What the Work Made Possible

A debut monograph with cultural and charitable reach
DFT helped shape Moments of Life, Live Moments into a polished photography monograph with a clear editorial arc, refined book design, and a public-facing purpose beyond publication.

A project that moved from page to public life
The work extended from book design into launch strategy, website design, curatorial writing, social content, exhibition curation, and a Spruce Gallery vernissage, giving the project multiple points of discovery.

A charitable bridge: from the streets, for the streets
The project connected Stephan Holzinger’s street photography with beneficiaries working in education, street-child welfare, and social impact, including ANAK-Tnk / Tulay ng Kabataan and the Rotary Club of Makati’s THREEE AI Academy.

A global creative footprint
With roots in Munich, Lisbon, and Manila, the project reinforced DFT’s ability to shape culturally sensitive, Asia-Europe creative work across custom publishing, editorial design, curatorial strategy, and art-led communications.

A press-visible cultural project
The monograph, launch, and exhibition attracted media attention from cultural, lifestyle, and general-interest publications, strengthening the project’s visibility and giving the work a credible public record.

PRESS

Art+ Magazine covered the project as a meditation on leadership, resilience, and daily life, noting the Spruce Gallery exhibition.

PeopleAsia reported the launch, attendance, charitable mission, and the “from the streets, for the streets” European edition angle.

Daily Tribune covered the Makati launch, beneficiaries, Spruce Gallery exhibition, and the charitable mission.

“As the founder and managing director of several companies and former CEO of a listed corporation, I have repeatedly dealt with issues relating to brand image, design and corporate identity over the years and have got to know many agencies – without, of course, claiming to be an expert in this field. Working with Ric and his team on a recent monograph project was particularly refreshing: very creative, but not on a superficial, non-committal level. Ric has the now rare ambition to get to the heart of the project in terms of content, to want to understand the customer and their concerns in their entirety, and then to implement the joint project with his dedicated team at a conceptually and creatively way above-average level. Anyone who sees any branding or design project as a tedious chore should definitely not go there. On the other hand, anyone looking for an experienced, curious and demanding sparring partner is in exactly the right place.”

STEPHAN HOLZINGER

Investor & Street Photographer
Germany, International

Client Stephan Holzinger Industry Photography, Art, Culture, Publishing, Philanthropy, Nonprofit, Social Impact Discipline Book Design, Bilingual Publication Design, Custom Publishing, Editorial Consultancy, Publication Design, Monograph Design, Website Design, Print Production Oversight, Curatorial Writing, Exhibition Curation, Vernissage Direction, Social Media Content and Management Location Munich, Lisbon

Design Direction and Monograph Design Ric Gindap assisted by Israel Contreras Editor Ma Julie Amos, Ma Noelle Maulit Writer Stephan Holzinger Editorial Development Ric Gindap

The post Holzinger Monograph appeared first on Design For Tomorrow.

The Challenge

Designing for designers requires bravery, precision, and a deep respect for the craft.

For APSDA, the audience was exacting. The work would be reviewed by presidents, board members, jurors, educators, practitioners, advocates, and institutional leaders from the Asia-Pacific design community. These are people with trained eyes and earned opinions. They understand proportion, spacing, balance, history, symbolism, material culture, and the thousand tiny failures that can make a mark feel unfinished.

The deeper task was to help designers recognize themselves in a shared future.

APSDA gathers leaders and member organizations from multiple countries and territories, each with its own design culture, professional context, institutional rhythm, and national point of view. The brand needed to carry that complexity with confidence.

A generic pan-Asian gesture would have flattened the work. Decorative regional motifs would have reduced a serious institution into an attractive postcard. A safe corporate vocabulary offered another trap: too polished, too neutral, too drained of the warmth, intelligence, and cultural life APSDA needed to project.

The answer required discipline: regional confidence, institutional credibility, contemporary energy, and cultural nuance.

It also required trust from people who understand design from the inside.

That called for cultural fluency, typographic discipline, diplomatic patience, and a sturdy tolerance for feedback from people whose feedback is usually correct.

The Approach

The APSDA 2023–2025 board commissioned Design For Tomorrow to develop the new brand system. Led by President Keat Ong of Singapore, with Deputy President Emil Chao of Taiwan and Vice President IDr. Ivy Almario of the Philippines, the board recognized the need for evolution and gave the project its necessary institutional courage.

Their leadership helped carry the work through consultation, scrutiny, refinement, and adoption. In a federation of design leaders, where every detail is visible and every opinion has earned its confidence, that support mattered.

