The Young and the Cultured: The Visual Identity of Awan Cerah 2026 by NUSAÉ

For most people, culture is often understood as a heritage that needs to be preserved, something whose form is already settled. NUSAÉ, a design studio based in Bandung, sees it differently. To them, culture is something that keeps moving, growing, and finding new forms through the generations that carry it forward.

That perspective became the starting point when NUSAÉ was brought on as Brand & Graphic Design Consultant and Exhibition Graphics Consultant for Awan Cerah 2026, a photography competition and exhibition for children and teenagers built around the theme "The Young and the Cultured." Rather than simply designing a visual identity for an event, NUSAÉ approached Awan Cerah as a chance to translate the relationship between young people and Indonesian culture into a visual narrative that feels close and warm to their everyday lives.

"We believe culture isn't static. It keeps living through the way each new generation understands, cares for, and expresses it. Through Awan Cerah, we wanted to create a visual identity that represents culture as more than a heritage, also as something that keeps growing, evolving, and finding new meaning alongside young people," says Andi Rahmat, Founder & Principal Designer of NUSAÉ.

For this year's edition, NUSAÉ built a visual concept titled "Weaving and Caring for Culture." The concept rests on the belief that culture doesn't exist as something whole and finished. Culture is made up of many elements that keep being cared for, passed down, and brought back to life from one generation to the next.

To bring an exhibition experience that matches that visual narrative, the organizers also brought in andramatin, one of Indonesia's leading architecture firms, to design the exhibition space. The pairing of andramatin's spatial design with NUSAÉ's visual identity results in a fully rounded exhibition experience, one where narrative, space, and the works on display all reinforce each other.

That idea takes shape through a full visual identity system that spans the logo, environmental graphic design, exhibition graphics, merchandise, and social media campaigns. NUSAÉ also carries forward Awan Cerah's already familiar visual characters, bringing them to life through four illustrated children who come across as expressive, active, and endlessly curious.

One of the key elements of this year's identity is a typographic exploration of the words "Awan Cerah," arranged into a range of forms drawn from Indonesian cultural objects. The letters become part of a visual story that keeps getting pieced together through gestures of play, mutual cooperation, arranging, and caring. These characters reflect how young people engage with culture in their daily lives, as part of a lived experience that keeps evolving and finding new meaning over time.

Awan Cerah itself is a program initiated by AWAN, short for Asuh Watak Asah Nalar, a community built around the vision of shaping a generation of young people who are creative, independent, and of good character, through the nurturing of character and the sharpening of reasoning. This year, Awan Cerah presents the 2026 Children & Teen Photography Competition and Exhibition, running from March 7 to June 15, 2026. The program invites Indonesian children and teenagers to take a fresh look at the richness of art and culture around them through the medium of photography. The exhibition itself runs from July 3 to August 2, 2026.

Through their photographs, participants are invited to capture the many forms culture takes in everyday life, from performing arts and traditions to traditional games, regional cuisine, and the habits and values that live within communities. Each entry is meant to become a space for telling the story of a participant's personal relationship with Indonesian culture. This approach was chosen to show that culture also keeps living through the experience, perspective, and creativity of young people.

The jury for Awan Cerah 2026 draws from a range of disciplines and creative practices, including Davy Linggar, Beawiharta, Peni Candra Rini, Jay Subiakto, Yori Antar, Didit Hediprasetyo, Winda Malika Siregar, Janna Joesoef, Stella Christie, and Angga Raka Prabowo.

Through the collaboration between AWAN and NUSAÉ, Awan Cerah 2026 aims to become a space for Indonesian children and teenagers to get to know, understand, and build a closer relationship with their nation's culture, through an approach that is creative, personal, and relevant to their time.