by Razif / @razifohnas

Sigh.

It’s really tough trying to get designers in Malaysia to talk.

Or give their opinions on any thing. The fact that when they do, there is very little to debate about. Sometimes you wonder, is it that they lack vocabulary, or just being indifferent about a particular subject.

It’s easy to blame the education system, or the Asian parental style, or the fact the design industry in Malaysia is still young.

An industrial designer friend once said if your sketchbook is filled with sketches alone, you have a problem. I think he meant that sketching alone is not enough to qualify someone as a designer.

Truthfully, I feel the entire industry represents the fear of being criticized.

*tepuk dahi/ slap forehead moment*

If you criticize someone, it doesn’t mean they hate/envy you. It’s perhaps trying to get you to see from a different point of view about things. If you think being defensive about your work is healthy, think again.

Designers I know are often working the hardest defending their work rather on the work. I hate the tone of this piece, but perhaps we (including me) should be more aware that criticism is an important tool for learning.

The row of criticism, in truth won’t really kill you.

It’ll just make you better, seriously.

Note: Happy Chinese New Year to my Chinese side of the family and friends!

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Trained as a designer and a futurist at heart, Muhamad Razif Nasruddin obsessively dabbles in design theories and history since his first year in university. With an academic background of science stream in secondary school, he believes that ‘art & design’ was the one that captured the capacity of human imagination and created the modern society that it is today. He also secretly wants to own a Ducati Streetfighter machine.

Banana: A Singlish, Malaysian slang for a Chinese person who speaks English, yellow outer skin but white inside.

Yep, that’s what I am. And that’s what my mother is aiming to cure me out off. Hence sending me 2,307 miles, 3,712 km away from nasi lemak, char kuey teow, thinklabbers, family and friends.

Everyday, I’m sitting amid people from all over the world, staring and committing to memory, square boxes of lines angled, curved and hooked.

Hello 汉语！

The first exam I had to sit through was to test my standard of Mandarin, a placement test to box me in a classroom with a bunch of foreigners, and 普通话。

The first day, sitting down and looking around. I couldn’t help but be curious about the motivation behind my classmates. All in all there are about 20 of us, coming from all corners of the world, ranging from early teens to mid 30’s.

Asking around, here are some snippets from my classmates:

Nick from Germany, cites his curiosity for China and her culture. I often get into interesting discussions about “western” and “asian” mannerisms with him.

Bordering on the philosophical.

Alex from Sweden, was looking into a future where he is going to do business with China.

Moreover, there seems to be a lot of Japanese and Koreans, bonded by their companies and universities culture or business programs respectively.

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 Angela Low is currently a student enrolled in Fudan University, studying mandarin as an attempt to know her cultural roots. Interested in earning a livelihood through business centralizing on design, she daily thinks about start-ups, collaboration possibilities and team dynamics… balancing them out with reading stirring stories and quotes. Young and offbeat, she seeks travelling opportunities, and dreams to work with passionate people and outstanding teams. A goal to psycho (read:motivate) herself to work on strengthening her repertoire of skill.

by Nuha

New resolutions? No, I say I’ve had enough resolutions’ last year and I plan to bring it forward as part of my cousin’s advice as well. The fact that I achieved few targets last year is really up-lifting my burden. All thanks to Allah, and my parents and families. I owe them big time.

Anyway, looking back in the past year, 2011, the last tri-month (I’m not preggar, mind you =P), was awesome! I had an interview for a new job. The very next week, 2nd interview, and the very next month, the new company has given me a new lease of life! I am no longer working in the playground manufacturing company but an event company where I got to explore new field of design. I am so grateful that they are willingly to ‘risk’ me in. And for that, to Allah I put on hopes and praise gratitude.

