DESIGN + CULTURE

kakireka smalltalk 12.0
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Ms. Hua Project
- character design for branding
by: Jay Lim, Tsubaki Studio

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Culture + Identity = Icon?
- toys & character merchandising
by: Chun Woei, Urban Cr3atures

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Hip-hop Taoist Project
- conceptual design for animation
by: TinToy Chuo, ActionTintoy Studio

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Creating Versatility
- commercial graphic design
by: Muid Latif, Moedlatif


21 Mar 2009 - SATURDAY
1:00 - 4:00pm
Cobra Club House, 2nd Floor, Sports Complex, 7 Lorong Utara B, Jalan Utara, Petaling Jaya, Selangor.
(behind Armada Hotel, next to Tun Hussein Onn Eye Hospital).
> Google map

FREE & open to public. come early to mingle & chat. limited seats.

For designers interested to find out more or to join wREGA, come earlier for the wREGA members luncheon & wREGA Annual General Meeting which starts at 11:30am.

Creative Economy and Industries Programme

Today, the creative industries are among the most dynamic sectors in the world economy and provide new opportunities for developing countries to leapfrog into emerging high-growth areas of the world economy.

In implementing its mandate, UNCTAD has been proactive in promoting international action in the area of the creative industries, and hence, the creative economy, emphasizing their development dimension. The creative industries are at the crossroads of the arts, culture, business and technology. All these activities are intensive in creative skills and can generate income through trade and intellectual property rights.

UNCTAD´s work
- Promoting the creative economy as a new source of growth
- Providing a platform for intergovernmental debates and consensus-building.
- Supporting government initiatives for concerted public policies and inter-ministerial action.
- Liaising with governments, institutions, artists, creators, academia and civil society to strengthen the creative economy in developing countries.
- Providing demand-driven policy advice and technical assistance to governments.
- Building synergies among the United Nations system: UNCTAD, set-up the United Nations Multi-Agency Informal Group on Creative Industries.
- Organizing and/or participating in international and national events.
- Promoting networking through our quarterly E-Newsletter "Creative Economy & Industries".
- Sharing knowledge and information through its research analysis, studies and statistics.

BENEFICIARIES

The creative economy deals with a wide range of stakeholders:
- Governments: economic development, culture, trade, tourism, finance, technology, communications, labour, foreign affairs, social affairs and education.
- Business sector: from independent artists and small business enterprises at one stream, to some of the world´s largest conglomerate at the other.
- Public cultural institutions: museums, galleries, public service broadcasting organizations, etc.
- Civil society: foundations, academia, artistic and creators, professional associations, sectoral organizations, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), etc.
- International organizations and public opinion: UN family, other international organizations, press and media, etc.

Ms. Carolina Quintana
Creative Economy & Industries Programme Trade Analysis Branch
UNCTAD, Palais des Nations
1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland
T: +41 22 917 55 51
E: Carolina.quintana@unctad.org

article source: UNCTAD website

Develop Creativity Into An Industry: Shabery

What a busy month March is... the KL Design Week is at the end of this month. Plus it seems there is a Creative Industry Conference organised by the Ministry of Information on the 16-17 MAR 2009 at Nikko Hotel, KL that will discuss matters of government policy, infrastructure to support & develop the creative industry. So... Malaysia finally jumps into the Creative Economy bandwagon right when the recession hits? Better late than never, right?

latest news from BERNAMA:

KUALA LUMPUR, March 12 -- The creative industry should be restructured and expanded to make it a sector that can contribute to the country's economic growth, Information Minister Datuk Ahmad Shabery Cheek said today. He said the industry had great potential to be developed because besides having people with natural creative talent Malaysia had also produced many graduates in this from its local institutions. "It is difficult to define this industry because it is different from the manufacturing and construction industry where we can see the physical results.

"The end product of human creativity can only be linked to the contribution it makes to the country's economic growth and the creation of job opportunities and income for those involved in the field. But if carefully structured and expanded, it can become a big industry. "This is what is lacking in our country. Our society is creative but this field has yet to become an industry," he said in a interview on TV3's "Malaysia Hari Ini" (MHI) programme on the Creative Industry Conference which the ministry is organising on March 15 and 16.

The conference is aimed, among others, at providing a channel for the sharing of information and ideas among those involved in the creative industry, technology providers and policy makers, both local and foreign, on the future of the industry in Malaysia. Themed "Creative Industry: A New Dimension for Economic Development", the inaugural conference is expected to be attended by about 500 participants, including tertiary students and suppliers of films and dramas.