The wider 2023–2025 board brought together representatives from Australia, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Macao, Nepal, New Zealand, Thailand, Vietnam, and other Asia-Pacific design communities. The brand needed to earn alignment across this breadth by giving APSDA a shared visual language strong enough to hold difference.

Ric Gindap led a detailed series of discovery, diagnosis, alignment, review, presentation, and rollout sessions with the board, leadership, stakeholders, member associations, and allied or adjacent organizations.

The process moved through several regional moments.

In Kuala Lumpur, Ric flew in for the preliminary brand diagnosis and vision articulation session. This early stage clarified APSDA’s institutional opportunities, visual challenges, and larger role in the region.

In Hanoi, during the group’s assembly, the concepts were presented, discussed, and approved.

In Manila, the refreshed mark was revealed during the PIID Gala x APSDA Awards Gala Dinner 2025.

In Singapore, the system made its trade show debut at FIND Design Fair Asia, bringing the refreshed brand into a major international design industry setting.

In Taipei, the brand was further institutionalized for internal and external rollout.

Across these stages, DFT’s responsibility was precise: to help APSDA articulate a shared visual language while preserving the richness of its regional membership.

The process required both approval and inter-alliance alignment.

For an organization composed of accomplished and opinionated design leaders, consensus rarely arrives because everyone has been served tea. Clarity had to do the real work. The strategy explained what deserved preservation, what required refinement, and how evolution could give APSDA greater coherence without sacrificing the recognition it had already earned.

The Strategy: Respectful Evolution

DFT approached the APSDA rebrand as an act of respectful evolution.

The previous APSDA logo carried recognition, institutional memory, and visual equity. It was familiar to members, partners, and regional stakeholders. DFT’s position was clear: the mark deserved study before change, then refinement with greater intelligence.

The presentation began with logo forensics. DFT examined the existing mark to identify what carried value and what created friction. The analysis found that the old logo’s sharp angle created scalability and legibility issues at smaller sizes. The icon appeared visually imbalanced and produced unnecessary counterspace. The angle of the “A” felt disconnected from the rest of the logo. The existing wordmark, while professional, lacked distinctive character and had spacing issues between the letters.

This diagnosis gave the evolution its logic.

DFT preserved the recognizable equity of APSDA’s visual language while refining the system for clarity, balance, scalability, and range.

The past became more capable.

The Mark

The evolved APSDA symbol retained the strongest memory structures of the previous logo: the triangular form, the folded quality, the gradient energy, and the sense of upward direction.

DFT refined these elements into a more coherent mark built around foundation, elevation, and direction.

Foundation expressed institutional grounding and credibility.

Elevation spoke to APSDA’s role in raising standards, advancing the profession, and strengthening regional exchange for interior and spatial design.

Direction gave the symbol its sense of movement: adaptive, progressive, and oriented toward growth in Asia-Pacific.

The folded triangular form became a symbol of unfolding possibilities. DFT’s presentation connected this to transformation, mindfulness, patience, focus, and growth.

That idea mattered because APSDA’s work is active. The association is concerned with knowledge exchange, accreditation, recognition, professional mobility, education, advocacy, and the advancement of design as a discipline.

The mark needed to suggest progress with composure.

The Wordmark

For an organization of designers, typography carries institutional credibility at the smallest scale. A wordmark can announce authority quietly, or betray uncertainty just as quietly.

DFT rebuilt the APSDA wordmark with careful attention to spacing, proportion, angular logic, and visual rhythm.

Every letter of the APSDA nameplate was crafted to move beyond a typed-out acronym. The result is a bespoke wordmark with greater distinction, coherence, and authority.

This level of typographic care was institutional respect in visual form.

APSDA’s audience understands design craft. The new nameplate had to withstand scrutiny from the very community it represented.

A design association carrying Asia-Pacific leadership needs a wordmark with spine.

The Palette

The refreshed palette treated color as structure, movement, and meaning.

The system retained the chromatic energy of the previous logo and developed it into a more disciplined palette and gradient language. DFT’s presentation described the gradient through direction, union, and spectrum of expression: progression, adaptability, confluence, harmony, creativity, potential, and hope.

This is where the visual language meets the regional story.

Asia-Pacific holds many climates, histories, materials, urban conditions, craft traditions, design schools, professional frameworks, and aesthetic sensibilities. A single flat corporate color would have narrowed the story. Decorative ethnic shorthand would have been too easy and, worse, too pleased with itself.

