ART121.profileART121.profile, DESIGN, March 2006 Computer Arts Issue 121 PDFs, CA121
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//-->|PROFILE44|March 2006ART121.profile 4428/2/06 2:51:42 pmPROFILE|By blending influences as diverse as traditionalwoodcuts and modern pop culture, Japanese designagency Loworks has created a unique aesthetic.Jason Arberpeers beneath the kooky artwork foundin its illustrations, videos and web graphics, anduncovers an active obsession with qualityWORDSJASON ARBERPHOTOGRAPHYJOBY SESSIONSJCLOCKWISEFROM TOP LEFT:Shinya Noda, HarukiHigashi, unidentified friend,unidentified friend, TomohiroMorita, Yoshinori Miyamotoand unidentified friendapanese graphic design has, in many ways,paved the way for Western graphic design,turning its rich cultural heritage andidiosyncrasies into a visual format that seemsboth alien and familiar. Historically, Japan hasbeen influenced by Chinese and Korean traditionsin calligraphy, pottery, painting and poetry, butfollowing the Second World War, Americabecame the dominant cultural role-modelaccompanied by Japan’s rapid modernisation.In effect, Japan became a melting pot whereEast and West met. Unlike many Asian cultures,Japan wholeheartedly embraced foreigninfluences but warped them through its ownunique prism. And just as Japanese society ismulti-layered and clearly structured, two differentkinds of graphic language have emerged.The first is the loud, vibrant visual assault thatmany in the West associate with Japanese design.It’s seen on packaging, comics, and magazines:bright pinks and electric blues with brashkatakana typography slashed through the middle,and often accompanied by cute Manga characters.But Japan is as much about order, tranquillity,Zen rock gardens and Buddhist monasteries asit is bug-eyed cartoons and visual chaos. Thisflip-side to Japan is typified by the modernistaesthetic of the retail brand Muji, with theemphasis on minimalist lines and neutral colours.You can also see it in the witty but ordered workof Yugo Nakamara (www.yugop.com) and theclean grids of Japanese design agency WOW(www.w0w.co.jp).The new evolutionNowhere is this progressive mash-up exemplifiedbetter than Japanese design agency Loworks,headed by Haruki Higashi. Loworks has aApril 2006|45ART121.profile 4528/2/06 2:51:50 pm|PROFILELOWORKSLOWORKS’ TOOLKITSO WHAT DOES LOWORKS USE TOCREATE ITS GRAPHICS AND VIDEOS?From a hardware point of viewLoworks uses a combination ofWindows boxes running MicrosoftXP and a bunch of G4s running OS X.For print and web graphics there areno surprises with Loworks’ softwarechoices:Illustrator, PhotoshopandFlash.And when it comes to motiongraphics and 3D work Loworks’weapons of choice are Autodesk’s3ds Maxand Adobe’sAfter EffectsandPremiere.LEFT:Scenes from a 30-second ad, art directedby Higashi, asking“Which iPod are you?”ABOVE:Carnival by Loworks, demonstratingHaruki Higashi’s abstract style of illustrationABOVE:3D illustrations forSutra,published by Global Design in Japanvisual style that includes acres of Zencalm, punctuated by random patches ofvisual havoc. By mixing relaxed, hand-drawn graphics with the precision ofdigital tools, the agency represents anevolutionary jump for Japanese design.Higashi learned graphic design attechnical college and, after graduating,joined a design company that producedfree papers. It was there that he metTomohiro Morita and together theydecided to form Loworks in 2004. As thecompany began to grow and attract moremotion graphics work, Higashi askedanimators Shinya Noda and YoshinoriMiyamoto, who he knew from his collegedays, to join the company.Loworks is a multidisciplinarycollective, equally at home producingwebsites, print, videos and typefaces, allunited under Higashi’s design philosophy:“Creation, continuation and reputation”.Reputation is particularly apt, becauseLoworks has been garnering internationalpraise for its unique and whimsical style,all without any kind of promotion or PR.The organic nature of the internet is theonly tool they use, admits