With more than a decade of experience in creating iconic and impactful works globally, Alvin Tjitrowirjo understands that creativity is a psychological tool to synthesize fiction and logic to formulate new ideas and solutions. It’s also—In today's context of over-creation and over-consumption—a two-headed sword that bears a big moral and psychological responsibility that will either save or harm the future of our planet and humanity itself. 

He proposes that we consistently question the status quo and proactively challenge the norm with new ideas. That nothing in this world is static, from the earth's surface, culture, technology, belief systems, or even human behavior. Boundaries are never set, and it's an illusive perimeter of our understanding towards context formed in a constant motion of tension between ideal and real.  

What’s the ideal condition of working on a project with a client for Alvin?

“A condition of clarity in expectation, understanding, respect towards each other's strengths and weaknesses, and equal will to progress and to be better at it. A healthy problem and conflicts.”

Description text goes here"All innovations [begin] as creative solutions, but not all creative solutions become innovations." — Richard Fobes

Creativity for Lucia is considered as one of the most valuable characteristics of human beings that has made a big impact on her life when utilized. Although creativity can help push boundaries and breed innovation, but before anything else, she sees that there’s a need to empty one’s cup, to know one’s desires, goals, and dreams, and to be committed to a decision in order to bend the boundaries. 

Why does Lucia think boundaries need to be pushed? 

“There's a myth saying if you put a frog in a pot filled with pleasantly tepid water and gradually heat it, the frog will remain in the water until it boils to death. This myth always reminds me to be careful, to watch slowly changing trends in the environment, not just the sudden change. It's a  warning to keep us paying attention not just to obvious threats but to more slowly developing ones (one of my ideas to push my boundaries is taking a leap from the comfort zone).”

Creativity for Meryl is like a martial art that allows us to see life in a brighter lens. It has to be trained everyday to let us experience more color in life.

By honing our creative skills, as well as maintaining good logic and mental strength in considering things two steps ahead, Meryl believes it will help us push boundaries and bring us to a better place.

Who inspires Meryl and why?

“Good people. From their good intentions, good thinking, good attitude and good action.”

To quote her professor at Harvard GSD, “When you go back, don’t adjust. Be a stranger to your own country.” As a creative, she processes this advice as a reminder on taking a stranger's perspective in order to create meaningful change. A stranger who is filled with assumptions but ready to challenge it. And in solving problems, she invites clients to become partners in taking this perspective.

What inspires you and why?

“Inspirations can come from everywhere, but for me, the most significant ones have always been my immediate surroundings. Therefore, I always believe in creating an environment conducive to me to encounter new things by ‘accidents’, getting inspired, and, more importantly, having time to reflect.”

Creativity, for Salsabila, means one’s response, readiness, and consistency in giving things around us a meaning as well as trying to make things work towards better results. Recognizing clients’ problems also requires this, because without it, our understanding may not be profound. Thus the solution may not be as great as it should be.

What inspires you and why?

“I'd like to be inspired by something that is overlooked, something ordinary but sticks to us as we grow. That kind of thing is close and dear to us and touches us in higher meaning.”

For this Universitas of Pelita Harapan graduate, being creative is an important human’s natural skill to build endurance and responsiveness towards uncertainty. It is also, in a way, about playing with boundaries, and in continuously doing so, we level up our said skill and drive growth.

How to be inspired?

“Become an empathetic person. By getting into the users' shoes, we can understand their perspective deeper, so that we can be better at solving their problems. Wanting to be useful and positively impact others and society.

Always keep an open mind, that nothing is impossible. We should not take imagination for granted because ideas and imagination have no limits.”

Applying creativity in one’s life includes the awareness of seeing possibilities of new connections, ways of communicating, or sometimes, how to entertain ourselves and other people. Creative solutions are that and more. But for Nesia, we also need to be careful and be able to identify which one can be considered as Band-Aid solutions. The band-aid kind is addictive like some drugs. Eventually, it will trap us inside a mounting delayed problem.

What inspires you and why?

“The colors of nature, the city abuzz, people, books, new and old movies, games, toys and more. Simple things in life observed in a new way can become very resourceful for inspiration for me.”