July 28, 2020 An Interview with Yoki, Our 2020 Design Month Champion

Yoki, our veteran designer from Indonesia was at the top of the leaderboard at the conclusion of Design Month this year. Not only is he a strong, talented designer but he is humble, caring, and very passionate about our community. We are so grateful to have him here. Check out more about Yoki in this exclusive interview. 

You are one of the top and veteran designers in the community, however I haven’t seen you that active these days. Could you tell us of other interests/ projects you’re working on?
I always watch for new Topcoder challenges even if I don’t join them. Since the spread of Covid I have been using my time to learn new things such as design apps like Figma, Framer, Protopie, Invision Studio, Blender, Adobe Dimension, and Affinity Design products. When I’m learning a new thing, I need time to focus on it without any distractions, which is why I haven’t actively joined any challenges lately. Also, I built a small design studio team where I can teach and share my knowledge and experiences, and I can make portfolios for my design studio without worrying about any deadlines. But I definitely miss competing.

What do you think of the Design Month organization this year?
Topcoder and especially Jessie and the team did great things organizing the 2020 Design Month, with the new format, fun challenges, and tribute to our beloved friend Gh3ablo who passed away recently. I’m happy Design Month will attract many new members to join.

Which part of the Design Month activities did you enjoy the most? 
The Bracket Tournament Challenge is what I loved the most, it felt like a mini TCO :)). I competed  along with my friends and great competitors in this tournament. It was thrilling and fun.

Which of the challenges brought you the largest amount of points?
The Bracket Tournament Challenge of course 

In the Bracket Tournament Challenge, you defeated many of our top designers such as rajeshrathod, iamtong, starck1819995 and djackmania. What was your secret to that and how did you manage to keep your energy up until the end?
Revenge! :)) No no, competing with great designers is always thrilling and pumped my adrenaline. Also, the other competitors are from different time zones, they were sleepy while I was fully recharged, hahahaha.

Are there any new things you would like to see in the next year for Design Month?
Yes, I hope there are more small challenges with prizes for all TC members as all members are welcome to join the challenge. We saw iversonLV joined the Design Month challenge, he is competing in dev track right?

Can you tell us how you used your 1^st place prize from Topcoder?
When I heard the news about Ghe passed away, it broke my heart. I wanted to do something in tribute to him. I promised myself that if I won Design Month prize money I would give it to Ghe’s family (with help from TC staff of course). Thank God I did, along with Iamtong and Starck. We were close with Ghe so we decided to give all our prizes to his family. I think most of us were close with Ghe, he was lovable guy.

Thanks Yoki for the interview and congratulations again on winning Design Month! We are so appreciative to have people like you who truly care about our community.