City Branding Today: A Conversation with ADGI Bandung
In mid-December, the Bandung City Government officially launched its latest city branding logo. As stated in the official press release, the logo is positioned as a strategic step to strengthen Bandung’s image as a leading tourism city grounded in culture, tourism, and the creative economy at the national level. The unveiling quickly sparked discussion within the design community, prompting renewed questions about how the process of designing a city’s identity—or city branding—should be carried out, and how significant the role of designers ought to be at every stage. In response to these questions, we spoke with Theo Gennardy and Ahmad Rifqi Anshorulloh from the Indonesian Graphic Designers Association (ADGI) Bandung Chapter.
At its core, city branding is an effort to communicate a city’s identity through values, character, and strengths that are reflected visually. As such, city branding should serve as a reflection of a city’s reality, rather than an artificial image constructed without a solid foundation. A successful city identity aligns with the lives of its people and responds to the challenges the city faces. Naturally, achieving this requires city branding to go through an ideal process. Generally, a sound process begins with research and an open, in-depth understanding of the city’s conditions. This research should also explore public perception as well as designers’ perspectives.
“Oftentimes, the orientation of city branding was immediately toward visuals. Yes, that’s important, but for us, research is also a crucial initial stage—deep study really matters. City branding isn’t just about visuals; it’s also about understanding the city itself,” said Rifqi, a member of ADGI’s Chapter Advisory Board and founder of Studiomocho.
Beyond research, the involvement of decision-makers is another determining factor in the city branding process. Local governments need to engage design communities, academics, and residents alike in discussions and in shaping a city’s identity. This participatory approach is essential to ensure that a city's brand is not top-down and elitist, but genuinely represents a collective voice. A process that is less than ideal and lacking in collective transparency, he added, can have serious consequences for a city. “If a launch is rushed and doesn’t take public conditions into account, city branding can become a boomerang for the government,” Rifqi stressed.
Successful city branding in Indonesia generally does not emerge from instant approaches or purely visual solutions, but from processes that understand a city’s context and involve both designers and the public. One notable example is Plus Jakarta. Developed in collaboration with 6616 Creative House, Plus Jakarta was conceived as a flexible and open identity system. On its official website, 6616 Creative House explains that, reflecting Jakarta’s diverse districts and cultures, the “+” symbol represents the city’s six administrative regions: North, South, Central, West, and East Jakarta, as well as Pulau Seribu. The identity is set in Plus Jakarta Sans, a typeface designed by Tokotype, in which each letter features its own variation, ranging from more rounded to sharper forms.
This approach is significant given Jakarta’s complexity and its constantly evolving identity. Plus Jakarta does not lock the city’s image into a single character; instead, it allows room for diverse narratives, communities, and initiatives to contribute to the meaning of “plus.” Its success also lies in consistent implementation. The identity appears not only in promotional materials, but is applied across official provincial government communications, public programs, and urban activations.
Another compelling example is the use of the Bogor City mascot, RuBo. Unlike branding approaches that emphasize abstract symbols or formal slogans, Bogor chose a more approachable route by introducing a mascot character. In its development, the Bogor City Government collaborated with graphic designer and visual artist Mahdi Albart, a Bogor resident who observes the city’s growth on a daily basis. This allowed for a deep understanding of local conditions to be translated into visual form. The approach has proven effective, particularly as Bogor recognizes the rapid growth of micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs), enabling the mascot to be utilized by MSMEs throughout the city.
An ideal city branding process is also reflected in the selection of Surabaya’s new visual identity. The Surabaya City Government, in collaboration with ADGI Surabaya Chapter, organized an open, quality-based selection through an open call that allowed designers from various backgrounds and regions to participate. From dozens of applicants, three finalists; Jafar Atthoyar, Christine Sutanto, and Abraham Zoesa, were chosen to proceed to the design development stage, demonstrating a commitment to fair competition and transparent curation.
The process extended beyond visual selection alone, encompassing a series of Focus Group Discussions (FGDs), incubation, and intensive mentoring involving the Surabaya City Government and an expert team spanning multiple disciplines, from design practitioners to academics. This collaborative approach ensured that the resulting identity remained grounded in historical context, social character, and the dynamics of its citizens. Through sustained dialogue, design was positioned as the outcome of a deep understanding of the city as a shared living space.
The official launch of Jafar Atthoyar’s logo during Surabaya’s 732nd anniversary marked the success of a healthy and accountable city design process. It demonstrated how city branding should be conducted: transparently, research-driven, involving professional communities, and upholding quality and sustainability.
Openness, ultimately, is the key to sustaining city branding. A strong city brand always begins with honesty about existing conditions and potentials, including limitations that still need to be addressed. City branding should not conceal problems, but rather serve as a tool to articulate a vision for change. Only then can city branding truly function, rather than becoming a mere gimmick, as reflected in the concerns expressed by Rifqi and Theo. “City branding is good, but there are still many social conditions that need to be resolved. Can city branding be a solution? Not necessarily. Unfortunately, in the end, much city branding becomes gimmickry, mere image-making. City branding should represent all elements of society, not just the elite. Can it reflect the city’s real conditions and boost the local economy? That’s how far the thinking needs to go. That’s why it can’t be done carelessly,” Rifqi said.
Echoing Rifqi’s view, Theo, as Chair of ADGI Bandung Chapter, emphasized that the label “City of Design” for Bandung should not remain merely a title, but be genuinely reflected across all aspects of the city. “With Bandung’s designation as a City of Design, the city government should not focus only on surface appearances—on beautiful visuals alone—but also think of Bandung as a well-designed city. That includes how to design a proper process for a city identity, good urban planning, good urban security design, so that design truly has an impact on its people.”
Ultimately, conversations about city branding always return to one fundamental question: for whom is a city’s identity designed? More than a visual symbol, city branding should serve as both a tool for reflection and a shared commitment to designing cities that are more just, open, and livable for their residents. Bandung’s experience, alongside lessons from other cities, shows that strong city identities do not emerge from unilateral decisions or rushed processes, but from honest dialogue, deep research, and the courage to involve diverse voices. It is at this point that the role of designers becomes crucial—not as mere decorators of a city’s image, but as critical partners who ensure that design remains aligned with the public interest. If city branding is to be truly meaningful, it must move beyond image-making and evolve into a responsible, sustainable practice of city branding rooted in the everyday lives of its citizens.
