Category — Graphic Design

Check out this new capsule hotel that just opened last December. 9h is located in Kyoto, ready to service the burnt-out businessman or the broke backpacker 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. I love the concept and the simple pictograms. Everything looks so futuristic!

Monocle has your video of, what is, a joint collaboration between Fumie Shibata (amenities), Masaaki Hiromura (graphic design) and Takaaki Nakamura (interior design).

Related:

• First Cabin capsule hotel

Soulful male singer Ryujin Kiyoshi released his 2nd album, World, last month. The CD jacket was a joint collaboration between Mizuno Manabu of Good Design Company and graphic artist collective Nam. Hard to believe that there is no funny business going on in these images. They are actual photographs.

Related:
New Work From Good Design Company

What is the relationship between food and design? That, essentially, was the question posed to all 182 JAGDA (Japan Association of Graphic Designers) members for the recent exhibition, Food Cloths. The assignment was to design a food cloth – a place mat, a picnic blanket, bento box wrapping, anything – that symbolized the designer’s concept of food. Looking at the results, the collective answer seems to be, without a doubt, they both make us happy.

Although the exhibition just ended, the association just launched a website where you can check out all of the work. Here are some of my favorites.

Kenjiro Sano aka Mr. Design – “Have A Nice Stomach.” Enough said.

Uehara Ryosuke – fruits distilled down to their basic forms.

Shoji Morishige – a meal expressed in the form of a painter’s palette.

Miwa Uchino – A bento box wrapping designed specifically for double-decker bento boxes. Watch a story unfold, literally.

Ogata Hiroko, who must have grown up in a very strict household, graphically depicts all the things you are not supposed to do with your chopsticks.

Related:
Creative Director Kenjiro Sano

For all you late-bloomers and procrastinators still looking to get your 2010 on, check out this beautiful calendar by Japanese illustrator Nobumasa Takahashi. Recognize the name or the work? That is because he you know him as the illustrator of the brilliant Art Space Tokyo, by Ashley Rawlings and Craig Mod.
The calendar is on sale at Cibone for 2,300 yen.

Apparently December 3rd was the 15th anniversary of the original playstation release. Wow…15 years. Has it been that long already? Anyway, I love the logo. Maybe I’m not hardcore enough, but I don’t get the yellow ducky.

via designer Masahiro Minami’s blog

Although I’m still not ready to let go of 2009 the JFA (Japan Football Association) is looking ahead; far, far ahead. They recently launched Japan’s bid to host the 2018 and 2022  Football (better known as soccer here in the States) World Cup with some very attractive graphics designed by Yuji Tokuda.

Related:

• I LOHAS by Yuji Tokuda
• Yuji Tokuda for Suntory
• Yuji Tokuda | Art Director
• Retired Weapons by Yuji Tokuda

Japanese designer Nosigner recently completed this signage campaign for a cram school run by Ikushinsha, a publisher of educational materials. I think it’s so clever how an ordinary ruler, when adapted as a motif, can look so visually stunning. It is also the one iconic symbol of learning and growth – an object that all students use at some point in their studies regardless of the discipline.

Related:

• AWA by Nosigner
• Kanpyo Udon by Nosigner
• Nosigner at 100% Design Tokyo 2007

I came across this ad the other day while flipping through one of my wife’s magazines. The colors and the sleek design caught my eye. Was it a new fragrance? Cosmetics? Actually it turns out to be condoms. Okamoto Condoms to be exact. The new 0.02 EX brand just launched several weeks ago and their claim to fame is that their latex rubber, no matter what part of the condom you measure, has a width of just 0.02 millimeters. Leave it to the Japanese to apply precision and smart branding to just about anything. Take that Trojan!

Illustrator Bunpei Yorifuji – mastermind of these hilarious public service ads of the Tokyo Metro – is holding his first solo exhibition at the gallery @btf. The show spans the last 10 years or so since Yorifuji established his own design office, presenting a strong body of work that hinges on the comical, both in the stylistic sense and in content. Here are some shots of the exhibition, courtesy of @btf.

Related:
Bunpei Yorifuji Mottainai Logo

I had a nice chuckle today reading through Christoph Niemann’s latest post in his New York Times’ blog. I can especially relate to his thoughts on sleeping with your kids and how the initial sweet cuddling quickly manifests itself into a problematic reality.