Evan Wijaya

Evan Wijaya, A Young Designer Who Always Sharpens His Creativity

Evan Wijaya, after finishing his studies at UPH’s Visual Communication Design last 2017, he chose to work as a graphic designer at Thinking Room, a renowned design company at Jakarta. Under founder Eric Widjaja’s creative direction, Evan is entrusted to handle various projects, including Sarirasa Group’s restaurant brands such as Sate Khas Senayan, Tesate, and Gopek.

“Last year, I was assigned to work on Sarirasa Group’s rebranding. This is actually one of the most challenging projects I’ve had due to the group’s 45 years’ history. There are a lot to be considered in regards to the visual design, company values, and the public perception,” Evan says.

Furthermore, Evan and the Thinking Room team is not only entrusted to redesign Sarirasa’s logo and visual identity system – they are also entrusted to make Sarirasa’s identity (logo and visual system) for its’ 45th anniversary campaign. But other than his fulltime experience during work, Evan always makes time to work on freelance projects in order to develop his skills, portfolio, and networking. One of the most interesting projects Evan’s worked on is for a local fashion brand called Sejauh Mata Memandang.

“When I was still in college, the owner of Sejauh Mata Memandang, Chitra Subyakto and her sister Sita Subaykto saw my portfolio and asked me to work with them. Long story short, I was given the chance to help them expand Sejauh’s collection’s pattern and illustration, including Semanggi, Siguguk, Timun Mas, and Laut Kita. I was honored to work with them because it was from them that I gained valuable experience as well as to sharpen my designing skills. Furthermore, I liked the way Sejauh voices positive values, especially towards the environment and social,” Evan explained.

Evan, who graduated with ‘the best graduate’ title on UPH’s graduation XXXI felt that his experience as a designer has to constantly be expanded. This is the reason why he always took time to work on freelance projects midst of his activities. “Being a freelancer is a medium for me to explore my skills. Most of the time, the projects I handled at the office are big brands with huge work scopes that it took us three months to one-year time to work on. But freelance projects are rather shorter in time so that it opens up an opportunity for me to practice my creativity,” conclude Evan.

Being someone who is detail oriented, Evan always tried to give extra attention to the smallest aspects of his design. He believed that this attentive-aspect that he has towards details helps mature a design. Evan further adds that his achievements today are not separated from the experience he gained during college.

“After graduating from UPH, I realized that UPH gave me a holistic experience that has helped me to prepare the essential things in work. Especially in regards to my major, I believe UPH’s DKV has laid a strong foundation for me to be able to pour and develop my skills in the design industry,” says Evan.

In the future, Evan sees a huge opportunity in the expanding creative industry. “The society today has more awareness towards the importance of design. This awareness and knowledge growth towards design will open up a promising career opportunity in Indonesia’s creative industry,” Evan, who will get his international design recognition from Adobe Inc. closes.