DAR CON UN TIBURÓN BALLENA… ES COMPLICADO - THE CHALLENGE TO FIND THE PERFECT WHALE SHARK

La verdad es que esta entrada no tocaba escribirla ahora, pero dado que Mango, el centro de submarinismo donde trabajamos en Indonesia, ya ha hecho sus nuevas camisetas con nuestros diseños, hemos decidido adelantarla.

We really wanted to wait for this post, but, considering Mango Dive (the dive shop where we worked in Indonesia), printed the new t-shirts we created for them, we thought it was time to publish the experience of working with them.

Las Gili, las famosas islas Gili de Indonesia, esas islas de las que todo el mundo habla y que son visita obligatoria para todo aquel que visita el país. 

The famous Gilis (meaning island in Sasak, the Lombok dialect) are one of those islands that everyone talks about. It seems to be a "MUST" in everybody's itinerary.

Cuando llegamos, tenemos que reconocer que nos llevamos una gran decepción. Coincidió con el fin de ramadán, cuando los locales tienen días libres y festejan el fin del ayuno, y además, era temporada alta. Las paradisiacas Gili, durante algunos días, se convirtieron en una de esas playas de las que todo el mundo quiere escapar. Suponemos que, hace algunos años, las Gili debieron ser otra cosa, probablemente un pequeño pueblo no muy desarrollado donde las playas azul turquesa estaban casi vacías. Por el contrario, lo que encontramos nosotros al llegar fueron miles de hostales y resorts, todos con el cartel de "full" en la entrada, ruido, gente volviéndose loca, precios altos, rubias de bote, musculitos luciéndose al sol y mucha cirugía. 

At first, when we arrived, we actually wanted to leave the next morning. What we had heard from our friends in the past 5 years about these islands, had nothing to do with what we were seeing. Our arrival coincided with Idul fitri, the end of ramadan, resulting in an overflow of local and international tourists. If it was high season anyway, during these days, it was extreme high season. It literally took one hour and a half to find an empty room/bed to sleep in. Everything was overpriced and completely full. This paradise had turned into a place that anyone in their right sense of mind would want to run away from. How things have changed in the last 5 years, what was once a small fishing village, now is a huge party/family resort island, with its fair share of sexy blondes in small bikinis and muscle men filled with tattoos and raybans. It felt like the Barceloneta all over again.

Pero decidimos darles una oportunidad. Visitamos los centros de submarinismo de Gili Trawangan. En un principio, nadie parecía tener tiempo para nosotros. Estaban hasta arriba de clientes y las respuestas que nos daban (si nos las daban) eran un "vuelve más tarde". 

One way or another we decided to give this place a second chance. We started by visiting lots of dive shops on Gili Trawangan and like the rest of the island, every place was full of clients. It seemed that no one had time for us as most of the shop's managers answered with the typical "come back tomorrow".

Cuando nos alejamos de la zona donde se concentraba todo el turismo, descubrimos Mango. George, el dueño del centro, nos atendió con calma. Su centro tenía clientes, pero por lo visto valoraban más la atención y el servicio que el hecho de hacer negocio, tomándose las cosas con calma y disfrutando del buceo. Le contamos el proyecto que estábamos llevando a cabo y le enseñamos el trabajo que habíamos realizado durante los 14 de meses de viaje. Nos comentó que necesitaba un nuevo diseño para sus camisetas y para el logbook (una especie de "diario" para las inmersiones). Así mismo, como su negocio consistía en alojamiento y submarinismo, necesitaba nuevos folletos para promocionarlo. Con eso y un bizcocho, quedamos en presentarnos al día siguiente con nuevas ideas.

That's when we got away from the bustling part of the island and stumbled into Mango dive. George, the manager, took his time to talk to us and discover more about our personal story. As a good Austrian, he had everything well organized in his head, something that makes everything much easier and professional to work with. He had a great philosophy for the dive shop. He concentrated on quality versus quantity. The fact is that trying to make himself rich form divers was not in his plans, he would rather take things easy and make sure everyone had a memorable experience. When we showed him our work from the past 14 moth, he fit us in his plans in an orderly fashion. He commented he need a new t-shirt design, logbooks and brochures for his dive shop and bungalows, something that would be a pleasure to do for him. The next day we came back with a few ideas to discuss with him and started working from there.

Como en un principio las Gili no nos convencieron mucho, quedamos con George en que nos quedaríamos 3 ó 4 días trabajando y que, a cambio, realizaríamos una inmersión gratuita cada día. Pero cuando la celebración del fin de ramadán terminó, los locales regresaron a sus casas, y la temporada alta iba llegando a su fin, las Gili se calmaron y consiguieron engancharnos.

At first the Gilis hadn't seduced us much. Our initial plan was to only work 3 or 4 days in exchange for a morning dive every day. But during those days, extreme high season finished, people left and the island got it's relaxed vibe back. We can say it got us hooked instantly.

