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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Hyundai Motor Company is a global leader in the automotive industry that exports vehicles to over 200 countries and has established production facilities worldwide. As the pioneer of Korea’s automotive industry, Hyundai made history with the development of the nation’s first independently designed model, the Pony. The company has continued its legacy of innovation via the introduction of the world’s first mass-produced hydrogen fuel cell vehicle, XCIENT Fuel Cell, and the expansion its …
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Park Ji-min
I graduated with a degree in Korean history and have lived in China for seven years, including three years as a student in Beijing, as well as one year in the United States. Just like translating Chinese, I enjoy traveling from place to place, meeting people, and writing. Fortunately, I have been able to continue doing what I love. I have translated over 50 books, including That Mountain, That Man, That Dog , China: Incredibly Close Yet Surprisingly Foreign , Landscape , and Reading Psychology … -
Chung Byoung-kyoo
An editorial designer who graduated from Korea University with a degree in French Literature and studied design at École Estienne in Paris. In 1979, he co-founded the editorial company Yeoreogaji Munje Yeonguso with writer Lee Yoon-ki and later established Jung Byung-kyu Design in 1985, which continues to this day. He has served as a Specialist for the Seoul Olympics, President of the Korean Society of Visual Information Design, and President of the Korean Society for Image Culture. His career … -
Jeong Eun-ju
Jeong Eun-ju graduated from Korea University with a B.A. in English Literature and completed an M.A. program in Performing Arts at Seoul National University. She currently works as a freelance translator and editor. She has translated books such as GRAPHIC and other magazines and exhibition catalogs, as well as Ways of Hearing , Invisible , Never Use Futura , Encyclopedie Artwork Books , and The White Review Interviews . -
Kwon Jin
Kwon Jin is a contemporary art researcher and curator and currently works as the project director of the Seoul Mediacity Biennale at the Seoul Museum of Art (SeMA). He has been at the SeMA since 2016 after working at ARKO Art Center and the 4th Anyang Public Art Project (APAP), where he curated Ahn Sang-soo’s solo exhibition Nalgae.pati (2017), Latin American Contemporary Art Exhibition Work for the Future Past (2017–2018), Middle Eastern Contemporary Art Exhibition gohyang: home … -
John Hill
John Hill is an architect, freelance writer and editor, and published author. He grew up in Chicago, went to architecture school in Kansas, and then moved to New York City after working at an architecture firm in Chicago for ten years. Since the move to NYC in 2006 he has written seven books on architecture. The latest, Buildings in Print , surveys 100 seminal architecture books published since Le Corbusier’s Towards a New Architecture . -
김윤신
1935년 함경남도 원산에서 태어나 일제강점기와 해방, 한국전쟁의 파고를 겪으며 살아남았다. 홍익대학교에서 조각을 공부한 뒤 파리 국립고등미술학교(École des Beaux-Arts)로 유학을 떠나 그곳에서 이응노, 한묵, 문신 등 파리의 당대 예술가와 교류하고, 새로운 조각 기법과 판화를 공부하며 예술 세계를 확장했다. 귀국 후 상명여자대학교 조소과 교수로 재직하며 작업을 이어가던 그는 1984년 조카를 보러 찾아간 아르헨티나의 대자연에 깊이 매료되었고, 한국에서의 안정적 삶을 뒤로하고 야생의 재료를 찾아 그곳에서 40년 동안 왕성한 작품 활동을 했다. 그는 70년이 넘는 시간 동안 조각의 본질을 탐구해온 예술가이자 ‘조각-회화’라는 독자적인 장르를 개척한 작가다. 나무와 돌을 주재료로 삼아 조각과 회화의 경계를 넘나들며 오로지 작업에 매진했다. 서로 다른 둘이 만나 하나가 되고, 그 하나가 다시 둘로 나뉜다는 ‘합이합일 분이분일(合二合一 … -
Asaba Katsumi
Asaba Katsumi is one of those rare individuals who has led the graphic world with both art direction and typography. With his insatiable curiosity and keen eye for detail, Asaba, who says that art direction is a combination of the two, has been the first to discover interesting things and has produced many advertisements and designs that have made people’s eyes light up. without sleeping. He believes that reading a lot of books, training his body including manual work, and … -
Kim Yong-chul
Born in 1949, he graduated from the Department of Western Painting at Hongik University’s College of Fine Arts and completed his graduate studies in the Painting Department at the same university. He is currently a professor in the Painting Department at Hongik University’s College of Fine Arts. His works are in the collections of 17 institutions including the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Seoul Museum of Art, and Hongik University Museum. His publications include … -
Dunne & Raby
Dunne & Raby use design as a medium to stimulate discussion and debate amongst designers, industry and the public about the social, cultural and ethical implications of existing and emerging technologies. They are the authors of Hertzian Tales (CRD Research, 1999, MIT Press, 2005) and co-author, with Fiona Raby, of Design Noir (Birkhauser, 2001) and Speculative Everything (MIT Press, 2013). Projects include Technological Dream Series, No 1: Robots (2007), Designs For An Over Populated … -
Cho Sung-hyeon
A partner at BOUNDLESS(경계없는작업실) and the CEO of Spacewalk. After graduating from the Department of Architecture at Seoul National University, he gained practical experience at iArc before co-founding BOUNDLESS. Currently, he oversees business development for the team and focuses on solving architectural and urban issues through Spacewalk, an independent startup spun off from BOUNDLESS’s in-house technology team, BOUNDLESS-X, which collaborates with various experts and technologies. He has … -
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 …