The head of the Abmas Movement for 1000 Packaging Designs from ITS Sayatman Ssn Msi (left) and Achmad Hufaf Dwi Ardana is showing off one of the packaging designs that have been made

ITS Campus ITS News – There is plenty of developable marketing potential for Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSME) in East Java. However, very few are supported by nice and attractive packaging, causing weak product marketing competitiveness. Departing from this, the Community Service (Abmas) team of the Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember (ITS) helped increase the competitiveness of MSMEs in East Java by creating more attractive packaging designs.

Abmas, entitled Movement of 1,000 Packaging Designs, was chaired by Sayatman SSn MSi. Abmas is also a collaboration between ITS and the East Java Provincial Government (East Java Provincial Government). Sayatman said Abmas is more precisely the role of ITS to strengthen and develop the government program One Pesantren One Product (OPOP). “So our Abmas also involves the government and academics, including lecturers and students,” he said.

Chairman of the Abmas Team for the 1000 ITS Packaging Designs Movement Sayatman SSn Msi

Therefore, he continued, Abmas target this time was to focus on the pesantren community. Sayatman explained that apart from being a place for education and da’wah pesantren is also a place for community economic empowerment. In reality, Islamic boarding schools are also expected to be a source of superior products acceptable to the market.

Sayatman stated that the Abmas he leads started on March 30. This Abmas is one of ITS’ priority Abmas which consists of around 30 lecturers and more than 100 KKN students spread across the ITS Faculty of Creative Design and Digital Business (FDKBD). “For that, we are committed to fully supporting the development of the One Pesantren One Product program in East Java,” said the man from Tasikmalaya.

Wulung Samudra Batik Packaging Design, by ITS Visual Communication Design student Achmad Hufaf Dwi Ardana

The first thing to do is hold a Focus Group Discussion (FGD) with the team at the ITS Community Service Sub-Directorate. Furthermore, the Abmas team collaborated with the East Java OPOP Program Secretariat to get contacts from partner MSMEs spread across East Java. Some of the partner’s data were obtained through direct contact with the pesantren.

Furthermore, the team discussed with MSMEs both online and offline to dig up information and get an overview of the existing packaging. “Some MSMEs don’t have packaging designs yet, and some don’t even have brands, so that’s our job to help,” said the lecturer at the Visual Communication Design Department (DKV).

It doesn’t stop there. After discussing with partner MSMEs, the Abmas team continued to work on the digital packaging design. The team also provides consultation and guidance in improving the quality of packaging according to the product. Thus, MSME partners can understand how to market their products in the future.

Lirboyo Bakery Packaging Design, one of the design works of the Abmas Movement 1000 Packaging Design team from ITS

After that, Sayatman, who is also the Head of the ITS Branding and Communication Strategy Lab said, the partner MSMEs received the product packaging designs from ITS and could use them as a reference for mass production needs. “Hopefully our design can help improve the competitiveness and marketability of MSME products in the market,” said Sayatman with hope.

Achmad Hufaf Dwi Ardana, one of the student members of the Abmas team, revealed that with this program, students can apply their knowledge to helping the community. The young man familiarly called Hufaf also helped design the packaging for Batik Wulung Samudra from Tarbiyatut Tholabah Islamic Boarding School, Lamongan. “The community’s response was wonderful and they appreciated the given design results. For other design results, you can check on the @designkemasan_its Instagram account,” he said.

Rukyah Mustajab Honey Packaging Design, one of the works of the Abmas Movement 1000 Packaging Design team from ITS

Sayatman again mentioned that there are also many innovative products of Islamic boarding schools, such as food and beverages, plantation and agricultural products, fashion, livestock, and food. Sayatman also assesses that there are already many products of Islamic boarding schools that already have good packaging designs. Hopefully that in the long term, there will be more and more superior products from Islamic boarding schools that are getting better in terms of packaging design, product, and marketing.

Still in terms of packaging design, Sayatman also joins a team developing the ITS Packaging Design House Service Program or ITS Packaging Design House currently. In the future, this service will accept requests for brand and packaging designs from various groups of people and industries. The hope is that they will help more MSMEs. “Through design, let’s make MSME products of higher quality and more highly competitive,” he said, motivating. (ITS PR)

Reporter: Gandhi Kesuma