The gradient allowed APSDA to express plurality with discipline.

It became a visual metaphor for a multicultural design federation: many cultures, many talents, many forms of intelligence, and many design traditions progressing within one shared institutional direction.

The Pattern and Visual Language

DFT extended the system into a geometric pattern derived from the APSDA logo. Formed by connecting four APSDA marks into one composition, the pattern represents harmony and connection among organizations in Asia-Pacific and Oceania.

The resulting visual language gives APSDA a flexible graphic framework for digital, print, environmental, and event applications. It creates order, movement, and connection without smothering the brand in its own cleverness.

The layout system also draws from the angled shapes of the logo, allowing the brand to behave consistently across formats.

A full institution needs a full visual system.

The System

The refreshed APSDA brand expanded into a working institutional architecture.

DFT developed logo lockups, color palette, typography, pattern, layout principles, stationery, business cards, signage, posters, billboards, lamp post banners, website visuals, conference screens, social media templates, conference badges, reports, book covers, promotional merchandise, and branded objects.

The system also included the APSDA Awards identity, extending the main brand into one of the association’s most visible regional platforms.

Another important component was the APSDA Approved Seal, refined as an institutional mark of recognition for selected partners. The presentation shows the seal evolving from the previous version into a clearer and more formal design carrying phrases such as “A Seal of Pride” and “Designated Partner.”

This expanded the brand from visual expression into institutional utility. APSDA gained a mechanism for endorsement, recognition, and partner credibility.

The new APSDA brand needed to serve many roles:

• A federation of design associations.
• A professional development platform.
• An awards body.
• An accreditation ecosystem.
• A partner network.
• A regional advocate.
• A design community.
• A public voice for interior and spatial design in Asia-Pacific.

The system gave APSDA a more coherent way to appear wherever its remit comes into view.

The Rollout

The rollout unfolded through several regional moments, each adding another layer of visibility and adoption.

The work began with discovery and alignment among APSDA leaders and stakeholders, with key strategic work in Kuala Lumpur.

It progressed in Hanoi, where the concepts were presented and approved during the group’s assembly.

It was publicly revealed in Manila during the PIID Gala x APSDA Awards Gala Dinner 2025. APSDA later announced the new logo publicly and credited Design For Tomorrow for crafting the refreshed design, describing it as a reflection of APSDA’s growth, innovation, and commitment to shaping the future of interior design in the Asia-Pacific region.

It entered a broader international industry context in Singapore through FIND Design Fair Asia.

It was then institutionalized in Taipei for internal and external rollout.

Kuala Lumpur. Hanoi. Manila. Singapore. Taipei.

The geography matters. Regional branding became lived practice here, rather than an adjective placed hopefully in a proposal.

The Result

Design For Tomorrow helped APSDA transform a familiar institutional mark into a sharper, more scalable, and more expressive brand system.

The refreshed brand preserved APSDA’s recognizability while resolving issues of legibility, spacing, balance, and visual cohesion. It gave the organization a bespoke wordmark, a clearer symbol, a more vibrant palette, a flexible pattern language, and a complete suite of applications for institutional communication, digital presence, events, awards, partnerships, and public visibility.

More importantly, it gave APSDA a stronger visual expression for its evolving role in the Asia-Pacific design world.

For DFT, the project demonstrated the studio’s ability to work where design, diplomacy, culture, and institutional authority meet.

The assignment required strategy, craft, diplomacy, and cultural intelligence. It asked DFT to work across borders, listen across differences, and translate many voices into one coherent system.

The logo became the visible result of a deeper act of alignment.

Why It Matters

APSDA’s brand evolution speaks to a larger truth about institutional branding.

As organizations grow in influence, their identities must carry memory, authority, ambition, and trust. They must help people understand what the institution has become and where it intends to go.

For APSDA, that meant creating a visual language that could represent the advancement of interior and spatial design across Asia-Pacific. It meant designing a system able to hold national associations, professional standards, regional awards, accreditation initiatives, cultural exchange, partner recognition, and public-facing advocacy.

For Design For Tomorrow, the project called on the studio’s core strengths: brand strategy, identity design, vision articulation, cultural fluency, institutional branding, stakeholder alignment, bespoke typography, and visual systems that can move across markets, sectors, and borders.

A regional institution with many voices needed one sharper signal.

DFT helped draw it.

PROF. KEAT ONG, FSID, APID

President(2023-2025), APSDA
Singapore, International

“I had the privilege of working closely with Ric during the brand evolution of APSDA, and the collaboration was both strategic and deeply meaningful.

