Based in Malaysia. Open to roles globally.

Work KartaCam Brand Shoot

Award-winning KartaCamBrand Shoot: The Human & TechBehind the Map

  • Creative direction
  • Brand storytelling
  • Product marketing
A Grab mapper in a green jacket smiles under red lanterns in a Kuala Lumpur alley, KartaCam 2 mounted above his backpack

GrabMaps is built by Grab’s delivery drivers and mappers on scooters, in cars and on foot, in the narrow alleys other conventional maps miss. I led its first brand shoot to translate what that really looks like.

Wait, GrabMaps builds its own maps? How do they do it? GrabMaps is the mapping and location intelligence arm of Grab, Southeast Asia’s leading superapp. KartaCam is its own AI-powered mapmaking camera, designed and built in-house.

Category
Brand visual storytelling and film
My role
End-to-end project management, creative direction, brand guardian
Recognition
Red Dot Design Awards 2024. President’s Design Award Singapore 2025

The gap

GrabMaps powers a superapp used by 40 million people. Its hardware had only ever been shown as renders on a white background.

What was missing

Every image of our hardware was either a 3D render or a quick phone photo. There was no visual library showing how GrabMaps actually maps, by car, on foot with a backpack or on a helmet, or who does the mapping.

What I owned

  • Project ownership
  • Creative direction
  • Video scripting
  • Storyboarding
  • Budget & vendors

From 3D renders to a real photo library

Before the shoot, product imagery meant low-res phone photos and 3D models.

Before and after: on the left, the old 3D renders and phone snaps; on the right, the new shared library of shoot selects and studio shots

The story

Every scene started from nailing down the CVP

GrabMaps started its journey with four store-bought GoPros mounted on a camera. Today, its award-winning KartaCam has built-in AI models and three modes of mapping. While its hardware has advanced, the core of its mission remains: No alley left unmapped. The team at GrabMaps maps the hidden roads and forgotten alleys other maps miss, so the brand needed to look exactly like that: real, purposeful and a bit of an underdog. I took the three promises in its customer value proposition (CVP) and turned each one into a rule for how we framed every shot.

  1. A mapper walks down a narrow wet-market alley with KartaCam on his backpack

    CVP 1

    Hyperlocal coverage

    So we shot: mapping by scooter and on foot, deep in hidden, narrow alleys.

  2. A smiling Grab rider on her scooter among glass towers, KartaCam mounted behind her

    CVP 2

    Mapped by the region’s largest fleet

    So we cast: real Grab drivers and delivery riders as the talent.

  3. A rider’s hands holding a phone with the map app, the scooter mirror beside it

    CVP 3

    Accurate, fresh data

    So we followed: a mapper’s whole journey, from start to finish.

The location

Roads that represent Southeast Asia

We took location scouting seriously. We weren’t looking for a pretty alley, but for streets that truly look like Southeast Asia’s roads. I gathered references for colour, camera angles and the emotion I wanted from the talent, so everyone on set knew what “real” looked like.

Our talent were real Grab delivery drivers who also map for GrabMaps. Before the shoot, I talked to them and learnt how they map: where the camera goes, how they plan a route, and what a day on the road is like. That shaped every shot.

Location scouting board: reference streets from across Southeast Asia beside the recce sheets for each site

Scene 1: Cultural representation at Chinatown, Petaling StreetA street market and its back alleys

  • A rider on a scooter under rows of red lanterns
  • KartaCam mounted on a rider’s helmet
  • A mapper walking through the market under umbrellas and lanterns
  • A mapper beside a weathered wall with vines

Scene 2: Urban area mapping at Kuala Lumpur city centreHighways and office towers

  • A silver GrabMaps car with a roof camera among office towers
  • A mapper crossing a glass walkway seen from above
  • A mapper riding an escalator with the camera on his backpack
  • A mapping car on a curving flyover
  • A rider walking through a covered walkway

Scene 3: Rural area mapping at Petaling JayaResidential streets and tropical green

A mapper in a green cap checks his phone beside a leafy house
A mapping car on a road under a tree canopy
A rider on a scooter between tall trees
A mapper walking down a quiet residential lane
A laughing rider in a GrabMaps T-shirt on a scooter

In the studio

Glossy hardware, gritty stone

All our hardware is black, some of it matte and some of it shiny. A typical white/black background gadget shoot wasn’t the vision we wanted. The aim was texture, precise lighting, softness and approachability: premium, but never cold.

So I specified the kind of stone I wanted: rough, raw and uneven, to balance the reflective finish. The agency and producers sourced it, and it gave every angle something to sit on.

Studio moodboard: stone and soft-light references beside behind-the-scenes photos of the lighting set-up
KartaCam 2 on a rough stone plinth against a soft grey-blue backdrop
KartaCam 2nd edition, a four-lens cube, resting on angled stone bricks
KartaDongle stacked on a column of stones
KartaCam 2nd edition from above on a long stone slab
KartaCam 1st edition mounted on a white motorcycle helmet among stone blocks

Output

Representing GrabMaps globally

  1. Storytelling how GrabMaps maps

    For the first time, GrabMaps could show how its mapping really happens: by scooter, by car and on foot, with real drivers and riders, in the streets of Southeast Asia.

  2. An evergreen library for the whole company

    We worked with teams across Grab to pick the right shots for decks, press and events, then shared one library that PR, Public Affairs, marketing, operations and outside agencies still use.

  3. Two award recognitions

    The new imagery went into KartaCam 2’s submissions for the Red Dot Design Awards 2024 and the President’s Design Award Singapore 2025.

The photography used at an event booth
Tech in Asia Conference, Indonesia
The photography on stage at an event
World Expo, Japan
The photography on screens at an event
President’s Design Award, Singapore
The photography on an exhibition wall
Singapore Design Week
The photography in a presentation
President’s Design Award, Singapore
The photography on a standee
Smart City Expo Kuala Lumpur

Recognition

Award recognition in Europe and Southeast Asia

I wrote and directed the brand film, and the award submissions were built around the new imagery.

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