Ahmad Shabery said the creative industry could follow the footsteps of the agricultural sector which, after its restructure, expansion and change of mindset, became a business entity and industry that made a big contribution to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). He said the creative industry in Malaysia was still lagging behind that in other countries which contributed up to nine per cent of their countries' GDP. "We don't know how much the creative industry in our country contributes to the GDP. Some say it's not even one per cent, so it's difficult for us to gauge. The potential's there but it's not being developed," he said.

Shabery hoped that the people and policy makers would see the importance of the creative industry not only from the aspect of job opportunities by also the products. He also said that the banks could help in the development of the industry by providing financial aid to the industry players to develop their talent and creativity to reach the global level. The RM20 million injection by the government through its second stimulus package was a fund that could be used to enhance the creative industry, he said. Besides that, Radio Televisyen Malaysia's (RTM) new 24-hour entertainment channel, Muzik Aktif, to be aired over 180 Astro from next Thursday could serve as a platform for creative practitioners to display their talents, including through video clips in its various programmes, he added.

Shabery said it was hoped that the conference would mould a new mindset in the society to better understand the Creative Economy (C-Economy). "We hope the word C-Economy will become a household word in the society. We will monitor the progress of the C-Economy in the country and this is a platform that we have built," he added.

source: BERNAMA

Is Malaysia ready to become a Creative Economy?

Creative Economy
Report 2008
The Challenge of Assessing the Creative Economy: towards informed Policy-making

This report makes good reading for policymakers and anyone interested to be in the creative business. Also comes with a forest of facts & figures to be plucked & used in your own biz presentations.

Excerpts:
"The creative economy has the potential to generate income and jobs while promoting social inclusion, cultural diversity and human development."

"This Report provides empirical evidence that the creative industries are among the most dynamic emerging sectors in world trade."

"The large majority of developing countries are not yet able to harness their creative capacities for development."

"The policy-oriented analysis presented in this Report represents an initial contribution to developing a better understanding of the key issues underlying the creative economy and its development dimension."

A more thorough overview of the report can be found here.
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> Download report (pdf 2.5Mb).

This Report is the fruit of a collaborative effort that was led by UNCTAD and the UNDP Special Unit for South-South Cooperation and that included a team of experts from the collaborating UN agencies – UNCTAD, UNDP, UNESCO, WIPO and ITC – as well as international consultants.

Design & Crisis

kakireka smalltalk 11.0 -- Design & Crisis
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Implications of current financial crisis on Brands
by: Liza Low, Identity Matters

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The Bukit Antarabangsa landslide aftermath from a designer/victim's point of view
by: Asri Ahmad, wREGA member

19 Dec 2008 - FRIDAY
7:00 - 9:00pm
Ole Cafe (upstairs), Changkat Bukit Bintang, K.L.

FREE & open to public. Light refreshments served. come early to mingle & chat. limited seats.

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- - COMING SOON - -

2009 schedule for kakireka smalltalks

JAN - Design & Cultural Heritage
"Malaysian Design - a vernacular or copycat?"
FEB - Design & the Built Environment
MAR - Design & Photography
APR - Design & Event Management
MAY - Design & Character Animation
JUN - Design & Print Publishing

Details will be announced as soon as they are confirmed.
If you would like to attend or be a speaker at any of these smalltalk events, drop us a line for an invite. Venue will be at Ole Cafe unless specified otherwise. All are welcome.

Pipit 2nd. Anniversary at Zouk

Pipit celebrates their 2nd. Anniversary in true artsy designer style! With short film screenings, installations, design product booths, LIVE digital art demo, DJ performance. Go for the ideation, demonstration and collaboration.
> details here.

Pipit is a project that actively support worldwide independent artist and designer, promote art design related project, exhibition and other creative activities, keen to provide source , information.

Pipit is also an online community , publisher , agency that produce independent creative issue, organize event and crossover project.

- congrats, Mike! & all the best from kakireka.

MDeC Targets 6 Partnerships In Creative Content Industry

Multimedia Development Corporation (MDeC) is targeting at least six co-production partnerships between Malaysian companies and regional counterparts for animation, television, games and virtual reality projects.