Ric possesses a rare ability to listen beyond the brief. He understood that APSDA’s rebrand was not merely a visual refresh, but a repositioning of identity — one that needed to honour its legacy while projecting clarity, relevance, and regional leadership into the future. His sensitivity to institutional history, combined with bold forward-thinking, allowed the transformation to feel authentic rather than cosmetic.

Throughout the process, Ric was thoughtful, rigorous, and highly collaborative. He navigated diverse stakeholder perspectives with maturity and composure, while consistently anchoring the work to a larger vision. What impressed me most was his capacity to translate complex organisational aspirations into a coherent brand language that felt both contemporary and enduring.

The end result has proven significant. The rebrand strengthened APSDA’s presence across Asia, clarified its voice, and reinforced its role as a progressive design body. It was not simply a new look — it was a recalibration of direction.

Ric brings strategic depth, cultural intelligence, and disciplined execution to his work. I would gladly collaborate with him again on any initiative that requires both design clarity and institutional sensitivity.”

IVY ALMARIO

Vice President, APSDA 2023–2025
Philippines, International

“Who would have the audacity to audit, and then the bravado to present, to a roomful of successful creatives, architects, and interior designers from across Asia-Pacific, whose seats at the table were earned through the rigorous and successful practice of their professions?

Only one person comes to mind: Ric Gindap of Design For Tomorrow.

With DFT, process and flair sit cheek by jowl. When Ric and his team put their time, intelligence, and effort toward refreshing and realizing a brand identity, they leave no prisoners. It is a total takeover: respectful, yes, but unmistakably transformative. One feels the ground shifting.

Ric attended several APSDA board meetings across Asian capitals and studied the vision, temperament, and dynamics at play among the member countries. He went back to the drawing board and, voilà, successfully unveiled the new APSDA logo and identity.

He helped bring the organization toward where it has yet to go, and once there, anchored its milestones in an identity we aspired to, but which he imagined first for us.

That is Design For Tomorrow.”

Client Asia-Pacific Space Designers Association (APSDA), Prof. Keat Ong (SIDS, President); Emil Chao (CSID); IDr. Ivy Almario (PIID)
Industry Interior Design, Spatial Design, Professional Organization, Built Environment
Discipline Strategy, Branding, Identity Design, Visual Systems, UI/UX Design, Digital Experience
Location Asia-Pacific

Creative & Art Director Ric Gindap, Rashina Tuazon Associate Art Director Patricia Ibañez
Brand Identity and Logo Designer Ric Gindap, Dale Philip Rodriguez
Digital Designer Jose Miguel Lim

Strategy Ma. Julie Therese Amos, Maria Noelle Maulit

Copywriter Dave Riel Española
Account Manager Cessmarie Villones

The post APSDA: Brand Identity Evolution appeared first on Design For Tomorrow.

STEVE LEUNG

Founder, SLD Group
Hong Kong, China

“Thank you Ric Gindap for meticulously curating the graphic aspects of this beautiful book.”

HELEN FANTHORPE

Editorial Manager, Thames & Hudson
London, United Kingdom

“Ric was commissioned to design an architecture/design monograph for Thames & Hudson. He was a delight to work with throughout the process and was always willing and enthusiastic. He took all feedback on board and we are delighted with the elegant final book he has helped create.”

SUZY ANNETTA

Editor-in-Chief, Design Anthology
Melbourne, Australia; Hong Kong, China

“I cannot recommend Ric Gindap and his highly skilled team at Design For Tomorrow more highly. We’ve collaborated on two projects now – a project for a private client of DFT in Manila where I was commissioned to write text, and another for Thames & Hudson where Ric was brought on to design the publication that I was editing. Ric is creative, insightful, organised and always full of energy – and lots of laughs! I look forward to collaborating again in the near future.”

Client Steve Leung Design / Thames & Hudson Industry Design, Architecture, Interiors, Environment Discipline Editorial Design Location Hong Kong

Design Direction and Monograph Design Ric Gindap assisted by Israel Contreras Editor Suzy Annetta (Design Anthology / Fifth Black Media) Writer Christina Ko Editorial Development Helen Fanthorpe, Lucas Dietrich (Thames & Hudson UK) Steve Leung Design Communications Sofia Perboni

The post Book Design Celebrating Steve Leung’s 25th Anniversary appeared first on Design For Tomorrow.

