Safuan Aswari

Muhammad Safuan Bin Aswari

Started in IT. Built companies. Directed campaigns.

I build products, businesses and experiences across digital, physical and event spaces.

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About

I started in IT support, fixing systems and talking people through problems. That taught me to diagnose before I design — to find the real issue instead of polishing the surface.

I moved into design in 2016, then spent four years as an art director shipping campaigns, catalogues, and retail systems for brands across Singapore and Japan.

Along the way I started building my own products — a motorcycle community, a photobooth business, and other experiments — because I wanted to own the full loop from idea to operation. Today I work across both sides: creative direction for brands, and hands-on building for things I run myself.

Safuan Aswari — designer, builder and founder based in Singapore

Journey

2014–2016

IT Support

Corporate IT

Fixed systems and trained users. Learned to diagnose the real problem before designing a surface.

2016–2018

Designer

Agency / Integrated

Shipped print, digital, and event assets under pressure. Learned that craft means nothing if the file doesn't ship.

2018–2022

Art Director

Agency / Retail & Lifestyle

Built repeatable campaign systems for regional and Japanese brands. Learned that adaptation is strategy, not translation.

2022–Present

Creative Director

Independent / Consulting

Direct creative for brands while operating my own products. Learned that when you own the outcome, the decisions get sharper.

Featured Work

Four projects across community, events, airline systems and urgent services — each one a different kind of build.

SGInstabikes website hero showcasing a bespoke automotive trading card product for motorcycle collectors.

SGInstabikes — Brand, Platform & Community

Founder / Product & Brand

Challenge

Build a motorcycle community and marketplace from zero in a market dominated by fragmented forums and buy-sell groups.

Constraint

No existing audience, limited budget, and the product had to feel legitimate before it had scale.

What I led

Led brand identity, website, content system, merchandise and community operations from launch through growth.

Result

Grew to 500+ signups in the first month, 3,000+ social following within six months, and expanded into apparel, bespoke trading cards, stickers and OBU skins.

Lesson

A launch is only a start. The real work is keeping the product, content and community moving in the same loop.

NLSB — Photobooth & Event Experience

Founder / Experience Design

Challenge

Build an event experience business that turns a few seconds of fun into a physical, shareable memory guests actually keep.

Constraint

Events are one-shot environments. The hardware, software, brand and staff have to work before the first guest arrives.

What I led

Built the photobooth experience, guest journey, instant-print system, digital share flow and brand from the ground up.

Result

Delivered branded photobooth experiences for corporate and private events, with instant prints and digital outputs guests share the same night.

Lesson

At live events, trust is built before anyone presses a button. Every failure is public, so every detail has to be rehearsed.

ANA '12 Places to Travel in 2025' editorial eDM showing illustrated destination tiles for Toyama, Oita and Nagasaki.

ANA — Integrated Airline Marketing

Art Direction / Campaign Adaptation

Challenge

Keep a major airline's always-on marketing fresh across twelve months, multiple markets and dozens of touchpoints.

Constraint

Tight campaign calendars, multi-language adaptations, and the need to protect brand consistency while localising for each route.

What I led

Art-directed and produced a rolling library of campaign assets across social KVs, eDMs, destination tiles and sale campaigns.

Result

Built a reusable adaptation system for routes across Southeast Asia and Japan, including the '12 Places to Travel' editorial calendar.

Lesson

A system scales faster than a hero image. When the idea is built to adapt, the work survives deadline after deadline.

Orange Plus Towing website hero showing a motorcycle recovery scene with 'Safe & Reliable Recovery' headline.

Orange Plus Towing — Urgent Service UX

Web Design / UX

Challenge

Build a site for a motorcycle towing service that converts panic into action the moment someone lands on it.

Constraint

The user is probably stressed, on a phone, and not in the mood to browse. Clarity and speed matter more than cleverness.

What I led

Designed the site architecture, user flow and content hierarchy to move users from problem to phone call in seconds.

Result

Launched a service website that guides users from distress to action quickly, with clear contact paths and trust signals throughout.

Lesson

For urgent services, trust is built with hierarchy, not decoration. The design's job is to remove friction under pressure.

Experiments

Side builds and prototypes where I test ideas before a client asks for them.

AI Workflows

Using AI to speed up the repetitive parts of creative work, so I can spend more time on the thinking.

Automation
Image generation
Copy systems
Process design

Physical Products

Relearning how to make physical things — 3D prints, packaging, objects. The screen is not enough.

3D printing
OBU mount concepts
Packaging
Merchandise

Creative Technology

Small prototypes that connect software and hardware — automation, interactive objects, and tools for making.

Automation
Interactive objects
Tool building
Creative tech

Manifesto

I don't think design is decoration. I think it is a decision about what should be easy and what should be hard.

Starting in IT taught me to diagnose before I design. Running my own businesses taught me to care about what happens after launch.

A system scales faster than a hero image. I'd rather build something reusable than chase one perfect shot.

At live events, trust is built before anyone presses a button. The same is true for every product.

Early on I shipped work that looked beautiful but solved the wrong problem.
Since then, I test the thinking behind the work as hard as I test the final execution.

I build things. Sometimes for clients, sometimes for myself.

I'm most useful where the problem is messy.

If you're building something complex in travel, retail, events or community — and you need someone who can think, ship and operate — tell me what you're stuck on.

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