Higashi. “Ourwebsite has been gradually checked outABOVE:Two moreexamples of theteam’s style, thistime for Lee Jeansand reported on by other websites so thatmore and more people are discovering ourwork. We always make sure that we uploadimages to the website every time wecreate new artwork.”Loworks’ website is part hub thatcollects its client work and experiments inprint, web, video and type, and partstrange world that simply begs to beexplored. It’s littered with secret links andEaster eggs that zoom you into the site toreveal tiny lumbering robots, beforewhisking you off to explore Higashi’sincredibly slick photoblog.The internet has put Loworks on theinternational stage, so it makes sense thatthe default language is English ratherthan Japanese and that Higashi designsWestern typefaces. He admits that thereal reason for designing Western fontsis that they’re actually easier to make:“I tried to design Japanese fonts before,but Japanese has three different alphabets– kanji, hiragana and katakana – so itwas really hard to make everything.”Higashi promises that he’ll “try to designat least katakana next time!”In fact, being a Japanese designcompany is not all it’s cracked up to be.46|April 2006ART121.profile 4628/2/06 2:51:56 pmPROFILE|BIG IN JAPANIF YOU LIKE YOUR VISUAL TREATS FROM THE EAST, SPEND SOMETIME GETTING TO KNOW THESE DESIGNERS AND ILLUSTRATORSCURRENTLY CAUSING A STIR IN JAPANTYO INTERACTIVE DESIGNTYO is Unit 9’s partner in Japan, witha strong, imaginative portfolio ofwebsite designs for the likes of Sony,Nike, Panasonic and Nissan.URL:www.tyo-id.co.jpi2F: INTERACTIVE &INTERFACE FACTORYABOVE:This image, entitled The 86th Hall, was created by Loworks in its signature style. Thetwo self-promotional mobile phone covers were designed by the team for NTT DoCoMoBold, vibrant graphics are the orderof the day at i2f, based in Tokyo. Thesite also boasts a superb collection offree Japanese fonts to download forboth Mac and PC.URL:www.i2f.orgThe domestic market can sometimes beunappreciative. “Japanese clients oftenprefer a designer’s name value to thequality of their work,” complains Higashi.And worse still, “some Japanese designcompanies value quantity of work overquality.” As far as Higashi is concernedthey’re not creatives, “they’re justoperators.” And this is where Loworkswhich literally translates as “pictures of thefloating world”. It’s easy to see the linkbetween this ancient and stylised form ofart and the stark graphics of Loworks.Another influence on Higashi’s design isthat bedrock of Japanese pop culture,Manga. Ironically, Manga actually means‘random or whimsical pictures’, which is agood way to describe Loworks’ output.SAMOHUNGSamohung is a design collectivemade up of Kuroita’s ToshinoriMatsuura and 04’s Yuji Oshimoto,among others. Superb designs andpolished graphics make it one of thesmoothest young agencies around.URL:www.samohung.jp“It’s not only Western designers, but designersfrom everywhere who are intrigued with othercountries and cultures”HARUKI HIGASHIsteps in. The agency is an advocate ofquality not quantity and, for Higashi,design is ultimately all about having fun.“If you enjoy creating and can makemoney, you can say that design is a goodbusiness to be in,” says Higashi.When asked why Japanese design holdssuch a fascination for the West, Higashi isphilosophical. “It’s not only Westerndesigners, but designers from everywherewho are intrigued and impressed withother countries and cultures.” As for whatinspires Higashi, he cites Ukiyo-e, ortraditional Japanese woodblock prints,Bizarrely, Higashi’s favourite piece ofLoworks design is not a website,animation or piece of print, but a space.Loworks was commissioned to createartwork for a wall in a design company,something that will ultimately become abackdrop for photoshoots. Higashirecently attended an opening party thereand says, “I was glad to see peopleenjoying a drink with our design: it lookedcompletely different when it became a partof people’s real life.”Loworks’ graphic design – whichnew