Its vice president of creative multimedia department, Kamil Othman, said four companies in Malaysia were currently involved in co-production with Korean parties in creative content covering animation, television, games and virtual reality. Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the Second MSC Malaysia Creative Industry Dialogue Session today, Kamil said MDeC was eyeing more successful partnerships between Malaysian companies and those from Thailand, Australia and South Africa next year.

He said the formalization of cooperation treaties between the National Film Development Corporation (FINAS) and its counterparts in Canada, Australia and Singapore scheduled next year will also boost the local creative content industry.

Kamil said to take the local creative content industry to greater heights, Malaysia will need to adopt a different approach. Previously, local content players have been focusing on production. We need to put more emphasis on pre-production in churning ideas and designs as well as scripting," he said.

According to Kamil, MDeC is passionate about its vision to help local content players be more successful globally. "When we go overseas for our trade missions, we bring these companies along so that they can find their potential partners and see how other players in the world are doing," he said.

Kamil said another area that MDeC wanted to do more was to help local content players in intellectual property. We will assist them by creating more awareness in intellectual property through cyberlaw conferences so that they will not be exploited," he said.

In addition, MDeC was also providing assistance in the form of grants to help local content players, Kamil said. He also said that the biggest opportunity for the content industry was the government's plan to have high speed broadband for the nation.

Source: Bernama 14Nov2008

Kyoorius Design Yatra Powerup

Being a "jaga pintu", it is inevitable to bump into so many familiar faces from my past during the Kyoorius DesignYatra conference event held last week 14Nov2008. And also nice to have made quite a few new friends too.

These design conference-type events are so important to designers to get a boost of insight, inspiration and brief respite from our hectic agency life of never-ending deadlines. The event topics covered was not only inspirational, but also aspirational with bits of the cynical and critical all rojak mix-up "ABC campur-campur" like what Kath Tudball would say. Maybe will post a detailed review later.

Meanwhile, here's to hoping there will be many more conferences to come in negaraku.

Watch this space for lots of interesting kakireka monthly smalltalk events from the contacts I've made at this Kyoorius design event.

May Those Who Help The Most Win

Are you a do-gooder? Do you like helping others? Occasionally dreams of being a hero? Imagine yourself saving the world by saving the cheerleader? But you don't have a superpower to speak of. And yet, you have big ideas on how to make the world a better place but lack the resources to carry them out. Well, now here's your chance.

Google has just announced Project 10¹⁰⁰ (pronounced "Project 10 to the 100th"), a worldwide call for ideas to change the world by helping as many people as possible. This is in conjunction with their 10th birthday.

Why is Google doing this?
The short answer is that Google thinks helping people is a good thing, and empowering people to help others is an even better thing. Here's the long answer.

How it works:
1. Send Google your idea by October 20th. Describe the gist of your idea by filling out the official entry form. You can supplement your proposal with a 30-second video.
2. Voting on ideas begins on January 27th on the Best 100 ideas and the public to vote the Top 20 semi-finalists. Then an advisory board will select up to 5 final ideas.
3. Google will help bring these ideas to life by committing $10 million to implement these projects, and the goal is to help as many people as possible.

Idea Categories:
// Community: How can we help connect people, build communities and protect unique cultures? // Opportunity: How can we help people better provide for themselves and their families? // Energy: How can we help move the world toward safe, clean, inexpensive energy? // Environment: How can we help promote a cleaner and more sustainable global ecosystem? // Health: How can we help individuals lead longer, healthier lives? // Education: How can we help more people get more access to better education? // Shelter: How can we help ensure that everyone has a safe place to live? // Everything else: Sometimes the best ideas don't fit into any category at all.

Criteria:
- Reach: How many people would this idea affect?
- Depth: How deeply are people impacted? How urgent is the need?
- Attainability: Can this idea be implemented within a year or two?
- Efficiency: How simple and cost-effective is your idea?
- Longevity: How long will the idea's impact last?

This is a great example of branding at its best. The whole concept & idea is so ideal v& unique to the Google brand. From the project name "Project 10¹⁰⁰" which is basically a googol, to the scale, scope & overall goal of helping to make the world a better place. Go Google Go!

note: the reward is simply making the world a better place. If you read the FAQ, you'll discover there's no $ in it for you even if you win. But if you're a true superhero, you wouldn't care about that, would you?

wREGA Members Night

wREGA or the Graphic Designers Association of Malaysia will be having a Members Night this coming Wednesday in KL.

