Graphic designer Kenya Hara and his firm Nippon Design Center have self-initiated a project to release over 250 pictograms — free for anyone to use — in support of tourism in Japan from a visual design perspective.
Experience Japan Pictograms are a novel set of visual symbols developed by creative director Daigo Daikoku for people of all cultures and ages to enhance their tourism experience in Japan. And whether you run a restaurant, are building an app or putting together a guidebook, the pictograms are free and available to download for any use, even commercial. You can even change the color as you wish.
These uniquely simple and easy-to-understand pictograms are made from aesthetic and universal forms like circles, squares and other geometric shapes accentuated by curved lines and planes. Some are even animated, like the one below depicting the act of bathing in an onsen.
After experiencing years of tourism growth, tourists to Japan are down over 95% due to the pandemic. Once travel restrictions are lifted, hopefully the project comes as some much-needed assistance to various sectors that are suffering as a result. You can read more about the project and download any or all the pictograms here.
February 21, 2021 at 9:19 pm
So cool! Thank you
February 22, 2021 at 1:01 pm
These symbols are wonderful. I’d like to find a graphic of the swirling comma or tadpole-shaped water symbol—tomoemon—used on the end caps of kawara roof tiles. Best wishes.
February 23, 2021 at 7:51 am
Thank you, amazing job!
March 2, 2021 at 10:28 am
semplicemente sublimi!!!!