El trabajo de 3 días se convirtió en una semana. George tenía claro lo que no quería y lo que le convencía y gustaba. Era exigente y detallista, así que juntos fuimos dándole forma a los nuevos diseños. El logo de Mango no tenía ningún animal vinculado a él, a diferencia del resto de los centros de submarinismo, así que decidimos ilustrar un animal marino para las camisetas y el logbook. Pero… ¿cuál sería? Aunque en un principio pueda parecer sencillo elegir un animal de los cientos que existen en las profundidades, no lo fue en absoluto. Mantas, tortugas y pulpos, estaban ya cogidos. Necesitábamos algo que fuera fácil de reconocer. Los nudibranquios nos encantaban a todos, pero el público que llegaba al centro era muy amplio y debíamos tenerlos en cuenta a todos. Submarinistas avanzados que valoran lo macro y los pequeños detalles; gente que viene a aprender de cero y que lo único que quiere ver son animales conocidos, la tortuga, el famoso Nemo… Así que… fuera los nudibranquios. Comenzamos creando un pez payaso a base de puntos, un elemento presente en el logotipo que le da el efecto de inmersión en el agua. Pero el dar un efecto aborígena, no nos interesaba. Así que pensamos en el tiburón ballena, algo que todo el mundo desea ver algún día y que pocos lo consiguen. Aparte de ser un animal aspiracional para los buceadores, el tiburón ballena posee por naturaleza una trama de puntos que le venían como anillo al dedo a la marca. 

At first, what we had planned for a 3 day job ended up being a whole week of hard but good quality work… and amazing Mango diving. George knew exactly what he didn't like and what he did like. He thought it made things a bit difficult, but honestly, it made things much easier. I am sure that anyone in the design industry would kill for a client like him. He was a perfectionist and demanding and this gave way to a high quality work that we were all happy with. Mango had no sea creature linked to its image to communicate the diving part of the business. It was our job to search for the right animal which would be applied to the future Mango designs. We were looking for something inviting and different from the competition. We needed something recognizable by everyone, from beginners to experienced divers and out of all the sea creatures that inhabit the sea, which one could we use? Manta rays, turtles, octopus, all these animals were very interesting but taken by the competition. Nudibranches seemed like an option due to the amazing designs they naturally have, but, unfortunately they would be unrecognizable by most novice divers. Another concern we had was to find an animal that could fit in with Mango's corporate ID. We took in consideration to use an element that was present in the logo. In this case the circles the logo uses to simulate its emersion in water was an element that could be used in the style of illustration to tie everything up. At the end, this, is one of the elements that links the business to water. In this case, we had to find an animal which had circles, or create an animal using circles. Our first approach was to create a clown fish with dots, but it gave the illustration an aborigine feel, something we were not interested in. After brainstorming we finally found the perfect animal: the whale shark, something which is not dangerous, aspirational for divers and is one of the most elegant creatures underwater. We took advantage of the spots it has to create a simple illustration that we could apply anywhere. It took us a few days to reach a result which we were all happy with, but once we had it, the job was simple. On the other hand, the brochure had to be something balanced. It had to communicate accommodation and diving. For this we created a simple brochure that could divide each area of the business clearly. We also took new photographs for the business as it had grown since the last photoshoot session they had done. 

El resultado, una ilustración limpia y sencilla, pero que simplificarla costó lo suyo. Por otro lado, algo llamativo, conocido y que ligaba totalmente con la marca. Cuando dos clientes del centro vieron sin querer el nuevo diseño en nuestro ordenador, y soltaron un "yo quiero ese logbook", supimos que habíamos dado en el clavo.

Por otro lado, George estaba satisfecho con el trabajo. Lo que comenzó siendo un trueque de una inmersión diaria, terminó con un "si os apetece, quedaros una semana más, descansar y bucear lo que queráis. Además, George tuvo el detallazo de invitarnos a cenar en la mejor pizzería de Gili Trawangan. Y diréis… una pizza en Indonesia no puede ser increíble. Pues bueno, fue una de las mejores pizzas que hemos comido. El cocinero italiano que montó su negoció aquí, sabía lo que hacía. Incluso teníamos una botella de aceite de oliva de alta calidad en nuestra mesa. Casi lloramos cuando la catamos.

When the job was finished, some clients saw the final designs. All of them wanted a shirt and logbook with the new design, something that made us feel great. It's not everyday that people like what you do and want a copy of it. With everyone satisfied, what had started as a simple barter of design for a dive a day ended up in a "if you guys want to stay for another week, you can come here and dive all you want". Apart from this amazing offer, George and the Mango family also took us out to dinner on two occasions. And what a dinner! On the first occasion, an authentic pizza from "el pirata", a real italian expat who made the most authentic Italian pizza (with olive oil included :P ), and on a second occasion, grilled fish and a fresh salad bar to satisfy our need from the vitamin depletion we had suffered in Indonesia.

Después de 13 días en las Gili, podemos decir que vivir aquí durante un corto periodo de tiempo y trabajar en Mango fue un placer. Desde aquí mandamos un saludo a todos nuestros compañeros de Mango y a George. Fue un lujo compartir aquellos días y esas inmersiones con vosotros. 

After 13 days living in Gili Trawangan, we can happily say that living on the island and working in Mango was an absolute pleasure. From here we have to give all our love to all those amazing people who worked in Mango. Thank you very very very much, it was amazing working, and diving with all of you, something that we will never forget. Actually we still still talk a lot about the experience… to everyone.