media design portal and digitalSHIFTThe grandaddy of all design portalsis still showing the rest of the worldhow it should be done. Published inEnglish and Japanese, Shift has aninternational appeal with a focus ondomestic talent.URL:www.shift.jp.orgYUGOPYugop is the personal playground ofYugo Nakamura, one of the brainiestpeople to ever sit in front of a copy ofFlash.Nakamura mixes cerebralexperiments with the genuinelyunexpected and visually pleasing.URL:www.yugop.comApril 2006|47ART121.profile 4728/2/06 2:52:37 pm|PROFILELOWORKSseem to speak about Japan’s military pastand its current obsessions with cutenessand pop culture. Created in crisp colours,perhaps even bleak black and white, it’stypical of the depth of Loworks’ output.Rise of the robotsAs for the future, Higashi already has aplan: Loworld Project – taking the robotsand strange characters that pepper theagency’s artwork and turning them into arange of toys. It’s something Higashi hasbeen thinking about for a long time,describing it as his dream. Adding yetanother string to Loworks’ bow seems tomake sense for a company that’s alreadypushing the boundaries in everything elseit does. But that has always been theJapanese way.ABOVE:A microsite forJapanese band Hifana,created for the releaseofChannel HCOMPANY INFO:To find out more aboutLoworks visit www.loworks.org or emaillow@loworks.org.LOWORKS Q&ATHE LOWORKS TEAM REVEALS ALLNAME:Haruki HigashiROLE:Art director andgraphic designerFROM:Kumamoto, JapanINSPIRED BY:Japaneseanimation I watched as a kid; I alwaysdrew the heroes.FAVOURITE DESIGNER:DragonBall Zcreator Akira Toriyama (www.toriyamaworld.com), because he hasa big world view.NAME:Tomohiro MoritaROLE:Graphic designerFROM:South Island, JapanINSPIRED BY:MusicFAVOURITE DESIGNER:Poster designer Ikko Tanaka (www.posterpage.ch/mem/tanaka/tanaka.htm)because his style is so simple.NAME:Shinya NodaROLE:AnimatorFROM:Oita, JapanINSPIRED BY:Picture books,stop-motion animation andthe Blue Whale – it fascinates me.FAVOURITE DESIGNERS:Jiri Trnka, YuryNorshtein, Leo Lionni, Dick Bruna, KayNielsen, Jackson Pollock, Paulo Coelhoand Shigeru Mizuki.NAME:Yoshinori MiyamotoROLE:AnimatorFROM:Fukuoka, JapanINSPIRED BY:Hong Kongmovies. I’ve always wanted tobe an action star.FAVOURITE DESIGNER:Masanori Morita,a Japanese animator. I imitated hisdrawing style when I was a kid.ABOVE:This stylistic mash-up, a promotionalpiece entitled Karumach, features the Loworksmascot, Lowny, among other eccentric figuresculture magazineNetdiverdescribesas “grunge meets exuberant eclecticism”– is all about convergence. The past andthe present, traditional motifs and modernideas, Japanese culture and an internationaloutlook go through the Loworks blenderto become the coolest artwork to emergefrom the Prefecture of Fukuoka.Designs such as Ignition, where anarmoured tank is piled high with randomshapes, scratchy graphics, bug-eyed gunturrets and odd Teletubby-esque characters,THE ESSENTIAL LOWORKSTHREE EXAMPLES OF THE TEAM’S TRADEMARK STYLEBorelow is a self-promotionalillustration that ties together the keyLoworks styles: a mix of hand-drawnand digital techniques, one-eyedrobots and pseudo-Teletubbies,the stark black and white and theintense, and the creative randomnessinjected by the agency’s founderHaruki Higashi.Low Rapieris Loworks’ corporatefont – just one of the many typefacescreated by Haruki Higashi. Adistinctly hand-drawn typeface, youcan see subtle echoes of Japanesecalligraphy, which demonstrate someof the traditional influences at workin this otherwise completely moderndesign collective.This advert for Zenith watches,with the Shakespeare quote “Timedoes not have the same appealfor everyone”, shows a completelydifferent side to Loworks. Equallyat home with corporate clients andmore conservative design, Loworksproduces a wide range of above-the-line advertising and packaging.48|April 2006ART121.profile 4828/2/06 2:53:08 pm [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ] |
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