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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The National Museum of Korea is the flagship museum of Korean history and art in South Korea. Since its establishment in 1945, the museum has been committed to various studies and research activities in the fields of archaeology, history, and art, continuously developing a variety of exhibitions and education programs. It was relocated to Yongsan District, Seoul in 2005. On June 24, 2021, the National Museum of Korea opened a new branch inside Incheon International Airport. The museum has …
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Kim Eung-hwa
She graduated from Seoul National University, Department of Applied Arts, and Tama Art University, Department of Graphic Design, Japan. She is a member of the Korean Society of Package Design and the Package Design Association. She has participated in three solo exhibitions and numerous group exhibitions. She is currently a professor at the Department of Communication Design, College of Design, Hanyang University. Her translations include Package Soft: Packaging as a Marketing Tool . -
비유에스건축
BUS Architects is an architectural design firm led by three partners: Park Ji-hyun, Woo Seung-jin, and Cho Sung-hak . The firm focuses on establishing diverse relationships between cities, culture, and people , drawing from meaningful imagination that can emerge through architecture and space. Rather than emphasizing the “construction” of architecture, BUS Architects prioritizes the “process” behind it. In this context, “BUS” represents both a commitment to … -
Ku Mo-a
After graduating from Konkuk University, she worked at Sandol Communication, a Korean type foundry, for five years, and as a researcher and team leader at AG Typography Research Center, she worked on several typeface projects, including “Sandoll LateSpring,” the Maru project “Maru Buri,” and the 87MM brand’s exclusive font “87MM ILSANG.” She has been conducting research and projects on screens and fonts since “AG Choijeongho Screen” and has been working on typeface design based on … -
Roel Klaassen
Roel Klaassen is Programme Manager at Premsela, Dutch Platform for Design and Fashion. Roel is a design enthusiast with an academic background in design, psychology and strategic management. At present he’s working on the People’s Republic of Design programme, a Premsela initiative that aims to stimulate the development of an open design culture. -
Sara De Bondt
Sara De Bondt is a graphic designer, publisher, and educator. Her current design projects include creating a new website for The Showroom, developing exhibition graphics for the Wellcome Collection, and designing books for Camden Art Centre and Book Works. She has been a member of the Alliance Graphique Internationale (AGI) since 2017. In 2008, she co-founded the publishing imprint Occasional Papers with Antony Hudek and has since edited several of its titles. Her most recent book, Off the … -
Chae Hee-joon
Specialized in Korean typography at Kaywon University of Art and Design. Focused on font production, he is an active member of the design studio FORMULA. He has released typefaces such as Cheongwol, Cheongjo, Choseol, Goyo, Shinsegae, Tal, Classic, Giha, and Omin. Passionate about creating typefaces, he enjoys the process of detecting and studying subtle differences in letterforms. -
Kil Hyung-jin
He is passionate about design and making complex concepts more accessible. He is currently working on design systems at Wanted Lab to improve the speed and quality of digital product creation. -
Suzy Lee
Suzy Lee studied painting in Korea and book arts in the UK and has published picture books internationally. Her work has garnered several prestigious awards, including the “2022 Hans Christian Andersen Award” “the Bologna Ragazzi Award”, “the Inchon Memorial Award” “The Korean Publishing Culture Award” and “The New York Times Best Illustrated Children’s Book Award”. Among her most celebrated works are the picture books Summer , River , Wave , Shadow , The Black Bird , Alice in Wonderland , and … -
Byunggeol Min
He is a graphic designer. After graduating from the Department of Visual Communication Design at Hongik University, he worked as a designer at Angraphics. He then went on to study “typography using mathematical algorithms” in the graduate program of Visual Communication Design at Musashino Art University. Upon returning to Seoul, he served as a design director at Noon Design and took part in Jindallae’s collective activities, undertaking numerous projects that derive various forms from fixed … -
Kim Bong-ryol
He graduated from Seoul National University with a bachelor’s degree in architecture and earned a Ph.D. in engineering from the same graduate school, and studied at the AA School of Architecture in the United Kingdom. He has served as a professor and dean of architecture at Korea National University of Arts, and chairman of the Cultural Heritage Committee of the Cultural Heritage Administration. Based on his deep knowledge in the field of ancient architecture, he is working to popularize … -
Helmut Schmid
Typographer. Born in February 1942 in Austria with German nationality, he completed an apprenticeship as a typesetter in Germany before studying at the Basel School of Design (Schule für Gestaltung Basel) under Emil Ruder, Kurt Hauert, and Robert Büchler. He subsequently worked in Germany, Sweden, Denmark, Canada, and Japan, where he created his renowned type design “Katanaka Eru”. In Japan and Germany, he published several books, including Gestaltung ist Haltung (Design Is …