Ikko Tanaka was a Japanese graphic designer. Tanaka is widely recognized for his prolific body of interdisciplinary work, which includes graphic identity and visual matter for brands and corporations including Seibu Department Stores, Mazda, Issey Miyake, Hanae Mori, and Expo 85. He is credited with developing the foundational graphic identity for lifestyle brand Muji, emphasizing the “no brand” quality of their products through unadorned, charming line drawings paired with straightforward slogans. His use of bold, polychromatic geometries and his harnessing of the dynamic visual potential of typography are undergirded by a sensitivity towards traditional Japanese aesthetics. Though keenly sensitive to historical precedents and established conventions, Tanaka nevertheless maintained a degree of playfulness in his work, manipulating color, scale, and form to reconfigure familiar iconographies into fresh and accessible visual representations. Tanaka is also widely recognized for his posters designs for Noh productions and other performances and exhibitions staged in Japan and beyond. He was active in realms of typography, exhibition design, and book design as well, and his publication Japan Style was released in 1980 alongside the Victoria and Albert Museum exhibition of the same name. As a leading figure in postwar Japanese design, Tanaka is also credited with playing a role in the professionalization and expansion of the discipline.
Authors
Tanaka Ikko
田中一光
다른 사람들
-
The Yonsei HCI Lab focuses on research in human-AI interaction, with a special emphasis on UX design for digital health systems that enhance well-being and treat diseases. The lab members, who are not just HCI experts but ‘Experience Engineers,’ are dedicated to developing innovative digital health products that help bring meaningful experiences through AI technology.
-
Bas van Abel
He is the Creative Director at Waag Society, focusing on developing various projects based on open design principles. He is also the co-founder of Waag Society’s Fab Lab and the Instructables Restaurant. On a personal level, he is actively involved in the global maker and digital fabrication community. -
Lee Suk-woo
Lee Suk-woo graduated from Hongik University, worked for Samsung Electronics in South Korea, Fuse Project and Teague in the US, and acted as a global creative leader and chief designer at Google-Motorola, Korea. Following the establishment of the industrial design office SWNA in 2011, he established his own object brand, The Liberal Office. In 2015, he was selected as one of the top 10 Global Design Studios in the design concept category at the Red Dot Awards and received the Minister of Trade, … -
Kim Hyun-ho
Editorial director of VOSTOK magazine and head of VOSTOK PRESS. He is the editor of various publications and the director of PLATFORM-P. He has worked as the chief editor of the design journal Yanggwibi , editor-in-chief of the Seoul National University Press and Culture Center, and a member of the planning committee of the School of Photographic Theory and the bimonthly magazine Wordnbow , and received the Art in Culture New Vision Art Criticism Award. -
Simon Garfield
Simon Garfield was born in London in 1960. He is the author of an appealingly diverse and unpredictable canon of non-fiction, including the bestsellers Mauve, Just My Type and On The Map. He is a trustee of Mass Observation, and is the editor of several books of diaries from the archive, including Our Hidden Lives and A Notable Woman. His recent books include Timekeepers, In Miniature, and All the Knowledge in the World: The Extraordinary History of the Encyclopaedia. -
Yang Sung-hee
Yang Sunghee studied architecture in college. After studying publishing translation at GIbab Academy, she is currently a member of Barun Translation and a professional Japanese translator. The books she translated include Treasured Stories of Ryunosuke Akutagawa (co-translation) and Natural Interior Decorated with DIY. -
Lee Kyu-won
She majored in Japanese at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies. She has worked as an editor for many years, organizing books in various fields including science, humanities, and history. She is currently working as a professional translator. He has translated Miyuki Miyabe’s Reason , Seicho Matsumoto’s Masterpiece Short Story Collection , Alaska, A Story Like the Wind , Tadao Ando’s I, Architect , and more than 80 other books. -
2023 Typojanchi Team
The 2023 Typojanchi Team is a working group consisting of Artistic Director Park Yeoun-joo, Curators Shin Hae-ok, Yeo Hye-jin, Jeon Yu-ni, and Coordinator Lee Ju-hyun. -
Mike Evans
Mike Evans was a musician who released two singles on the Decca label and performed at the Cavern Club. In 1969, he was active in the Liverpool music scene and took the stage as a support band for Led Zeppelin and Bob Dylan. Afterwards, he transitioned to radio and contributed articles to magazines such as Sounds , Melody Maker , and The Guardian . Since the late 1980s, he has written and edited over 60 books on music, film, and fashion. -
손용학
1970년에 동산방에 들어가 박주환 선생에게 표구를 배웠으며, 1986년에 낙원표구사로 옮긴 후 2002년에 묵호당을 열어 현재까지 표구업에 몸담고 있는 50년 이상 경력의 표구 장인이다. 2014년부터 2019년까지 한국표구협회 회장을 지냈으며, 문화재수리기능자 제1365호 자격을 보유하고 있으며, 고용노동부 선정 숙련기술전수자(배첩기능) 제2021-3호로 지정되었다. 2024년에는 이화여자대학교에서 표구를 가르쳤다. -
Renate Menzi
Renate Menzi enjoyed a craft-based design education at the Kunstgewerbeschule Zürich, which she continued at the Bezalel Academy in Jerusalem. Having graduated in 1996, she worked as an assistant at the Chair of Visual Design in the Department of Architecture at ETH Zurich and studied Theory of Design and Art at the Zurich University of the Arts. Since 2008, she is the curator of the design collection at the Museum für Gestaltung Zürich where she teaches, collects, researches and publishes in … -
Ahn Sang-soo
Ahn Sang-soo is a graphic designer and typographer with a keen interest in Korean visual culture. He studied in the Visual Communication Design Department at Hongik University, where he also completed his graduate studies. A former professor at his alma mater, he took early retirement in 2012 to establish the Paju Typography Institute, where he currently serves as the president, also known as ‘Nalgae.’ In 2007, he received the Gutenberg Prize from the city of Leipzig, Germany. He is also a …