Red Hot Chili Peppers, ‘Ragnarok Online’, and ‘MSCHF’: The Work That Made Nico Tangara

Nico Tangara is an award-winning creative specialising in the intersection of art and technology.

At just 14, Nico showcased his ingenuity by hacking and building his own game server, diving headfirst into the worlds of tech and creativity. He taught himself programming languages, along with sprite animation – seamlessly merging logic with artistry.

Over the years, Nico has worked with global, regional, and local clients, delivering campaigns that celebrate unique cultural insights while pushing creative boundaries. His projects span animated films, groundbreaking campaigns, and immersive virtual experiences that blend technology with storytelling.

Currently, he serves as associate creative director and creative technologist at BBH Singapore.

Below, Nico looks back on his days watching MTV and playing ‘Ragnarok Online’ and how they have shaped his creativity.

LBB> The ad/music video from my childhood that stays with me…

Nico> Red Hot Chili Peppers - ‘Californication’. I was around eight years old when this came out. I remember watching the music video on MTV Asia and thought I could play it. It’s also around the age when I am allowed to play video games, so everything feels right at the moment.

LBB> The ad/music video/game/web platform that made me want to get into the industry…

Nico> When I was 14 years old ‘Ragnarok Online’ was booming like crazy in Indonesia. Every internet cafe plays it, and people are selling the in-game currency. It was an MMORPG with sprite based design that unfortunately requires a monthly subscription when the character turns to level 40.

So many people decide to create a clone of the game with the same assets and make their own private server, including me. I started creating new monsters using Microsoft Paint and editing the sprite frame by frame and even learning a bit of Perl, PHP, MySQL, and many others to make my own.

LBB> The creative work that I keep revisiting…

Nico> I don’t have a bible that I always go to for inspiration because I enjoy being exposed to new things more. I make sure my YouTube algorithm is curated enough so it keeps giving me cool stuff.

LBB> My first professional project…

Nico> I started at Y&R Singapore as a junior art director and was working on M1. Back in the days they had a library of photo assets that they kept using from time to time to make ads. Stock image was considered expensive, so the options were always very limited.

One day we got a brief talk about M1 (a telco brand) Anniversary, and they are offering free calls all day. I had an idea to use the existing assets and do a sunburn on the face and make a negative silhouette of a mobile phone M1 Print Ad for Free Call.

LBB> The piece of work that made me so angry that I vowed to never make anything like *that*…

Nico> Angry is a strong word but a scam work for a social cause campaign that claims to change the world always triggers me.

LBB> The piece of work that still makes me jealous…

Nico> The creative freedom that MSCHF has as an art collective to come out with lots of thought provoking pieces year after year. And it was executed flawlessly every time with such care.

LBB> The creative project that changed my career…

Nico> Probably my first venture into hardware by making a digitally analog polaroid camera made with Raspberry Pi. It was an eye opening experience that I am really grateful I had the grit to overcome, considering I have zero knowledge on this field.

From there on I began to see the novelty of combining technology in unexpected ways like on work and also as a hobby.

I began to see myself not just as a creative but also as a creator and living the maker mentality as my identity and I feel the creative satisfaction in every step that I do.

LBB> The work that I’m proudest of…

Nico> Has to be ‘Honeyfruit’ because of how brilliant the insight, execution and result was. It was also done during covid as an activation in Bangkok and the amounts of crowds there were unbelievable. The best part of it is actually how some people like it and how some hated it because it makes people debate and talk about it.

This ingredient is really the key in making a viral idea.

LBB> I was involved in this, and it makes me cringe…

Nico> For the Changi Millionaire promo, we planned an activation at Changi Airport. The concept was to highlight ’ALMOST MILLIONAIRES’, those who didn't take their chance slips. We organised a mob to storm cashiers to collect these slips, as many people did refuse them. However, the resulting film looked fake and was of poor quality.

LBB> The recent project I was involved in that excited me the most…

Nico> Recently we made a project where we recreated ‘chewing gum’ from Singapore, a country that famously banned it. Through research, we found the ban was tied to the gum base itself, so we recreated a candy that looked, tasted, and chewed like gum, but wasn’t technically gum.

We designed the packaging and promotional visuals to feel authentic, and timed the launch around National Day, when Singaporeans celebrate what makes the country unique.