Client ABS-CBN Broadcasting / Karen Eve Coloma Head of Licensing; Mark Coloma Project Head, Rides and Attractions; Cookie Bartolome Head of Integrated Marketing and Customer Experience

Industry Media, Design, Art, Culture, & Creative Industries Discipline Art Direction, Design, Branding, Experience, Strategy Location Philippines

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Creative & Strategy Director Ric Gindap Art Directors Marlon Lacanilao, Bonnapart Galeng, Elizabeth Teotico Logo Designer Ma. Cecilia Inocencio Environmental Graphics Designer Patricia Ibañez Identity & Application Designers Marlon Lacanilao, Elizabeth Teotico, Israel Contreras, Rashina Tuazon, Shintaro Lopez, Patricia Ibañez, Ma. Cecilia Inocencio Collaborators (3D Design) Kervin Pasco Photography Jar Concengco (Campfire Media) Architecture, Interior, and Retail Design GRiT Design Studio Account Managers Bernadette Lindres, Lorenzo Fresnoza

The post ABS-CBN Broadcasting: Studio Experience Strategy & Design appeared first on Design For Tomorrow.

Client Alveo Land / City of Makati Industry Real Estate Discipline Place Branding, Vision Articulation, Editorial Consultancy, Design, Art Direction, Production, Custom Publishing, Branded Content Location Makati City, Philippines

Editorial, Creative & Design Director Ric Gindap Managing Features Editor Grisel Garcia Associate Creative Director Marlon Lacanilao Style & Sittings Editor Bonnapart Galeng Fashion Editor Levenson Rodriguez Associate Art Director Elizabeth Teotico Designers Ralph Neil Carreon, Israel Contreras, Shintaro Lopez, Rashina Tuazon, Patricia Ibañez Copywriters Mia De Vega, Andrea Hechanova Forward Planner Roman Roxas

The post City of Makati – Alveo: City Branding appeared first on Design For Tomorrow.

Client United Laboratories Industry Healthcare Discipline Editorial Consultancy, Strategy, Design, Art Direction Location Philippines

Editorial, Creative & Design Director Ric Gindap Associate Creative Director Ric Gindap, Marlon Lacanilao Associate Art Director/Senior Designer Elizabeth Teotico Associate Art Director Bonnapart Galeng Designers Ralph Neil Carreon, Israel Contreras, Shintaro Lopez, Rashina Tuazon, Patricia Ibañez, Ma. Cecilia Inocencio Collaborators (Photography) Rap Yu, Chris Yuhico, Jar Concengco, Brian Fontanilla Forward Planners Roman Roxas, Lorenzo Fresnoza Digital Strategists Edward Martinez, Samantha Sales

The post Unilab: Community Engagement Marketing and Corporate Culture Development appeared first on Design For Tomorrow.

Client Alveo Land Industry Real Estate, Property Development Discipline Editorial Consultancy, Strategy, Design, Art Direction, Brand Expression, Branded Content, Production, Custom Publishing Location Philippines

Editorial, Creative & Design Director Ric Gindap Associate Creative Director Marlon Lacanilao Editorial Director Bonnapart Galeng Copy Editor Jeanilyn Kwan Managing Features Editors Grisel Garcia, Estelle Piencenaves, Bimbo Santos Writers Andrea Hechanova, Mia De Vega, Samantha Sales, Gino Gonzales Designers Israel Contreras, Shintaro Lopez, Rashina Tuazon, Patricia Ibañez, Ma. Cecilia Inocencio Forward Planners Roman Roxas, Lorenzo Fresnoza, Madelyn Ebro

The post Alveo Land: Real Estate Brand Marketing and Custom Publication appeared first on Design For Tomorrow.

Client Bhumi International Industry Design Discipline Branding, Design LocationThailand/Philippines

Logo and Identity Designer Shintaro Lopez Art Directors Bonnapart Galeng, Shintaro Lopez Collaborators TROP : Terrains + Open Space, Atelier Almario, Agrea Account Director Roman Roxas

The post Bhumi: Landscape Architecture Branding Design appeared first on Design For Tomorrow.

BRAND EXTENSIONS

Client ActiveTV Industry Media, Entertainment Discipline Branding, Design Location Singapore

Logo Designers Ric Gindap, Elizabeth Teotico, Marlon Lacanilao Art Directors Elizabeth Teotico, Marlon Lacanilao Designers Rashina Tuazon, Shintaro Lopez Account Manager Roman Roxas

The post ActiveTV: Media Company Rebranding appeared first on Design For Tomorrow.