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WhitepaperBina Nusantara University19 Oct 2021

Design of Gradual Contemporary Wayang Visual Character: Indonesia

Key insights

7 slides

The problem

Traditional wayang culture faces declining engagement among Indonesia’s younger generation.

The research addresses the challenge of reintroducing traditional wayang to modern youth.

The approach

Modernizing wayang characters through stylized, vector-based designs enables digital integration.

The redesign deforms and stylizes traditional wayang characters to align with modern aesthetic trends.

Like updating a classic car's exterior to fit modern tastes while keeping its core engine.

Key Strategy. Stylized, vector-based designs are crucial for integrating wayang into digital platforms.

Expressive details

Joe Navarro’s research on micro-expressions is applied to puppet forms to convey human-like emotional cues.

Specific facial movements, such as eyebrow positioning, eye dilation, and mouth shape, are mapped to the stylized puppet forms. This ensures characters effectively communicate traits.

Visual Detail. Micro-expressions are used to ensure wayang characters convey human-like emotional cues.

Key finding

Modernizing wayang's visual representation creates a sustainable tool for cultural reintroduction.

This is achieved through simplified forms, contemporary color palettes, and standardized emotional expressions. It bridges the gap between traditional art and modern youth communication habits.

Main Result. Modernizing wayang visuals provides a sustainable method for cultural reintroduction.

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Summary

This research addresses the declining engagement of Indonesia’s younger generation with traditional wayang (shadow puppet) culture by proposing a contemporary visual redesign for use in modern digital media. The primary thesis posits that by deforming and stylizing traditional wayang characters to align with modern aesthetic trends and emotional expression standards, these cultural icons can be successfully reintroduced as relevant elements in daily communication, specifically through mobile chat stickers and game applications.

The methodology involves a comparative analysis of existing cultural preservation efforts, followed by the application of psychological frameworks to guide character design. Researchers utilized Daniel Goleman’s eight categories of emotion and Florence Littauer’s four personality types to categorize wayang figures, such as the Pandawa and Punakawan groups. To ensure the visual characters effectively communicate these traits, the study applied Joe Navarro’s research on micro-expressions, mapping specific facial movements—such as eyebrow positioning, eye dilation, and mouth shape—to the stylized puppet forms. The final designs were rendered in vector format to ensure compatibility with digital interface standards and to maintain a consistent visual syntax across different platforms.

The findings demonstrate that modernizing the visual representation of wayang—through simplified forms, contemporary color palettes, and standardized emotional expressions—creates a sustainable tool for cultural reintroduction. By integrating these characters into familiar digital environments like chat applications and adventure games, the research provides a scalable framework for preserving intangible heritage. The study concludes that this approach effectively bridges the gap between traditional Indonesian art and the communication habits of the modern youth, offering a viable model for future cultural digital integration.

Design of Gradual Contemporary Wayang Visual Character: Indonesia

Design of Gradual Contemporary Wayang Visual Character: Indonesia

Key insights

Traditional wayang culture faces declining engagement among Indonesia’s younger generation.

Modernizing wayang characters through stylized, vector-based designs enables digital integration.

The redesign process maps traditional wayang figures to contemporary emotional standards.

Joe Navarro’s research on micro-expressions is applied to puppet forms to convey human-like emotional cues.

Vector formatting is the primary production standard to ensure visual consistency and technical compatibility.

Modernizing wayang's visual representation creates a sustainable tool for cultural reintroduction.

This approach provides a scalable framework for cultural preservation.

Summary

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