Feel the Emotion: Gen Z’s New Space for Expression Through Music and Visuals
June 12, 2026
SURABAYA (Lentera) – Second-semester students in the Visual Communication Design (VCD) program at Ciputra University (UC) in Surabaya held an exhibition titled “Feel the Emotion: Of the Sound, Image, & Synesthesia.”
The exhibition, held at Ciputra University’s Copreneur, showcased dozens of student works inspired by four original songs they composed themselves. In addition to creating music and writing lyrics, the students also developed visual identities that express the messages, moods, and emotions of these songs through media such as album covers, posters, photography, illustrations, and integrated visual identity systems.
Pandu R. Utomo, a Visual Communication Design lecturer at Ciputra University, explained that this project was designed to broaden students’ understanding of the role of design in creating a more holistic human experience.
“Good design isn’t just enjoyed by the eyes. Design can engage other senses, interact with sound, touch, and taste, create impressions, stimulate the mind, and evoke emotions. Through this project, students learn how an experience can be translated into meaningful visual communication,” he said on Friday, June 12, 2026.
This is reflected in the themes addressed by the students. The diverse works in this exhibition explore issues close to the lives of Generation Z, such as the search for identity, family and friendship relationships, loss, hope, and reflections on everyday experiences.
“Through these works, the students attempt to transform personal experiences into visual messages that can be universally understood,” he said.
Meanwhile, the exhibition chair, Benaya Christofer F., said the exhibition’s concept was inspired by the phenomenon of synesthesia—a condition in which stimulation of one sense triggers an experience in another sense, such as seeing a specific color when hearing a sound.
“Usually, music is only heard. In this exhibition, we’re trying to translate music into a visual experience that can be seen and felt. Each piece has a different story, atmosphere, and emotion based on the creator’s experience,” said Benaya.
He explained that all the works on display went through a fairly lengthy creative process. The students first created a song as the main foundation, then developed a visual concept capable of representing the meaning and emotional nuances contained within the music.
Through this exhibition, Ciputra University also aims to demonstrate how visual communication design continues to evolve into an increasingly human-centered discipline.
Design no longer serves merely as a means of conveying information, but has also become a medium for building experiences, sparking reflection, and creating deeper emotional connections between the work and the audience.
“Design works no longer serve merely to convey information, but have become a medium for building experiences, sparking reflection, and fostering deeper emotional connections,” Pandu concluded.
Reporter: Amanah/Editor: Santi