It is a totally new environment, from the software, work space, working hours, work attire, working attitude, colleagues, etc. I thought all 3D software’s would be almost the same feature but this time around, I was totally wrong. I have to learn and clear my memory from the previous software skills (which is merely impossible since I have a good memory, masha Allah. Haha). Just imagine using software that almost 3 years competently and now I have to change the whole thing, that’s not a piece of cake, man. Nevertheless, this opportunity is like a dream comes true, and I won’t go and throw this out of window. I will strive and make this happen for an opportunity doesn’t knock twice. It’s a kick-start for me as well to move on to a higher level. I know that I have to learn and work hard, but it’s worth a try.

Now that I’m in the Malaysian-Chinese company, (previously was Malay-based company), I have to survive on my own. There are very few of Malay restaurants in the area, and finding a Halal restaurant is not easy-reach even though I’m still in Malaysia. Even so, I might have to drive to seek Halal food and finding parking is really an issue since it’s a commercial area. This has made me thinking how hard to survive oversea, and I have to salute those (who is a Muslim) who can strive without you having had to be compromised with the regulations of Islam rule. My solution; bring food from home, which I try to make it a habit next week forward. (I might sound exaggerating, yeah, I know it’s not THAT HARD to find stalls or restaurants serving Halal food, but I’m a picky eater and I find this little option lead me to this solution).

Surau, or praying room is not provided in the company. Well, there are only two Muslims including me, so I can sense that there are no reasons they have to provide one, plus it’s not a big company and we’re all cramped up ourselves. Nonetheless, they are so very respectful that they allow us to perform our solat in the 2nd floor meeting room and if it’s equipped, we can solat in hidden corner where none of them can see us. They’ll lower the voice tone and let us alone worshiping Allah. It is a shoes-off company for your information, so the floor is clean.

When it comes to colleagues, they are very helpful especially my department. I can’t say enough gratitude towards my colleague named Epei. She is very kindhearted willingly to teach me nearly everything I needed to know in this field. Thank you so very much.

Thus, I’m hoping and praying that I will strive and sharpening my edge and skills towards better self-development this year. It sounds more like resolution though?

Nope, it’s my target.

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My real name is Nur Hidayah Abd Rahman but more likely to be known as Nuha, constantly mistaken as a secondary school student for my appearance. Nevertheless, I have a big dream; transforming the planet into a better place by keeping the world green. I try to educate my family and friends to be ‘kind’ to our home, Mrs Earth so that we’ll live healthily without have to go to Kepler-22b Planet which is approx 600 light years away.

Graduated in Industrial Design, I previously received six awards in MGDM (Malaysian Good Design Mark) while working for playground manufacturing company, and now working in exhibition & interior design firm. Which is a bit different from what I learnt back then, but it is just that I love to seek challenges within myself and push the boundaries of what I’m capable of.

by Razif / @razifohnas

I remember during my college days how computers took over the precision dependency of the technical drawings tasks, and made us, the students felt productive in adapting to the tremendous amount of work dedicated for our final project. AutoCAD was amazing. It was one program to another. Though computer only began to shape the way we made things, we had fun exploring what more it could do and self-taught ourselves on other programs such as Macromedia Flash 4 and other Adobe stuff.

Though many of the bootlegged software we had back then was considered as irresponsible, but it opened the door for many students to pursue which skill based they’d prefer to be in and master them for them to be relevant to the market in the industry.

The attitude of wanting to be ahead of the game was perhaps what drove our class to be one of the most eccentric diploma graduates from UiTM. It was either competing for thicker pages for our thesis (though many were just photocopy of references), or more-than-required-amount of perspectives (mind you most of them were in either A1 or A0 sizes), expanding our skills to the utmost ambitious (sometimes pointless) designs were our high water mark of our much-little human achievement.

At the end, the common notion amongst the classmates were, if you can’t impress with your work, might as well showcase the work ethic.

Skill based in the computer age is a strange dynamic cycle indeed. It’s fast pace technology is constantly displacing the skill of the previous dominant program. As new programs surface, more robust and reliable, new language / skills is needed to master them, and by the time you master one, another program takes place of the other. This sort of cycle does make you think, what’s worth spending, money on technology or investing on people with great understanding about design.

