Indonesia Design (iD) has been a source of inspiration for design enthusiasts for 15 years. Those who started reading iD since they were students may have become professionals by now. Those who read our magazine when establishing their start-up may be reaping their harvest. Started in July 2003, iD began as a magazine called Desain Indonesia, created by BCI Asia and circulated to members only. Published in Indonesian language only, the magazine exclusively focused on architecture and engineering, and was filled with project data and sketches. A change of ownership brought about a new name and identity as Indonesia Design, a lifestyle design magazine. After all these years, iD remains consistent in highlighting the best of Indonesia’s design world, portrayed in aesthetically pleasing pages. Here are our layouts from the beginning to date – you might be familiar with some of them.
Ed. 3-35
The brand was acquired by PT Tatanan Daya Prima in mid 2004. Three years later, the magazine was renamed to Indonesia Design. We became a bilingual publication, publishing a different theme with each edition, and sporting our logo that combines “Indonesia” in yellow uppercase Century Gothic font against a contrasting maroon box; and “Design” in lowercase with our iconic red dot on the letter ‘i’.
At the time, our covers were photos or 3D renders taken from one of the main features. Each had a symbol and colour that represented the character of the buildings or spaces we published. For our main features, we often colour-blocked the page to match the photos of the project.
Ed. 36-54
Starting from the 36th edition, our logo went outside the box, literally. The same logo font was taken out from the red and black boxes and placed directly on the cover photo. The colour of the logo also changed according to the cover. This change introduced a more stylish and contemporary look with added design flexibility.
As we started to shift to a lifestyle design magazine, we challenged our creativity boundaries by featuring a wider range of design disciplines with a more modern layout to readers. It came with larger photos, white background and neat layout that made it easier to read. Combinations of sans serif fonts were still used.
Ed. 55-89
Canny Ciomas Sutanto took over the graphic designer position in mid 2013. She brought radical and significant design templates for the magazine – sleeker, more structured and more modern. The logo includes the bold “iD” initial with our iconic red dot.
We started to commission our covers to companies and individuals like Mohammad ‘Emte’ Taufiq, Nusae, and Nady Azhry, and legacy names like Rinaldy Yunardi (Yung Yung), Masriadi and Sunaryo. The covers had more room for creativity.
Inside, the layout is consistently neat and easy to follow. We meet the international publication standards with elements such as informative header and footer, and aesthetic typography (sans serif fonts for titles and standfirst and serif fonts for body text). In Canny’s template, each article has their own colour so the readers would notice when the article changes.
Starting from our 60th edition in January 2014, we’ve been publishing in English only.
Canny left to Bremen, Germany to continue her studies and work away from our office until 2016. Thanks to her, iD won the Best Overall Design in 2015 Asian Media Awards.