At Asia Inc Forum, we outsourced our artwork to one of Brunei’s leading design firm, MixmediaWorx (MMW) who handles the top projects in the country and abroad, including the design of APEC logo in Singapore for 2009 and the revamp of BEDB branding strategy.
As a marketing guy for Asia Inc Forum, we churned out different newspaper advertisement each week for our conferences, and engaged MMW company to produce ebooks, brochures, banners and the whole nine yards.
Being situated just across the road from Asia Inc Forum office, MMW soon became my second office where I “go to escape, and escaped to go.”
The team does not have any rulebook on culture, yet the kind of bonding that gelled them together falls nothing short of the characters in the book Tribal Leadership; with the common purpose of always pushing the envelop for their clients in applying their own final touch to the storyboard.
What attracted me to this bunch of designers most, was not only the fact that they are rock star looking, music savvy and Birkenstock wearing laid back artists, but the very contagious energy that they transpired. Not to mentioned, these are the only people who get my humour (hopefully not out of courtesy, as I was the client).
Being the top agency they are, you often see multiple of projects on hand at any one time, which must have been immensely stressful. However, you get no hint of stress at all in the office, it was always calm, relaxed and above all, fun!
The guys often stayed back overnight to get the jobs done for clients without much hesitation. To them, it is just like a college hangout hub, having fun except the kind of fun that people pay for!
The Tribal Leader, Azlan being a seasoned designer himself, explained that managing a bunch of creative people is a totally different ball game. “It is about trust, empowerment and the discipline of not micromanaging”.
Sounds a lot like he is not doing anything, but on the contrary, it is the exact leadership style employed by Zen Master, Phil Jackson of the Lakers and the legendary Chicago Bulls, who have the discipline of letting the players work things out in the final minutes of championship games without calling any time out!
I had an epiphany looking around the designers working on different clients’ projects one day, it occurred to me what these guys are doing are essentially “Beautifying Brunei” with their magical touch! An important vocation which these bunch of kids have no idea they are part taking on.
Working today at MixmediaWorx is another crazy designer who has volunteered his service for free for the whole of last month, in order to get his foot in the door. During the time, Kyll along with the gang stayed over night to get projects done, tag along to meetings and was treated as one of the tribe.
Not to mention, I have also became a permanent member of the imminent MixmediaWorx, as a partner to the sister company, Catalyst, with ambitious vision of making a difference with the never say die rock star attitude.
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