And through my experience in the industry, the best designers, they all say the same thing.

Skill based is very important, but skills alone won’t get you ahead in the creative industry.

I say, go out and enjoy life. See how design fits your lifestyle, and build around that.

You’ll have the best time of your life.

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 Trained as a designer and a futurist at heart, Muhamad Razif Nasruddin obsessively dabbles in design theories and history since his first year in university. With an academic background of science stream in secondary school, he believes that ‘art & design’ was the one that captured the capacity of human imagination and created the modern society that it is today. He is also secretly wants to own a Ducati machine.

by Angela Low.

Walking down fabric market while waiting for my friends, I took the opportunity to stroll down the tiny alleyways, passing by mad Shanghai road users and the like. While snapping pictures and soaking in the noise, I saw a tiny hair salon wedged between a similairly tiny restaurant and house. Inspired by IDEO’s Paul Bennett on his habit of getting native haircuts to get a “feel” for a country and looking for ways to kill time, I did the same. The price was also attractive to a money tight student. 10yuan (rm5), why not?  But as the mandarin saying goes, 一分钱，一份货。In this context it means, I got what I paid for.

While my inadequete mandarin barely got me by, I finally communicated to the hairdresser to trim my hair while keeping my fringe. I was lead to a crimson seat, sat down and I start looking around. Their salon felt homey, cramped, and DIY. Think ad hoc colorful plastic portable tool trays, personal scissors totting by each dresser, no uniforms, lady boss in her mid age running her salon etc.

Back to my hair cut, a worker of about mid 20’s worked on my hair. Throughout, she was silent, wholey focused on her task at hand, speedily snipping away and my haircut was done in a mere few minutes. However, the lack of communication made me uneasy worse still, my head was handled with the finesse of a cabbage gutted and chopped.  After all horror, while paying to the lady boss, I started reflecting on the experience. Primarily, I started questioning why am I actually willing to pay 10 yuan while not making a fuss.

Eventually by musing, I got to the point of questioning value, service and money, and how they seem to be linked.

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Angela Low is currently a student enrolled in Fudan University, studying mandarin as an attempt to know her cultural roots. Interested in earning a livelihood through business centralizing on design, she daily thinks about start-ups, collaboration possibilities and team dynamics… balancing them out with reading stirring stories and quotes. Young and offbeat, she seeks travelling opportunities, and dreams to work with passionate people and outstanding teams. A goal to psycho (read:motivate) herself to work on strengthening her repertoire of skill.

It was the year 2011.

A lot of things happened, especially within the Malaysian local design community recently. In this entry, we are listing major highlights for design community for the 2011, from local designers’ achievements to great design events within the country.

The categories are as the following.

1) Impressive Works.

a) Architecture: Elena Jamil

Millenium School Bamboo Project

Malaysian Architect Elena Jamil produced an award winning project for the Millennium Schools Design Competition on Bicol Peninsula, Philippines. Appearing on the Design With The Other 90% CITIES, her project is deemed to be best model for typhoon-prone locations.

b) Fashion: ULTRA

Winner of Innovation in Design and Sourcing Award. 

ULTRA, lead by two great local fashionistas, Chanela Jamidah and Anita Hawkins, have put the Malaysian fashion industry on to the global map by winning INNOVATION UK Winners 2011, for Winner of Innovation in Design and Sourcing Award. Organized by Ethical Fashion Forum, the duo was merited for their ten-piece modular interchangeable wardrobe, designed to dress a woman for a year.

c) User Interface / Experience (Visual Communication): Toh Ying Wei.

 Fast Track to the Mobile App Design Challenge

Toh Ying Wei graduated in Bachelor’s degree in Interface Design from Multimedia University, Malaysia in 2007 and continued her Master’s degree in Interaction Design from Kookmin University, Seoul, South Korea. We found out about her winning work, Bridge (an integrated mobile tool for small team collaboration across time zones) , from many local designers that tweeted about her project that appeared in CORE77. She currently resides in Seoul and works as information architect.

d) Architecture: Meor Haris K Barin

Architectural Work Cover of BLUEPRINT Magazine (UK) Issue 306. 

