MATA Studio and the “Off Grid” Experimentation for ADGI Design Week 2026

Every year, ADGI Design Week provides a space for the design community to come together, learn, collaborate, and celebrate the practice of graphic design. Entering its 2026 edition, the theme “Off Grid” serves as a point of departure to reconsider how graphic design continues to move beyond the boundaries of disciplines, mediums, and systems that have shaped it. The theme is translated into a visual identity designed by Jakarta-based MATA Studio.

For Agra Satria, Creative Director at MATA Studio, the theme “Off Grid” feels particularly relevant to the changes taking place in graphic design, especially over the past few years. While graphic design was once largely understood through two-dimensional mediums, its development has become increasingly fluid, intersecting with various other fields; from architecture, fashion, and interior design to film, technology, music, and fine art. “Graphic design is never linear,” Agra says. For him, “Off Grid” can be read as an invitation to challenge conventions, rethink established systems, and open up new possibilities.

Together with Andrea Reza and Dio Augtalio, Agra Satria sought to build a system that is not entirely bound by order, while still maintaining a strong identity. If the identities of the previous two editions felt more intact, structured, and tech-oriented, this year the team instead looked for something more tactile, organic, experimental, and imperfect.

One of the most direct translations of the “Off Grid” theme can be found in the logotype. Rather than creating a logo with a fixed and structured composition, the team imagined an identity that could continuously change. “We wanted to challenge the convention of how logos are usually made to be very structured,” Agra explains. The logotype is designed to allow for different configurations, reflecting the idea of a system that continuously evolves and expands.

In terms of colour, the visual identity of ADGI Design Week 2026 remains rooted in red, white, and black. The system is then expanded with the addition of one extra colour: electric pink. This addition introduces a vibrant and more expressive dimension to the identity. If the theme “Off Grid” speaks to the courage to step outside existing structures, the colour further reinforces an identity that is more experimental and responsive to the visual expressions of the current generation. The colour palette also takes into consideration the spatial context of where ADGI Design Week 2026 will take place. “Because the interior of ASHTA District 8 tends to be more monochromatic and dark, the pink creates a contrast in the visual implementation,” Agra further explains.

Finding graphic design in everyday life

The logotype and key visual of ADGI Design Week 2026 also bring the concept into more tactile territory. The team took an approach centred on found objects; objects that already exist within the everyday creative process but often go unnoticed. Staplers, rulers, scissors, sewing materials, pins, parts of furniture, and various graphic objects found in their surroundings became starting points for experimentation. These objects were collected based on each team member’s experiences and observations, then arranged and photographed to form letters. Dio explains that some objects already had silhouettes resembling certain letterforms, while others needed to be arranged, stacked, or combined to create the desired alphabetic characters.

This found-object approach also grew out of a desire to make room once again for things made by hand. For Agra, manual processes offer a way to represent the increasingly collaborative nature of design today. “Even though the output remains digital, the process itself involves the hand,” he says.

The principle was then applied through a participatory process. Every member of the team had the opportunity to take part in creating the letters, with Agra even inviting his child to make several characters. In this way, the design process became a space for more people to take part in its creation.

This participatory approach feels particularly important because, according to Agra, graphic design does not stop at aesthetics. As its name suggests, design serves a communicative function and is ultimately used by many people. Involving more hands in the process of creating it therefore becomes part of seeing design as an open and collective practice.

The exploration of the ADGI Design Week 2026 identity also extends to its applications, including merchandise. Rather than simply placing visual assets onto products, the team saw merchandise as an opportunity to bring the personal and participatory qualities of the “Off Grid” identity into a more intimate experience for visitors. One idea that emerged was the use of bag charms as customisable and personalisable accessories. In the context of the event, this format opens up the possibility for identity elements to move beyond a visual that is worn uniformly, allowing them instead to be arranged and selected according to individual preferences.

The idea aligns with the character of an identity that was never designed to exist in just one configuration. The same assets can appear in different arrangements and applications, creating a slightly different experience for each person.

The visual identity of ADGI Design Week 2026 attempts to translate “Off Grid” not simply through an appearance that looks irregular, but through a way of thinking about design itself. Somewhere between the grid and what exists beyond it, ADGI Design Week 2026 finds a visual language that seeks to capture the character of design today: more collaborative, material, participatory, and open to possibility.

The visual identity can be experienced together at ADGI Design Week 2026, taking place from 14 to 18 October 2026 at ASHTA District 8.