hiroshi tanabe
Posted on | July 17, 2009 | No Comments
love these pure, modern elegant and poetic illustrations by japanese artist hiroshi tanabe. check out the website for more work – hiroshitanabe.com
japanese topography
Posted on | April 24, 2009 | 2 Comments
check out these amazing topography images of japanese landscapes done by hajime ishikawa. think they are beautiful and poetic in a very simple and graphical way. i am amazed, not that i’d be into topography that much but i’d definitely hang these up on my walls.
shinichi maruyama
Posted on | April 19, 2009 | No Comments
shinichi maruyama, born 1968 in nagano, japan now based in nyc, does some amazing photography and art. his kusho fluid series is just beautiful and poetic. take a look at his website.
louis vuitton gets designed QR code
Posted on | April 17, 2009 | 3 Comments
tokyo based creative agency SET is specialized in marketing solutions that combine design and technology. for louis vuitton SET designed a QR (quick response) code. QR Codes are the bar codes of the future, linking online and physical graphics to websites and multi-media.
the QR code is an extension of the continuing partnership between louis vuitton and famed japanese animator takashi murakami who in 2008 made time magazine’s “100 most influential people” list.
the QR code is meant to generate traffic to the louis vuitton mobile website, create buzz (like here), demonstrate the possibilities of designer QR codes and raise awareness of the potential role of QR codes in marketing.
since i got a lot of reader feedback that the code doesn’t work i want to add the following statement from set.
“the LV QR code was meant for domestic use only. consequently in the testing of the code we conducted trials using handsets from the three phone companies, au, docomo and softbank.
we literally did not have the time to test it using phones used overseas and there really didn’t seem to be too much point. japanese phones are equipped with higher grade lenses and upgraded software to deal with issues such as macro settings etc. this account for some of the reading issues abroad.”
would call this QR code from BBC software engineer duncan robertson an early attempt to design a QR code by incorporating the BBC logo. due to an error margin of 30% while still being readable this was possible.
artless, shun kawakami
Posted on | April 1, 2009 | No Comments
pretty interesting guy this shun kawakami from japan. born 1977 in tokyo he became an artist and designer, co-founder and head of artless inc. an art and design studio that focuses mainly on graphic arts and design, interactive, installation, video and exhibition.
get lost on the artless website, pretty interesting, the site itself as well as their work – artless.co.jp
wow – eico hanamura
Posted on | March 25, 2009 | No Comments
let’s go back to the 60s for a second, across the ocean, far far away. interesting pop-art, manga, kitsch japan style illustration by artist eico hanamura. interesting personality and story, read the interview from pinmag.
