Making a Student Committee Branding (HMIF) more Alive
My study program had this student committee (HMIF ITB) designed to connect students and alumni, support our professional development, and serve as a central hub for community activities. But at the time, the organization struggled to attract interest. Participation to join the events was low and previous members had become inactive. When I was invited to lead the visual design team, I saw an opportunity to change more than how the organization looked. I wanted to change how it felt. My biggest question was:
What should an organization made for students by students actually feel like?
Exploring
Students didn’t see a reason to get involved.
I started with informal conversations with students to understand what was keeping them from participating. One pattern quickly emerged: HMIF didn’t feel relevant, exciting, or worth the time. But for students who were already part of the organization, HMIF felt like a second home. It was a community where they felt safe being themselves. They felt surrounded by people who were there for one another, not for personal or transactional gain.
I don’t think I see the benefit of joining in the committee.
I know HMIF existed. But I’d rather get an internship instead.
Seems dull and not fun for me. Just wasting my time.
It felt like I was surrounded with people with the same struggle and mindset.
I see myself growing in here, beyond my coding experience. I learn to lead and to manage people.
Back then, HMIF’s branding was rigid and very professional. The previous visual direction seemed to emphasize students as ambitious professionals looking for opportunities to grow. Although that is not 100% wrong, there are countless of other alternative platforms where students picked more, like internships, competitions, communities, and other external programs.
What made HMIF different was something more personal. We were students going through many of the same struggles, learning together, supporting one another, and trying to figure things out side by side. The value of HMIF was not only in helping students grow professionally, but in giving them a sense of belonging while they did.
This revealed a disconnect between how HMIF was presented and how members actually experienced it. The organization looked formal from the outside, while inside, it felt warm, familiar, and deeply communal. The design challenge, then, was not to create a new identity from scratch, but to bring the sense of warmth, belonging, and personality that members already experienced into the way HMIF presented itself.
Design Decisions
Making the organization feel more human, playful, and approachable
I wanted HMIF Lentera to feel like something students could see themselves being part of. The visual direction therefore focused on three principles: playful color, real people, and expressive illustration.
A more playful color system
Green and yellow came from HMIF’s existing logo and jahim (the organization’s signature jacket). I expanded those familiar colors into a brighter, more playful palette to create a visual identity that still felt recognizably HMIF, but much more energetic.
Putting people at the center
Photography became a major part of the visual language. Rather than presenting HMIF as an abstract institution, I wanted students to constantly see the actual people, friendships, and personalities behind it.
Illustration as personality
Illustrations gave the brand more room to be playful and expressive. They helped transform informational posts into content that felt closer to student culture rather than traditional organizational communication.
Less corporate. More student-led.
Instagram as our main Channel
Instagram became the main place where the new identity came to life. I created the overarching visual direction and design guidelines, then translated the system into recurring social content that the team could consistently produce.
Posts were less informal too
We encouraged the team to share more casual Reels and videos that showed what members were actually doing. These less-polished formats helped people see HMIF beyond its formal programs. They showed the personalities, relationships, and experiences behind the organization. The response was noticeably stronger: people engaged more with these stories.
- 21+
- Instagram Posts
- 5K+
- Views per Reels
It’s been 2 years since the rebrand, yet HMIF still maintains its playful branding.
HMIF 2023-2024 still maintain our core colors, and kept pushing to put people in the center of the contents.
HMIF 2024–2025 continued that direction while pushing the visual language further. The next team introduced a stronger retro-inspired aesthetic and experimented with a broader range of colors.
Reflection
This project taught me that leading a visual identity is different from designing one. Creating the initial direction was only the beginning. The bigger challenge was making sure an eight-person team could interpret that direction consistently while producing content regularly. I want to thank the team for trusting me to build this bold rebranding.
