Google Gapura is an annual event held by Google Indonesia. This event is held in several big cities in Indonesia, with Surabaya as one of them, with unique themes for different cities. This year, VisualCast has been given the privilege to be invited as one of the panelist in the talk show of Google Gapura Surabaya 2015. The talk show took place at Surabaya’s Government building on April 18th, 2015 The theme for this year is “How to Create Your Own Online Shop”, as sponsored by Kibar Kreasi and Surabaya’s local government. The purpose of this event was to support small-medium-online business units that have been growing rapidly in Indonesia recently, especially in the metropolitan and urban areas. In the midst of global recession in these past years, many entrepreneurs decide to have their own online-based small business, both as a reseller, producer or even a professional selling their services and skills. Internet has helped entrepreneurs reduce capital and operational costs, making it much more affordable to start an online business compared to a traditional offline business. Participants of this event consist of people from small-medium-enterprises in Surabaya and its surrounding areas. Among the participants, many of them are still yet to start their own business, but interested to learn more about online businesses nonetheless. The rundown of the event includes product presentations from Google and third party businesses that helps businesses make online payments, a series of talk shows with panelists from successful online business owners and practitioners in Surabaya. VisualCast was one of the last panelists to share during the event, but the participants were still very much eager and excited to discuss the topic of “Roles of Brand and Creativity for Your Online Business”. In general, the discussion revolves around understanding the basic concept of brand and how brand can increase the value of any product and service. We shared the discussion panel with Jiewa Vieri from inijie.com, a food blogger and food photographer from Surabaya. Our session was closed with questions from the participants. We were thrilled and honored to be given the chance to share and give insights for the development of small-medium-enterprises in Indonesia, especially in relation with the creative industry. It was fun! More information about this show can be searched using the following hashtags: #gapurasurabaya2015and #googlegapura2015.

The weather was good, the crowd was great, the topics were compelling and the response was immense. It was nice to be on paradise island for Kumpul Kreavi and here is our report on the event. Brand design is one of the most popular topics asked by design students nowadays. It was also a popular theme to discuss among design communication students from ISSI Denpasar, the host of the 19th Kumpul Kreavi. Even though the event was hosted at a university building, but many of the participants were designers not only from Bali, but also from other areas of Indonesia. It was great to be among such an enthusiastic audience. The energy was awesome! The theme for this event was Branding: Sharing the Essentials, where every guest speaker was asked to share a case study and their perspectives about brand. VisualCast not only used this opportunity to share about the essentials of a brand design, but also to break down step-by-step tips on how we create brand design for our clients. Not only that, but we also introduced the concept of micro brand, which is brand development executed within a small scale. Small here is defined as targeted for small entrepreneur businesses, or also known as micro businesses. Micro businesses are on the rise these past few years, especially with the economic downturn and global recessions. More and more companies are doing their best to cut cost and minimize budget. Efficiency is the key, especially with the availability and ease of access to media and global information. It is so much easier to target a niche market compared to a general market in this day and era. For companies with this vision and scale in mind, investing in a big and complex brand development is not an option. With this mindset, we aim to adapt our service and product to facilitate this market. Perhaps for companies located in capital cities it is still an option for them to consider total brand, but for companies located in smaller markets in smaller cities, total brand may be too extensive. We closed our opinion by giving an example of a micro brand that VisualCast developed using the same commitment we put into bigger brands. The case study was on Portrait The Wedding – a small, unique wedding photography from Surabaya. More details on this case study can be found at our portfolio section. It was an interesting subject and the discussion was later followed by lots of questions. But, at the end of the day, the commitment and passion toward your work are what define you. Thank you everyone for coming and participating, we are humbly honored. As we end this sharing on the essentials of branding and micro brand, yes – we do believe that small is the new global. photo courtesy of kumpul kreavi

Another invitation from the creative community of kreavi.com, the second time around that VisualCast will be sharing a thing or two about brand development in the new era of micro business. What an exciting event to be a part of! ! Kreavi is an organization that connects Indonesia’s creative talents from all around the archipelago to the business world. On their website, kreavi.com, creative people can publish their work, interact with experts and build network through this platforms filled with inspiration and bright Kreavi’s event is known as Kumpul Kreavi. In this event, creative people can share, discuss and broaden their knowledge about the creative industry. For the 19th episode of Kumpul Kreavi, titled “Branding: Sharing the Essentials”, VisualCast has been invited to talk about brand developmeng alongside legendary people in the industry. One of them is Mr. Ayip Budiman, the founder of Paradesa and co-founder of Matamera Communications, a legendary senior designer from Bali. It is an honor for VisualCast to be speaking together with such influential people in the industry. Danis Sie, a designer from Surabaya will also be speaking among the three guest speakers. Right now, we are preparing our presentation on the subject of up-to-date brands, where the global trend is shifting from big global brands to local creative brands. This is why we feel it is crucial for all of competing in the industry to adapt to this trend too, because this is where the future leads. Kumpul Kreavi, the 19th Episode, Branding: Sharing the Essentials, will take place in ISI Denpasar – Bali, on Sunday, February 22nd, 2015. Sign up and join the event, we would love to see you all there. Stay tuned, as we will keep you updated after the event. #vcast4kreavi

VCast has become one of the resources to share their thoughts on the actual design scene in Surabaya, Indonesia, alongside some other design offices in Surabaya. This is one of the products of DIY 2014 team, in cooperation with AyoRek.org – one of Surabaya’s local sites that aims to capture Surabaya, the people and its culture. The following short video was shown at DIY 2015′s screening opening. Surabaya is known to be the second biggest city in Indonesia, relative to Jakarta as its biggest in Indonesia, including its design professions. Unlike Jakarta that acts as the economy and business center of Indonesia, Surabaya’s economical and industry structure has surely given a different influence towards Surabaya’s design professions. This situation is one of the most commonly discussed by the public, practician and students studying in design, regarding the future of this profession in Surabaya. VCast was represented by its principle in the efforts of answering these questions. VCast believes that design in Indonesia, especially in Surabaya, hasn’t reached its maximum potential. There are still many gaps and growth that can be achieved and developed by design practitioners. To make a difference and create unique services may be one of the keys to grow and survive in this profession. Reflecting upon Jakarta and other countries as well, we can see that design, especially graphic design, doesn’t only stop in creating good visuals. There are many other creative products that can be developed from this profession, such as VisualCast’s very own personal project in the form of font – Deicon font and DIY font(link here for the font free download) – as well as digital projects and other tech start-ups. All of these products need a touch of design and creativity. This is why VisualCast agrees with DIY 2015′s theme: Mix and Make, where a designer must be intelligent and skilful not only in mixing techniques, but also skills from different fields of knowledge to product a unique and creative product. This video is only available in Indonesian and is without subtitle.