Dear reader, it has been a good while since our last article, hasn’t it? For the past year and a half (almost two years, if you will), we’ve been putting together what might be our biggest work of the year, which is something that we’ve been wanting to put out for some time.

We started our journey back in 2005, full of ideas and ideals, wanting to change the world and all with design, quite like a lot of designers’ dreams out there. With grit, relentless spirit, and ever-growing sentiment, we make ends meet, changing how the world looks while paying the bills. The journey that led us to our 10th-year mark of existence, we wanted to share our thoughts out there, of what it was like to run the business, establish our design service in the best way possible while running back and forth to the idea board. We were prepared to the point that we had a physical draft of the book. Inside it was a number of takes on design, a bit of theory, more practice, and a lot of stories. But as days went by, the thought of publishing it was actually step-stopping. We questioned ourselves, were we really ready? Did we have enough years and experience under our belt to share a story people will read?

That moment propelled us to continue doing what we do for another 5-6 years. Gaining even more ideas, and of course, plenty of wisdom comes with grey hair. The thought of that book was watching over us and it was becoming into “a dream job that doesn’t get to happen because life happens”. Around that time as well, we realized that if we’re not ready now, we will never be ready. Slowly but surely, time gives its loan and takes. When you touch a 15-year mark, you step back and see it for yourself that, it really has been a long journey. Until you realize the journey ahead of you is even longer and reality knocks some sense into you that maybe, just maybe, we do need to grow up. We decided that this momentum would be the best time to share how we felt all that time.

Time goes on passing, and we carry on, now with less naivety, a bit more wisdom, more strands of white hair with our inner child still kept safe inside all of us. And the stories of that journey are here now, all in the 12 chapters of We Refuse To Grow Up.

We scratched all that we had in the 10th year anniversary book and started fresh on a blank canvas. Now, We Refuse To Grow Up is less on theories and more on stories. After running a design studio for more than 15 years, we thought that bits and pieces of our thoughts could resonate with someone out there, with our contemplations on the profession. In We Refuse To Grow Up, you will also find further digs into the relationship between the designer and the client, which story is something we often exchange as a designer with each other.  It touches rarely-discussed subjects in the Indonesian design industry, with our profession being undervalued yet constantly growing interests as time goes. We Refuse To Grow Up also dissects our various approaches in designing since the design process is something that is never exact. Or is it? While we’ve discovered these approaches to share with the world, perhaps it could lead you to undiscovered ones–because, in design, there is always room for another finding.

These are only parts of the book, and the rest is for you to discover. If it does resonate with someone some people out there, if it resonates with you, we would love, and can’t wait to hear it.