Former student from UiTM and recently graduated from Bartlett School of Architecture drawing for his final project, Meor Haris K Barin work was featured on the cover of BLUEPRINT magazine, UK print, on August 2011 month’s issue. We hope this would be a great start to a great promise for this young hopeful architect in the international scene.

2) MAJOR DESIGN EVENTS.

a) DATUM 2011

It was perhaps one of the best architectural conference thus far in comparison to previous years. With great texture of architectural dogmas and the conference being the highlight of the festival, it is no wonder that many will expect a stronger following coming to 2012 within the local architecture scene.

b) Kuala Lumpur Design Week 2011

“Reach For The Stars” as this year’s theme, the KLDW 2011 brought the event to a more central location this year, partnering with MAPKL in hosting the largest annual design event in KL. Adding more variety to the already jam packed events during the entire fest, photography was given the centre stage in this years event following the growth of the profession of recent years.

c) DA+C

George Town Festival 2011 is perhaps the biggest news for 2011′s amongst local creative events. With a month filled with various events from international dance troupes to food fests, DA+C (Digital Arts + Culture) was the highlight for many visual art enthusiasts across the country. First of its kind, it was spellbinding and also groundbreaking for the visual arts scene in Malaysia. Local designers and artist such as Fairuz Sulaiman, Motiofixo and Efozy bringing their flavor into the event was indeed seen as the beginning of new visual scene into the creative industry. Kudos!

d) 6th thinklab© Design Conference

It was perhaps one of our biggest design conference outside Klang Valley (the only one so far actually). With great lineup of speakers on the first day and also fun filled activity on the second, we were extremely happy how it turned out especially after months of preparation moving into the date. Of course, we’re already looking into making the conference better for 2012.

3) The Appearance of Design Industry inside the Malaysia Budget 2012

40. Design services industry which requires creativity and innovation, can contribute towards enhancing product function and safety, reducing cost as well as fulfilling consumer’s preference. In addition, this industry also plays an important role to continuously improve productivity, quality and competitiveness of products. To promote creativity, innovation and modern technology involving local designers, the Government proposes the industrial design services be given Pioneer Status with income tax exemption of 70% for 5 years.

We couldn’t be more happier when Prime Minister, Dato Seri Najib Tun Razak announced this year’s Malaysia Budget 2012 in helping to increase the productivity for the Industrial Design scene in Malaysia. This is the first time ever, the government is looking into making an impact in this area, thanks to MRM with their tenacious pursuit in improving the design industry in Malaysia.

Though it is already 2012, we would like to acknowledge those who have been with us and supporting the industry in pushing our Malaysian creative industry to new heights.

For some of us, the journey has just begun.

by Ong Jun Hao

(Music) To transpose is to write or perform (a composition) in a key other than the original or given key. To compose is to make or create by putting together parts or elements.

Image courtesy asiaexplorers.com

Back in the 1950s, the National Museum, the National Library and the Maybank Building in the 1980s were icons of the country; their monumental stature derived from humble & familiar Malaysian elements e.g. local plants and traditional Malay houses. Then, the Petronas Twin Towers (1998) took Islamic architecture to the next level by combining decorative & religious elements with innovative construction methods; projecting Malaysia as a modern Islamic country.

Image courtesy vincentloy.wordpress.com.

And in 2010, we saw the much talked about Malaysian pavilion at the Shanghai Expo to mixed reviews. Some of us have been inside the Minangkabau-inspired and Batik decorated building with a façade reportedly made from recycled materials of palm oil and plastic. Inside, there were, of course, a scaled model of the Twin towers, an artificial rain forest, handicrafts, and backlit posters depicting Malaysia. Déjà vu?

