Why I do what I do
Where it all began — Back when I was thirteen, I was required to take a Photoshop course at school. I'd call it 'hate at first touch' but later I started to overcome my fear and enjoy it. I kept learning it by myself since then. Luckily, I found the more I learn it, the more I’m in love with it. I have been passionate in art / design / anything that involves creativity since I was young (probably in primary school years) when I even didn't know it. In short, my aptitude began with graphic design and I consistently exercise my creativity so that it is progressively developed.
When it comes to a university, my first degree is not even in art / design fields, but Marketing or Management instead. A lot of people asked me why I didn’t take a design / art-related major, to get into my answer is pretty simple: I chose Communication Management because I believed I can enhance my skill and performance in visual communication design; meanwhile, I got to explore other related communication subjects I was interested in and they would still be useful in the future. Besides, I felt graphic design is something that I can begin with myself by self-teaching and consuming good inspirations. Now I have proved myself!
Having studied specialized communication courses, I have gained skills of managing varieties of communication tasks (most like marketing / communication strategy stuff). Despite my major in Communication Management, I started working as a freelance graphic designer as a way of contributing to my extra monthly allowance when I was in my junior year. Studying Communication benefits me a lot when it comes to 'designing' any tool to communicate and this led me to application of an interdisciplinary / multidisciplinary approach.
After my graduation in 2015, I started my career path in a design field at digital (marketing) agencies to follow my intuition and passion. Knowing that my next goal was to get a master degree in design, I devoted my whole time to prepare myself to get accepted to master programs I wished for. In 2017, I also enrolled in art / design short courses (for credits) and a portfolio preparation course at Edinburgh College of Art at the University of Edinburgh for 3 months.
New Blessed shift!
Having worked full-time as a digital designer gave me new perspectives, quickly developed my digital design skills and even lead me to discover my new interests, UX/UI. I've been spending my free time reading design-thinking-related books and feeding myself knowledge form online UX blogs. I enjoy thinking about the possibility of understanding better the ways user experience works and how to solve certain problems to deliver better experience for people, with the emergence of digital technology and data. Plus, I think my home country and the world are leaning into transformation to 'service society' in which the need and importance of 'service design' professionals arises. Therefore, I came to realize 'Service Design' is a new discipline where I'd like to explore and indulge myself in. That's why I came to pursue a Master in Service Design at POLI.design, Politecnico di Milano 2018/19.
After I graduated, I got an offer from Artupia, a start-up based in Milan, Italy, where I started my first full-time job in Europe, as a UX/UI Designer. Currently, I've moved to Berlin, Germany and started a new journey as a product designer at a fintech startup, Klar.