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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Ellen Lupton is a designer, writer, and educator. Her books include Design Is Storytelling, Graphic Design Thinking, Health Design Thinking, and Extra Bold: A Feminist, Inclusive, Anti-Racist, Nonbinary Field Guide for Graphic Designers . The third edition of her bestselling book Thinking with Type launches in March, 2024. She teaches in the Graphic Design MFA program at Maryland Institute College of Art in Baltimore (MICA), where she proudly serves as the Betty Cooke and William O. Steinmetz …
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Kim Sun-hee
She graduated from Hongik University, College of Fine Arts, Department of Industrial Design and received his MFA from Pratt Institute Graduate School of Industrial Design. Since 1995, she has been a keynote professor at Samsung Art and Design Institute (SADI), and since 1999, she has been a research professor at Parsons School of Design and Pratt Institute’s Department of Industrial Design in New York City. Currently, she teaches three-dimensional sculpture at Parsons School of … -
Choi Chul-yong
Choi Chul-Yong studied Textile Art and Fashion Design at Hongik University and its graduate school and later explored the intersection of design and art at the Domus Academy in Milan. After working as a fashion designer and art director for European fashion brands such as Meltin’pot (Italy), Wrangler Blue Bell (Belgium), and Marteli (Italy), he returned to Korea in 2009 and launched his own brand, Cy Choi. Cy Choi has held 18 presentations in Paris, participated in Seoul Fashion Week 10 times, … -
Kim Sung-do
Born in 1963, he graduated from the Department of French Language and Literature at Korea University. He received his master’s and doctoral degrees in linguistics and semiotics from the University of Paris X in France. He was selected for the LG Yonam Foundation’s overseas research program and served as a visiting professor at the Department of Art History and the Institute of Linguistics at Oxford University in the UK, a visiting professor at Harvard University in the US as a … -
Sung Sang-woo
Graduated from Waseda University, Department of Architecture. After working at several design offices, he founded a0100z space design with his life partner in 2009. Currently, he is building a series of houses called ‘House with a Worn Threshold’ and ‘Together’, and runs Jeongchu Seodang in Yongsu Village, Yongin, where he talks about humanities and gives a lecture on humanities architecture called ‘House is Meaning’. -
Lee Kwang-suk
He has been engaged in research, criticism, and writing with a critical focus on the intersections of technology, society, and ecology. He is a Professor in the Graduate School of IT Policy at Seoul National University of Science and Technology, specializing in Digital Culture Policy. Since 2020, he has served as the Editor-in-Chief of Culture/Science , a journal of cultural theory. His main research interests include technology and cultural studies, the commons, platforms, techno-ecological … -
Lee Bong-won
He studied visual design at Hongik University and Dong-A Graduate School, and received his master’s degree in Design Strategy and Innovation from Brunel University, UK. He worked at the UI Lab of Samsung Electronics Design Management Center and is currently in charge of developing future scenarios based on the convergence of industries and technologies and designing service systems to realize them. -
Kim Jong-kyun
Kim Jong-kyun graduated from Seoul National University with an undergraduate degree in Industrial Design and earned his doctor’s degree in Design from the same institution. He currently serves as an Administrative Officer at the Korean Intellectual Property Office. He is the author of several books, including Design in Korea and Design Wars , and has co-authored many others. Kim has published numerous papers on the history of Korean design, branding, and design intellectual property rights, and … -
Lee Kyu-bok
He majored in calligraphy at Wonkwang University and completed his doctoral program at Dongguk University. In 2002, he founded CalliDesign, a company specializing in calligraphy, where he is currently the president, and served as a board member of the Korea Calligraphy and Design Association. He has been in charge of important large-scale projects in Korea, including the slogan titles for the 17th and 18th presidential inaugurations, the slogan titles for the opening of Gwanghwamun Square, the … -
IDR
IDR is a combination of letters reminiscent of ordinary English words such as idea and ideal. It is intended to be a more free architecture that responds flexibly to various external conditions without being bound by a specific logic or theory. Questioning what is taken for granted in our cities and architecture is the starting point of his work, and he is particularly interested in the role of architecture as a mediating background between users and everyday life. -
Florencia Colombo
Florencia Colombo, a Switzerland-based architect, designs cultural projects with a creative focus. She works across architecture, contemporary art, and design, developing interdisciplinary academic exhibitions and publications for various international institutions. -
Omagari Toshi
Toshi Omagari is a font designer at Monotype in the UK. He studied typography and font design at Musashino Art University in Tokyo, graduating in 2008. Arcade Game Typography is his first book.