My question: “How else should we represent Malaysia in an international playground that we don’t revert to mundane repetitions by rejecting innovation?”

A recent talk by Iranian architect Farshid Moussavi (from the defunct FOA and the newly established FMA) got me thinking. Among the things she spoke about was the correlation between ornament, form and function in buildings past and present. One particular idea I was really intrigued with was the idea of functional ornaments. ’Decorative yet intelligent.’ Moussavi also highlighted “styling” as a method of creating assemblages of forms and ornaments to constantly innovate an existing idea. Some say Malaysia is relatively young as compared to European countries or China; our signally our immature “cultural bank”. Nevertheless, can we still create a new sense of architectural representation that is devoid of tacky form-adaptation or literal translation? Are there other parameters that we can use to generate original and unique local identities?

Yes. By moving beyond forms, period.

We can observe the past but we must read in-between the lines. There are very viable technologies and innovative building systems that we can use /work with to create a palette of parameters deemed impossible in the past. These parameters may or may not hold aesthetic references but they should encompass functions.  They should be a dissection of the building, deconstructed, analyzed and then styled and re-constructed. The Parliament Building (1962), a local modernist building adapted the imagery of a pineapple fruit and the Bugis roof form seamlessly into a brise-soleil and roofing system. Not only that, these parameters may respond to contextual specifics, like Ken Yeang’s Tropical Architecture. Functional ornaments were present in the past and have significantly affected architectural history. In our context, forms are often restricted to weather, religious references, conservative mindsets and somewhat “cultural obligations.” Hence, the excuses. It is not wrong to adapt these restrictions but it is wrong to neglect the possible evolution they can take. Materiality, density, social patterns, locality, etc. are some of the many more building parameters beyond forms. Constantly generate with parametric technologies and erase restrictions if possible.

Malaysia is a country rich of peculiar social habits, extreme weather, diverse ecosystem, booming real estate and land abundance; no doubt we have an exciting platform to experiment. We have been transposing one too many; it is about time we compose.

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 Jun Hao, Ong; aka Jun, is from KL. In 2009, graduated with a Bachelors degree from Melbourne and then spent two years in China to pursue internship, to savor the colossal Chinese boom  and most importantly to understand his oriental roots. Now  looking forward to attend graduate school to formally validate his  collected ideas and to heavily experiment various mediums. Enjoys  tennis, water polo and aim to obtain a PADI open- diving license  soon. His goal before 35 is to have his architecture office sitting  quaintly atop his self-initiated soon-to-be Michelin-starred  restaurant.

by Dinah Rakhim /@dinahrakhim

Love & Passion, two different words with quite similar definition that can fulfil your life to the fullest, and in art and design, it is what it’s all about!

If you’re doing a masterpiece so passionately and put so much love into it and have very little expectations, and by just doing it whole heartedly because you love doing it, it’s not a surprise if it suddenly booms into a masterpiece.

Or you’re doing a project which requires the whole design process from getting ideas to researching, and finalizing the end product with so much passion and love, even if it fails several times. Failing never disappoints because you love that driving force, that you are in-control of what you’re doing until it gives you that great satisfaction.

If you still got that passion and love in what you’re doing, then keep on doing it, you’re in control of your destiny and the world is beneath your feet.

However, there are some people who’ve become mundane, designers who are not satisfied in what they do due to several factors, and one of it perhaps due to lack of freedom in what they are doing and controlled by the ‘powers that be’ instead of design constraints.

They started to think this is how the industry goes, how it should be and start to put the blame on others whether it’s the government fault, or the company’s or the society. The negative force goes back to you and made us become negative and despondent.

If you know what I am talking about, whether you experienced this before and found back your passion or are facing a working break down as I am, great! At least at this point, we realized there’s something needs to change and get back that to Zeist-y spirit!

SO HOW TO FIND PASSION? How to find that spirit when every morning you wake up full of zest, to excitingly start your day and work, and not about complaining “oh, Its morning already!”  or ‘just-another-day’ mood. Maybe you should ask yourself every morning do you love what you’re doing?

