Eye Magazine

Japan and Switzerland both enjoy rich graphic traditions, and both cultures draw their vigour from craftsmanship, clarity and simplicity. This exhibition showcases the works of a group of Japanese graphic designers aged between 30 and 60. The selection derives from a research project by Alexandre Dimos (deValence studio and éditions B42), who visited some 40 studios over the course of a decade.

It is exciting to see the positions adopted by this younger generation vis-à-vis trailblazers such as Yusaku Kamekura, Ikko Tanaka or Kenya Hara. And it is here, in the figure of Yoshiaki Irobe, that we encounter the first link. His institute is part of the venerable Nippon Design Center, a design agency founded in 1959 by leading Japanese companies with Hara as its current president. His concept for the Osaka Metro is powerful proof of how a simple idea – in this case the spatial conjunction between the letters ‘O’ and ‘M’ in the tube of a tunnel – can have a magnetic pull if pursued to its logical conclusion. It is impossible not to look at: seen once, you can never un-see it. Equally captivating are the adjacent posters for the 2015 World Table Tennis Championships by Yuri Uenishi, whose genius lies in his ability to capture the rapid twitches of this ultra-dynamic sport in highly aesthetic, razor-sharp stills. Opposite them are projects by Rikako Nagashima. She congregates a merry-go-round of clients under a single theme that is close to her own heart – how can we bequeath a better world to our children? In doing so, she demonstrates how up-to-date, broad and cross-disciplinary graphic design can be.

As a polar opposite to this, the illustrations by Bunpei Yorifuji humorously communicate behavioural etiquette to the denizens of Tokyo’s trains and subways.

The range of specimens on display is broad and shows how wonderfully varied our métier can be: a sign-painter who shapes her urban surroundings; a fluttering paper dragon by a graphic designer, printer and DJ with his own music label; here the art director, there the architect; oscillations between art and commerce; a printed palette stretching from book covers to fanzines; augmented reality code cheek-by-jowl with data visualisations and stop-motion videos. All of it borrows from traditional techniques but at the same time is invigorated by the here and now.

And yet there is a slight sense of familiarity. Japan is no longer as exotic or foreign to us as it was to the connoisseurs of Japonisme, and it is perhaps legitimate to ask whether emphasing national currents in our networked world is still relevant?

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Sascha Lötscher, partner, Gottschalk+Ash International AG, board member, Swiss Graphic Design Foundation, Zürich

Read the full version in Eye no. 107 vol. 27, 2025