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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A Finnish industrial designer , he runs a Switzerland-based studio where projects explore technological and scientific discoveries. His work reflects visions of future living environments , blending innovation with design foresight. Currently, he is a professor at Aalto University’s School of Arts, Design, and Architecture in Helsinki, Finland .
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Oh Chang-sup
As a researcher in design history and culture, he won the best paper award from the Korean Society of Design Science in 2013 and curated the exhibition Hello, Stranger at Culture Station Seoul 284. His published books include We Are Not You, and You Are Not Us , The Counterattack of Modernity , Kitsch Around Me , Design Read Through 9 Keywords , Walking Through Artificial Paradise , and This Is Not a Chair: In Search of Meta-Design. He currently serves as a professor at the College of Art and … -
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 … -
Charles Wallschlaeger
In his long tenure at The Ohio State University (OSU), Charles A. Charles Wallschlaeger was instrumental in creating one of the first full-scale industrial design departments at the university level. In more than 30 years there – including 19 as department chair, Charles influenced countless students and design educators. -
William Bevington
He is on the executive team of the Parsons Institute for Information Mapping(PIIM) New School. He currently teaches at Parsons School of Design. He has worked at Rudolf de Harak & Associates, Peter Schmidt Studio(Hamburg, Germany), and the world-renowned Pushpin Group, and taught design and typography at Cooper Union for 15 years. He has also been a visiting lecturer at Columbia University and the State University of New York at Purchase. -
Kim Kyung-a
Dreaming of the big world, she worked as an expatriate in China. After returning to Korea, she utilized her experience in China to plan and edit foreign books at a publishing house. While creating books, she realized that books are like friends that touch people’s hearts. This sparked her interest in reading therapy and counseling, and she is currently studying counseling. -
Shunmyo Masuno
He is the abbot of Dokuozan Genko-ji Temple of the Soto School, a garden designer, and a professor in the Department of Environmental Design at Tama Art University. Born in 1953, he graduated from the Department of Agriculture in the College of Agriculture at Tamagawa University in Japan and practiced at the head temple Sojiji. While creating Zen gardens, he has given lectures at schools and museums around the world. As a garden designer, he has received numerous honors, including the Art … -
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 … -
Joo ha-na
M.A., ATR-BC, Senior Researcher at the Public Design Research Center at Hongik University’s Graduate School and the founder of PSDI (Psychosocial Design Initiative) Research Lab. She focuses on researching and practicing socially prescriptive design for diversity, inclusion, and sustainability. Previously, she worked on museum projects for families with autism at the Autism Initiative team of the Queens Museum’s Art Access program. Later, at the National Museum of Modern and … -
kim eojin
As a co-founder of the design studio Everyday Practice , they collaborate with numerous cultural and artistic institutions and non-profit organizations , including the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art (MMCA), Seoul Museum of Art (SeMA), National Asian Culture Center, Busan Museum of Contemporary Art, and Green Korea . They have participated as an artist in exhibitions at institutions such as MMCA, SeMA, Ilmin Museum of Art, and Nam June Paik Art Center . In 2019 , they served as a … -
Ko Hyun-seon
Graphic designer at Toss. Plans and creates all visual aspects of Toss. She focuses on the visual consistency of Toss graphics by establishing and spreading a visual identity based on the emoji font “Toss Face”. -
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 …