If you’re not, then what are you waiting for? Go back to what you love to do. So, you love design. You keep on sketching things secretly in your notebook while working because your job doesn’t require you to design anything much. Sounds familiar?  Get back those sketches and start doing something about it already. Yes, it will not be a smooth journey but put your 100% unconditional love to it and do not keep on expecting something big in return. Just do it because you want to do it because you love it. When Steve Jobs started his Apple business, he did not expect to become rich or multi-millionaire but he did it because he want to create that dream product and because he loves doing it. His mission was pure and sincere as it was not because of money only. Suddenly the business became bigger beyond imaginable.

So, let us find back what we enjoy doing because we want to. Do it because it gives you internal satisfaction – You do it without expectation, unconditionally.

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Dinah is always searching to fill up her daily life to the fullest. If she knows what is she doing now is not productive enough, she will stop. Regardless of the risks that might come. She is not afraid to take chances, to be independent.  After all, she is all alone here while her family has been abroad for 5 years. It has taught her so many things in life and about life. Discovering life interests her. She is a girl full of emotions. She can cry just by watching any kind of cartoon even Wall-e, not to mention UP. She loves movies and loves to be in fantasy. It’s not wrong to play with your mind. Fantasy is like bicycling for the mind. It might not take you anywhere, but it tones up the imagination muscle.

Besides being dreamy, she loves outdoor and fixing things as she graduated from industrial design in UiTM. She has a big dream; she’ll never lose hope for her designs. Designers need to be stubborn to have their own style and concept but not stubborn enough to not learn through mistakes. J

by Razif / @razifohnas

About a few days ago, I had a terrible toothache. Not only suffering pain, joy of eating replaced by a sense of frustration. All that great taste of food had lost as I cringe at every chew.

Then, epiphany appeared (maybe, so I thought).

As I was reading Brian Ling’s article in response to more designer’s trying to redefine what design is on his blog, Design Sojourn, I find it to be an interesting observation.

As design finds it’s relevance in many developing countries,  it seemed that design meant different contextually, unlike how we perceived it to be (or at least in my world how it occurred). Thinking how silly I was during student days that design industry in Malaysia should be at least within half the capacity of what I see in books, I can now breathe a sigh of relief on the reality of design as a professional description, living in a developing country.

I had the pleasure of speaking to Bryan Boyer of Helsinki Design Lab several days ago, and one thing remains a possibility for me. What if these definitions of ‘Design’ is beginning to form itself to a more holistic, comprehensive to what humans can imagine and create. Of course, being politically correct and Britannica-lly legit, these definitions can only be legible to the person on the street and not just for rocket scientists (or for the art-ish-complex designers).

Though we ought to be more careful the way we define design, rather than to sound a little egoistical about the profession (thanks to Bryan!), it does make a difference if designers takes charge of the discussion rather than leaving it to circumstances of literature.

Yes I know, I don’t know how the pain have got anything to do with the epiphany of me having thoughts about defining design for the 21st Century.

Maybe its some silver lining I see about how joyful design can be defined when it revolves around the joy of life. Or simple daily food for the matter.

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Trained as a designer and a futurist at heart, Muhamad Razif Nasruddin obsessively dabbles in design theories and history since his first year in university. With an academic background of science stream in secondary school, he believes that ‘art & design’ was the one that captured the capacity of human imagination and created the modern society that it is today. He also secretly wants to own a Ducati machine.

by Zarul Nazli / @pak9

It’s difficult to be unique in a world where everyone seems to be driving the same car, holding the same handphones or worse, wear the same fashion labels. There is no true leader, only those who feel it’s right to break away from the mainstream. The dilemma is, once everybody has broken away, what separates them from the rest?

Nothing. Thanks to the advent of the Internet, visible borders and segregations that divides us in the last century is becoming obsolete:

“The “end” is nigh. Burn all the books. Words are done for. Pictures are the future. If you believe everything you read, you wouldn’t be reading.”

