Luna: Sleepless yet still with style

NOBODY cared if it was their first time. These six knew how to take risks. That quality, paired with their youthful exuberance, could be a working formula.

And so they began, six upbeat youngsters from the Queen City joined a nationwide competition sponsored by a popular brand of mall chains in the country.

The contest brought in 175 teams of youngsters with members aged 18-23 from all over the country. The competition gave a chance for these dreamers to simply pitch an idea that can change the mall experience for Filipinos.

“IDEA’YALA was a month-long competition,” shared one of the group’s members Arjyque Daniel Morales, about the contest. “Ayala Malls launched IDEA’YALA which aims to gather innovative ideas from the youth on their concept about the mall of the future,” also shared teammate Darryll Rapacon. “Out of 175 teams that auditioned, we finished second only after UP Diliman. It was definitely a blast because not only were we able to travel together every weekend, we were able to establish connections and great camaraderie with other contestants in the competition,” Arjyque revealed.

Joining Arjyque and Darryll would be Karl Adrian Aguro, Aurille Joseph Intia, Aiko Samantha Arevalo and Marben Kristian Lawas. This six-pack would then round up the multi-disciplinary design collective, Luna.

Ever heard stories about how teens would come up with a rock band in their local neighborhood? This was something like that.

“We’re a group of art students majoring in Advertising Arts at the University of San Carlos,” shared Karl. “We do anything that involves creativity. But mostly, we do problem-solving through visual design and proper research.”

For Luna, life goes on after IDEA’YALA. The collective formed just recently in 2013, is making itself ready to tackle any situation that would require its services. Some of their projects to date include, releasing their own line of Sinulog shirts, recently branding photo/video shoots, branding and marketing collaterals for university events. They have also done some mural designing for a number of cafés in the city.

“Luna was created a year ago when we were always together in most of our subjects, and we always did photo shoots together. We came up with an idea, ‘why not form a design collective?’ The idea of forming a collective allows us to experience more of our course, more than what is taught in school. It’s a fun way of learning. But the difference is, it’s more hands on and you get to work with your friends,” said Aurille.

The idea to form the group came about while hanging out in a milk tea café. Of course, when forming a name for one’s group, there are the profound reasons.

“Luna, because it’s another name to call the moon. We are nocturnal; we usually stay up at night. Also because we are Up Dharma Down fans and they have this particular song entitled Luna,” shared Karl.

Then there are the practical ones.

“The name Luna was inspired from Moonleaf (the name of the café the group was in). But we wanted to think of something different, so we researched for other names for regarding the “moon” and we decided to name our group Luna,” Aiko revealed.

In a nutshell, Luna creates anything that involves art, design and branding.

Karl mostly does the art direction, graphic design and a little bit of illustration in the group. He makes sure that every project is headed to the direction that their client desires. Aurille takes cares of the strategies of project planning and marketing. Arjyque is more into traditional art direction and production design. Aiko is the main illustrator. Darryll does most of the video related projects, and Marben is the photographer—who does some videography work too if needed.

Given their individual tasks, the members still are very much open about the need to help one another in the group outside of their designations. “As I see in a collective, you should be more flexible in any kind of work for you to be useful,” said Marben.

The whole collective-concept as well is no stranger to challenges. As a thing pertaining to art and style, it can be very subjective. Conceptualizing can be a challenge in a group of six.

“It is challenging sometimes. It’s hard because we’re a group filled with the same passion toward art, so it’s inevitable that one will feel weak when his idea is not acknowledged,” shared Karl.

“However, we are aware of our own strengths and weaknesses, and it’s really a group instinct whenever we arrive at a concept or idea. I feel lucky that I’m part of a group that shares the same interests and visual taste on things,” he added.

Young as they are, there are talks of design studios and firms in the future. The twenties are a great time to dream. For Luna, they definitely have set their dreams high. Would they be like the moon? Up all night, seemingly still, yet as if suspended stylishly bright in the night sky. Only time now can tell how high exactly, they live up to their name.

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