An informal get-together over drinks and snacks and for members to find out more about wREGA's activities & exciting plans for 2008 & 2009. All existing members will receive their official 2008-09 members pack from the current wREGA President, Koh Lee Meng.

Date: 24 SEPT 2008 (WED)
Venue: OLE CAFE
Time: 7:00pm* - 10:00pm *updated

Non-members & guests are also most welcome - if you wish to join the official registered design association in Malaysia, wREGA, attend this event to find out more & introduce yourself to other designers/members.

note: wREGA = wakaf REka GrAfik

FREE Seminar Independent Filmmaking: Creative Strategies and Multi-Market Thinking for Film

by: Michael Wiese,
(International Producer & Publisher)

25 Sept 2008 - THUR 10am - 5pm
26 Sept 2008 - FRI 10am - 1pm
Venue : Theater P.Ramlee, FINAS

A lively and informal seminar of 'must-know' information for professional filmmakers, writers, producers and covers the creative business and programming strategies necessary for creating success with your project and getting noticed in the overcrowded world arena.

Michael Wiese will share tips for raising financing, finding distributors and avoiding the traps found in standard distribution contracts. His specially designed PITCH SESSION, Wiese will help you find your unique voice and skills and turn your special gifts into a vocation. Participants at Michael's previous seminars have rated Michael's seminar 93% to 96% "at meeting or exceeding expectations". An engaging and challenging event is anticipated for the Kuala Lumpur creative and business community.

The seminar, will be tailored to attendees needs and may cover some or all of the following topics:

• Case Study of "Bali Brothers"
• Develop a Successful script
• Give Investors What They Want
• Get Financing from Investors, Distributors and others
• Add Promotable Elements to Your Package
• Prepare a Business Plan
• Prepare Income Projections
• Spin Plates Among Stars, Investors, Distributors and Sponsors
• Assemble a Winning Team
• Obtain Marketing which is More Important than Dollars
• Cover Yourself Legally
• Put Together Financial Projections
• Identify Hidden Sources of Money In Your Project
• Find Producing Partners
• Target Distributors
• Develop Your Own Pitch that Sells
• Identify Your Own Unique Skills
• Choose The Right Digital Tools
• Get Into Production

Michael Wiese is an America filmmaker, author, seminar leader, and publisher who lives in England. He was formerly Vice President at Vestron, at one time America's largest independent studio, where he oversaw the production and distribution of over 200 videos in all genres grossing over $100 million. He was also responsible for launching video lines for National Geographic, Smithsonian, NOVA and PBS. Currently he oversees Michael Wiese Productions which publishes over 100 professional film and video books that are used in the major motion picture studios and in 600+ film schools throughout the world. He had presented filmmaking seminars for Kodak (Cannes Film Festival), The Independent Feature Project, The American Film Institute (15 yrs) and Rockport's International Film and Television Workshops. He is currently is preparing to direct a feature film based on his 1995 novel in Bali. interview1, interview2.

Interested?
REGISTER here to get your free DVD, CDROM and course material.

JayLim's Ms.Hua Dances with Flowers to Nanyang via Penang

What's up in Penang's design scene?
An upcoming exhibition by JayLim who will reveal his first signature style & character design, "Miss Hua" – the fictional character of a young woman based on the Shanghai 50’s era.

This is part of a cross-cultural project with a group of talented artist/designers from Malaysia, Singapore and Taiwan, namely Nakanari, Josef Lee, Muid Latif, Urban-Cr3atures and Fusionwave.

“There is a huge following in western culture and modern living, and this situation will have an effect on the identity of a country, or a person. Even the cultural heritage that we see still standing along Petaling Street and Jalan Mesui, for example, is an integral link between the past and the future that continuously shape our perspective and understanding of the present world". - JL.

The exhibition will have designers sharing stories and their experiences in the ever-demanding creative industry through keynote speakers Lim Chun-Woei (Han Chiang College), Muid Latif (CD/founder of DMP), Luk Chee Chew (Fusionwave) & JayLim. The exhibition will feature a variety of styles and perspectives through poster designs.

Exhibition & Talks
"A Journey to Nanyang – Dance with the Flowers"
19 & 20 Sept 2008 11am – 5pm
Han Chiang College, Lim Lean Teng Road, Georgetown, Penang.

note: the above article content is adapted from JayLim's event blog.