“Books would be doorstops and brochures would be shelved… and as for direct mail and messages, the less said about them the better. People are more towards Facebook and Twitter for their main source of news now. Productivity improved, literal by-standard by both creativity and computer literacy, people with the ‘Youtube and Wikipedia degree’ is on the rise. Psychologist did say that the ADHD rampantly affect most of the young generation now; whether its a myth or not we’re living it people.”

Yes most of this ‘prophetic’ words do have its impact. Some may say it is so visibly relevant with the current situation today, such as the Arab Spring and Occupy movements. Politics, entertainment, education and various other elements are all playing within such space now. Extremism and cult, idealism some toxic to a handful of people, but useful to some as a tools to spread influence and a means of control and affect one’s belief, is so exuberant people can’t identify what is right and wrong anymore. We’re so engulfed with the information nowadays that the only virtue that we’re capable in doing now is to filtered out all that ‘noise’.

Believing words can still have a huge impact. People still trust verbalized affiliations more than ads. Heck, even when splashed loud and clear, lies can appear true. We say honesty is the best policy, but we have to admit controversy and sensational news sell.

Without people realizing it we’ve become so globalized; maybe in 10-20 years time, there will be no races or border to divide us anymore.

Strike out war.

Strike out discrimination.

Strike out supremacy over one race.

Equality (I do hope that this word will become true one day).

Soon, if not already, everything, and yes I mean EVERYTHING, will be designed. People, places, things, experiences. Its only a matter when, how well and to what end.

Today, anyone can be a designer. Photographer. Thinker. Democratization of knowledge and tools creates  abundance which people can hardly ignore.

What we make, we design. What we edit, plan, fix or remodel, we design. What we touch, we design. Quality of design determines the quality of our lives. Look around; consider how you define design.

As for me the act of design makes me closer to God. Striving for perfection. Beauty in the making. From my personal vantage point, even the very process on why human beings are here on Earth is to beautify ‘life’.

Some may argue human beings are more destructive than to beautify mother Earth but let’s us just leave it at that.

The present generation does not think like baby-boomers, staying true and loyal to one company and hope for a steady pension, stable jobs. The present generation craves for excitement, adventure, and strive for themselves to do things for a greater purpose.

There are no risk-free jobs. My argument is, to stay alive, we have to become creative. After all, we are a ‘creative species’.

Let us say that: creativity works actually like some sort of rebellion. Inspiring words like “Breaking out of the mold”, “Think outside of the box”, “No limitation” kind of of talk has “terrorized” us for quite some time now, and it is good.

Make things better by make better things. There is no such thing as a bad idea. Maybe a ‘bad’ idea is so radical that people cannot gulp it all at once, and perhaps time will prove it otherwise.

So people, don’t be afraid. We live in a world of choices. Choose wisely.

p.s: Some excerpt from a movie called Network in the 70′s that won a lot of awards back then. A bit prophetic and discretion is advised ;p

watch?v=MTN3s2iVKKI

watch?v=zI5hrcwU7Dk

Just stumbled upon this good inspirational video posted by a girl aged 12 at a UN Assembly in Brazil. Good to ponder upon.

watch?v=TQmz6Rbpnu0&feature=related

Enjoy!

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Motivated by passion, demotivated by stagnancy; Zarul Nazli Zulkhurnain, taught and trained as Industrial + Graphic Designer cum Photographer AND Videographer, loves to  talk Wookiee with his cat and know how to Parseltongue with his housemate’s corn snakes. A motion-picture-geek by nature, he loves watching old movies and documentaries of all fields; especially one who touched the issue of war, culture and religion.

Being a former designer and cultural researcher for William Harald-Wong & Associates, he aims to educate Malaysian about the awareness of design through his documentary works for thinklab© and hopefully along the way, help elevates design profession to new heights.

He also secretly wish he can live on Mars someday. And having space-slug as a pet. O_O