.
What make brand different is the product, the values and the qualities of the product, the acceptance of the community of the new creation in the market and the experiences of the people when they use the product.

Questions:

Can brand survive without design and culture?

The definations and understanding.

If we can design our way out into difficulty, we can design our way out says John Thackara.
“Everyone designs” wrote scientist Herbet Simon, ‘who devices courses of action aimed at changing existing situations, into preferred ones.”

“Design is basic to all human activities, placing and patterning of any act towards a desired goal constitutes a design process.”wrote Victor Papanek.

Designing is what human beings do.

Questions:

Where do we want to be as a designer? What exactly our ‘preferred situations’ or ‘desired goals’?

How do we get there? What course of action will take us from here to there?

by Nurul Rahman

Cultures are constantly changing in response to the arts, knowledge and globalization. Mass media and international trades have increased inter-cultural and cross-cultural awareness. Therefore, the need for design to translate efficiently into different cultures has greatened. As the developed world has moved from smokestack to information-based societies, the role of design has moved rapidly into the forefront of market economies.

Developing countries are invaded by foreign cultures, whether they reject the invention or blend the ˜new style as their own.

What are the implications of branding and global versus local brands in this process?

Culture is by nature complex. Some parts are subject to fashions and trends; the rest the core part is less flexible.This is however refers to the myths, hopes and beliefs, defines and differentiates from other cultures.

How can the understanding of a specific culture help communication designers to anticipate its needs, to improve the creation of products and services or to strengthen communication strategies?

How can communication designers make use of cultural iconography to create a sense of national identity and community? And how does this relate to national branding and subsequent product promotion?

What is it really about culture that interest people? Culture evolve, sometimes it stays and sometimes it goes. Most interesting part about culture is, it relates to our daily life and it relates to our past, our history, our generation. Culture is everywhere, like it or not.

I saw a Jacques Tati movie last week, called ‘mon oncle’ and this movie is made in 1958. It is amazing to see how culture is changing in ‘mon oncle’. It is about the evolution of non-materialistic to materialistic world. In some scene from this movie there are an images of designers product, new creation. Only people in upper class can afford to have this product. It shows wealthy and powerful status. And it is part of the culture. People tried to accept this culture, materialistic culture and new era of technologies.

Questions:
What is the designers role in this? Is the design follows functions? or only follow profit and status?