Designer: 81st Indonesian Independence Day Logo Inspired by Founding Fathers' Perspective
“Whatever the public interprets, that is precisely the point that unites us.”
Jakarta (ANTARA) — The winner of the design competition for the 81st anniversary logo of the Republic of Indonesia, Fajar Novario, revealed that the design process was inspired by the way the nation’s founders viewed and interpreted Indonesia’s diversity.
“We took the perspective of the founding fathers. We positioned ourselves as the founding fathers of Indonesia back then, when they were formulating Pancasila,” Fajar told ANTARA when contacted on Wednesday.
Fajar said he and his team initially tried to incorporate dozens of symbols and visuals considered representative of the theme “Sovereign, Just, and Prosperous”.
“We received fairly harsh criticism from the association, because it was too grandiose and too ‘matchy’, so to speak,” said Fajar.
He then restarted the creative process and attempted to adopt the perspective of the founding fathers when they formulated the foundations of the state.
Fajar drew inspiration from readings on the founders’ thinking regarding a shared destiny, unity, and love of the homeland.
“We tried to relate those three to current design styles and themes. From those three instruments, they formulated Pancasila,” said Fajar, a graduate of the Visual Communication Design programme at Universitas Negeri Padang.
However, this approach was not manifested directly in the logo’s visuals, but instead became a way of thinking in searching for a symbol capable of representing Indonesia’s diversity.
He ultimately chose to present a visual form that was simple, bold, and open to various public interpretations.
Fajar explained that the interlocking figure of eight in the logo symbolises collectivity, mutual cooperation (gotong royong), and synergy across the layers of society.
Meanwhile, the connection between the figures eight and one depicts growth towards a shared goal.
Fajar said he deliberately avoided giving the logo an overly specific meaning, so that people from diverse cultural backgrounds could interpret it according to their own experiences.
“Whatever the public interprets, that is precisely the point that unites us,” he said.
He added that the logo was also designed with principles of legibility and ease of application in mind, so it can be widely used across various media.
“We made it as easy as possible for the public to accept, easy to see, and easy to apply,” he said.
Fajar, who hails from Padang, West Sumatra, and is also co-founder of Auman Design Bureau and initiator of Padang Desain Area, was selected as the winner of the 81st Independence Day logo competition after a series of selection stages, ranging from portfolio curation, interviews, and intensive mentoring, to a public vote.
His design received 44.73 percent of the total 68,569 votes cast during the five-day voting period.
Through his design, Fajar put forward the concept of “Collective, Synergy, Growing”. His design defeated four other contenders: a logo by David Wirawan P from Surakarta, Central Java, with the concept “8 Hopes, 1 Goal”; and a logo by Kanda Putra from Denpasar, Bali, carrying the concept “Connected Humanity”.
The remaining contenders were a design by Rizkiawan from Malang, East Java, with the concept “Empowered, Equal, Synergising Together”, and finally a design by Tiffany Djohan from Batam, Riau Islands, with the concept “Democracy and Independence”.