Understanding How Joyland Builds Its Universe
Imagine entering a universe that is so joyful – filled with warm and familiar things. Imagine a place where every corner is so welcoming and inviting, and where you can see, do, and hear everything you love alongside the people you care about. In a world that often feels unsettled, Joyland offers this very universe in every aspect, including its visual identity, which serves as the “gateway.”
This year’s Joyland music festival returns on November 28–29 as Joyland Sessions. As in previous years, we’ve always been captivated by how the festival is brought to life through its visual and spatial design. From last year through this year, there’s been something different about Joyland’s visuals – a universe they want to tell and capture. Our curiosity led us to a conversation with Namira Khansa and Cempaka Surakusumah from Joyland’s visual team.
Over the course of several editions, Joyland has become known for its visual identity, which changes from year to year – ranging from graphic explorations to artistic experiments in collaboration with various design studios and illustrators. This diversity has become one of its unique attractions, while also demonstrating how Joyland provides a space for creative exploration. However, behind this diversity lies a question: what if the visual identity – built through so many experiments and creative processes – could have a lifespan longer than a single festival edition?
“Usually, every year, there are two Joyland Festival events: Jakarta and Bali. Each event has a distinct visual identity, and we always collaborate with visual artists or design studios. They handle Joyland’s visual identity from start to finish. But it’s such a shame that it can only be used for that one event. Something created from scratch can only be enjoyed once. Well, that was actually the starting point for our thinking on why we need to create sustainable designs, ones we can use and develop every year,” explained Cempaka Surakusumah.
Then came 2025 – the perfect moment to bring that idea to life, just as the Joyland Festival was taking a hiatus. The team used this break to evaluate the festival’s format and explore possibilities for developing a visual identity that could be utilized and further refined each year. Namira explained that for the Joyland team, there needed to be a visual foundation that could be built upon and carried forward each year. That way, every edition could still offer something different while maintaining a common thread that ties them together.
From that momentum, a new idea was born: “The Journey to Find Joyland.” The festival’s postponement became part of the narrative of “rediscovering Joyland,” which was then translated into a visual universe.
A World Called Joyland
A fascination with fictional worlds and world-building was one of the main inspirations behind Joyland’s visual identity. Namira and Gigis, her collaborator in the concept development, share a fascination with fictional story universes such as the Marvel Cinematic Universe and Harry Potter. Both observed how a fictional world can forge a strong connection with its audience through characters and other interconnected elements. This led to the question: what if Joyland were treated as a world of its own, with characters and stories that could continue to evolve?
In the early stages, Namira began mapping out what Joyland truly meant. “I see Joyland as a utopia; a place where people can let go, escape from everyday reality, and return to year after year,” said Namira. Although the festival physically takes place in the heart of the city, the experience it offers feels like stepping into a different world. “It’s like a vacation,” said Cempaka. Visitors come not only to see their favorite musicians but also to enjoy the atmosphere and experience something hard to find elsewhere. The atmosphere, music curation, and the overall program are all integral parts of the experience the festival offers.
From there, Joyland began to be envisioned as an alternate reality that can be accessed when someone is ready to discover it. To enter that world, the Joyland team then came up with the metaphor of a portal. Many of the fictional stories we know today have their own unique ways of transporting characters to other worlds: Peter Pan with his fairy dust, Narnia through a wardrobe, Alice in Wonderland through the rabbit hole, and Harry Potter through Platform 9¾. So, what serves as the portal to Joyland?
The answer is a mixtape or playlist. However, to truly enter Joyland, it’s not enough to simply listen to music as background noise. You need to be present, listen, and feel the music until, without even realizing it, you’ve found your way into the world of Joyland.
This metaphor also represents the authentic experience the festival aims to preserve – from the surprises in the lineup curation and the inclusive atmosphere to the opportunity for families to enjoy concerts together.
Getting to Know the Characters of Joyland
By studying the audiences who attended each stage and followed every Joyland program, the team created seven hybrid characters, with Joy as the main character. Joy is portrayed as a cool yet fun figure, surrounded by six unique characters who “guard” every corner of Joyland. Each is inspired by music, places, and personalities that represent various experiences in Joyland. The development of these characters also grows from the team’s effort to reflect the characteristics of the various stages and programs that have become part of the festival: Plainsong Stage has Echoa, Lilypad has Lily, White Peacock has Pico, and other characters that are now being slowly unveiled through Joyland’s social media.
“Why does each stage at Joyland need a character to represent it? Because we want this story to illustrate that this is Joyland and its world, and this is our way of rediscovering Joyland together,” said Cempaka.
Namira and Cempaka describe the process of designing the characters that inhabit the world of Joyland as both complex and enjoyable. Before these characters were brought to life as illustrations by Yoel Kristiandi – which were then translated into visual identities by Cempaka and Yudit Halim – the team had to “dissect” each character’s identity and Joyland’s distinct identity in as much detail as possible to help the illustrator bring each character to life. There were no set guidelines for their forms; these characters seemed to take flight freely in the imaginations of Cempaka, Namira, and the Joyland team. Therefore, it was crucial for them to translate the personality and nuances of each character so that the illustrator could bring them to life.
On the other hand, the Joyland team sought to revisit the evolution of the festival’s visual identity from edition to edition, spanning from 2019 through 2022 and beyond. This process was undertaken to uncover the common thread that has shaped Joyland’s DNA, while also identifying elements that need to be preserved and further developed. From these observations, they noted that Joyland’s visual identity has consistently been characterized as colorful, playful, festive, and dynamic. However, there are some areas of concern, one of which is a visual tendency that comes across as too childish.
Based on that evaluation, the team then began to develop the Joyland persona through internal discussions. They also sought to articulate the true personalities they wanted their characters to embody, taking into account various aspects, from a keyword palette and musical tastes to visual language and the animal spirit they wanted to convey. This process served as the foundation for building a new visual identity and developing characters that are more well-rounded and consistent year after year.
Why sustainable design?
Changing the key visuals every year also makes it difficult to develop a visual identity sustainably. Before strong, memorable characteristics have a chance to take root in the audience’s minds, the visuals have already shifted to a new approach. “The only consistent element linking every edition is the Joyland logo,” said Namira.
For the Joyland team, the sustainability of visual identity means building a foundation that can be continuously explored and developed. With an interconnected system of characters and worlds, the creative process for the next edition can build upon something that was already strong.
Joyland is a festival that shares a personal connection with its community. The new visual identity system is intended to serve as both a form of appreciation and a way to take care of an even deeper bond with visitors. The characters created are not merely seen as branding tools. They represent the people who have long made Joyland a joyful universe: a place to return to year after year.
Team Credit
Art Direction & Lead Designer: Cempaka Surakusumah
Illustrator: Yoel Kristiandi
Graphic Designer & Illustrator: Yudit Halim
Graphic Designer & Motion Designer: Ravlykha
