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
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Mentor, author, and passionate advocate of great type and thoughtful messaging, Irene pushes herself and her team to refine the craft of visual story-telling and developing brand authenticity. Her credentials include a prestigious degree and full-tuition scholarship from The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, where she had the opportunity to study with educators such as Paul Rand, Lou Dorfsman, and Milton Glaser. Irene went on to postgraduate study at The Bezalel Academy of …
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Seo Ha-na
A Japanese translator and publishing editor who hovers between language and print. She considers language to be design, translating Japanese into Korean and plans books. She has worked in architecture and interiors, and after studying in Japan, she worked as an editor at Ahn Graphics. She has translated Rojinryoku , Who Made 501XX? , The Mina Perhonen Design Journey: The Circulation of Memory , An Encyclopedia of Tokyo Hotels , The Original Scenery of Harajuku in the 1970s , Walking with the … -
Lee Won-sik
Lee Won-sik is a brand manager at POSCO E&C. He is currently working as a brand manager at POSCO E&C after working at Interbrand, the world’s largest brand consulting firm. He has been consulting on strategic development and utilization of design and brand for various companies such as Morgan Stanley, Samsung Tesco, and Amorepacific. He is a member of the project planning team for the knowledge service sector of the Ministry of Knowledge Economy’s Industrial Source … -
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, … -
Kuma Kengo
Born in Yokohama in 1954, he studied architecture at the University of Tokyo and was a visiting scholar at Columbia University’s Department of Architecture and Urban Planning in the United States. He is currently a principal of Kengo Kuma and Associates and a special professor and professor emeritus at the University of Tokyo. His major works include Kiro-San observatory (1994), Water/Glass, Atami, Noh Stage in the Forest /Moributai Traditional Performing Arts Museum, Bato Hiroshige … -
Yoon Hee-su
She graduated from Hongik University and Hochschule der Kuenste, Berlin, and received her PhD in Fine Arts from Hongik University Graduate School. She is a professor of art education at Gongju University College of Education, and has been experimenting with design and initiative. She is constantly reading the time and space of discarded objects. She has held ten solo exhibitions and participated in more than 40 group exhibitions. He is the author of Basic Design , a co-authored book, and a … -
Yang Ye-kyu
Graduated from Dongduk Women’s University College of Arts, Department of Visual Design and its graduate school, and completed the web design course at Fashion Institute Technology (F.I.T) in New York, USA. Worked as a designer at the advertising production team of Samhee Planning Co., Ltd., the predecessor of advertising agency Hancom Co., Ltd., and taught CI and computer graphics at Dongduk Women’s University Department of Visual Design. Currently working as the head of the design … -
Kim Su-jung
She studied visual design at the Universitat der Kunste Berlin and typography and book design at the Hochschule fur Grafik und Buchkunst Leipzig. She runs the design and publishing studio Raffinerie Press and teaches typography and book design. -
Kim Sang-kyu
He studied design in college and graduate school and received her PhD in design archive research. He has been practicing design curation and archival research since he worked as a chair designer at FURSYS Inc.’s and curated exhibitions such as droog design , Korean Design , and The New Vision from László Moholy-Nagy while working as a curator at the Design Museum at the Arts Center of Korea, and conducts workshops and research on maker culture and Korean design at Jayul Design Lab. He is … -
Shin Hee-kyoung
Specialized in Visual Design and Design Theory at Seoul National University and its graduate school. As a recipient of the Japanese Ministry of Education scholarship, earned a master’s degree from Musashino Art University and a Ph.D. in Art from the Department of Design at Nihon University. After serving as a researcher at Musashino Art University, currently works as a professor in the Department of Visual Design at Semyung University while actively pursuing art, including two solo exhibitions. … -
Pyo Hyun-myung
President of KT. In 2004, during his tenure as Vice President of Marketing at KTF, he played a pivotal role in introducing service design into corporate management and marketing activities in Korea. Drawing on his extensive experience as a corporate leader, he applied service design to KT’s innovations, leading to the creation of iconic branding campaigns such as Have a good time (2005), SHOW (2007), QOOK (2009), and the groundbreaking exclamation olleh (2010). These efforts marked a … -
Jeong Ha-rin
A typeface designer and graphic designer who studied Graphic Design at Yeungnam University and Yale University. From 2014 to 2017, he worked as a type researcher and designer at Ahn Graphics’ Typography Institute, where he contributed to the creation of AG Choijeongho Typeface and AG Superblack Gothic. During the same period, he taught typeface design at the PaTI (Paju Typography Institute).