Draw a Line Between Notion and Understanding
“I feel that passion and sincerity are the essential parts when it comes to creating something for other people. I have an immense responsibility for the work that I do, and I gain happiness when I make other people happy with my work. If it’s aligned with my passion and what I value, I am happy to invest my time and skill for it.” Irene Suhendro, Art Director at Quipper Indonesia, describing the importance of ownership as it aligns with Quipper’s vision.
Since she was younger, Irene always loved to do something that related to art & design. And here she comes now, doing what she loves and she does best, and at the same time also participating in helping millions of students get a better education.
Last year, Irene was awarded Quipper Champion. Let’s hear more about her feelings, thoughts, and important lessons during her journey here in Quipper.
Design is Communication
For quite a long time, she thought that to become a great designer is to be as creative as possible as this scope of work is generally associated with creativity. She gives her best on discovering to create something or innovating the existing to become her signature. Until she realized and learned that something is missing during her creative process — to be able to be empathetic first or put herself first.
“I have learned that before executing any creative works, I have to be able to be empathetic first. My creative masterpiece might seem amazing to me and make me feel good, but sometimes it might be confusing to the audience”. She thinks it’s natural for an art director to create something out of the ordinary, and it’s actually a good thing.
But then she realized, “It’s important to put myself in the user’s shoes first, to find out if it’s really a brilliant idea, or it’s just my idealism that might be too creative that I thought was brilliant.”
According to Irene, design is not her own art, but a communication tool. Just like a well-written book or speech, a good design also contains messages that she might get feedback about what she communicated from others.
What Inspires My Signature Works
We really loved and were always delighted whenever we saw her signature works. How did she find the core idea of her design concept? So then our questions would be what inspires Irene and what message she wants to convey through her designs?
To be inspired to craft new ideas out for her design, she took inspiration from the user’s daily life. Irene believed that as school might already be burdensome to students, she wanted them to have a “little fun” when they interact with Quipper in their daily life, for example when they open Quipper app, landing pages, and social media. “So I design layouts and illustrations that present a fun and friendly feeling, but still informative and reliable. I hope the users can find a little joy from seeing the illustration, and think of Quipper as a friend that accompanies and helps them through their learning journey,” she said.
Through her signature works, she wanted to connect with the audience to inspire and encourage them to find and reach their dreams or open doors to new ways of seeing the world.
She points out, “I hope with the design works that I have created, it could inspire and encourage the users to find and reach their dreams. I feel it would be more meaningful to seek and to know your dreams and then be determined to reach them. In that way, you could be more self-motivated and think of it as a process, not a burden.”
To Be Truly Confident in Yourself
“I have never been very confident with myself, and I tend to think that I am not good enough.” This feeling urges her to keep improving and not be easily satisfied, but she still told us that she doubts herself most of the time. It drove her to think that she’s not working hard enough.
Last year, she was awarded to Quipper Champion that showed the opposite truth of what she believed, especially how she often doubts herself.
“I am beyond grateful to receive this kind of appreciation, it’s like a reminder for myself that I am doing good. I realized that as long as I learn, I will grow and that’s enough. And I believe that I will get more when I decide to give more”.
Get Unstuck
“As an art director, it’s common to face a creative block. I have experienced this quite often, especially during this time when I have been staying at home most of the time, and from the amount of work I need to accomplish in a short amount of time,” she said.
Creative block can be described as the inability to access one’s internal creativity. Those in creative professions like her are often more likely to be affected by the creative block.
“Usually I just try to get my mind away from work for a while. Sometimes I watch some youtube videos or anything that can make me feel inspired. But what I think works the best for me is doing other creative activities like drawing, journaling, and photography.”
Thanks to her who always finds ways to overcome creative block. To keep her creativity “alive”, she’s investing her time to do photography.
“I take pictures of anything at home. It can be food, drinks, my workspace, my dogs, anything. It really helps me reboot my mind and make me feel refreshed. I must know when to take breaks during work to keep my creativity alive.”
Words of wisdom
Here are some of her life lesson reminders she would definitely say to her younger self:
1. Be ok with imperfections, you can always improve your next work.
2. Do not hate yourself for the mistakes you made. You will thank yourself later for making those mistakes and learn from them.
3. Be confident in your journey and work, the confidence will take you farther.
