The posters were screen-printed at the university studio.

Enpen Teien Shokukaku (縁辺庭苑小区画; “A small plot in a peripheral garden”) was a performance by the student group Tosok from Tama Art University in Hachioji, Tokyo. The event took place at SCHOOL in Mitaka, Tokyo. I designed the poster and flyer for the performance, featuring a layout that mixes an extensive variety of fonts.

For the large Japanese title on the poster, the fonts Iwata Fuku Marugo, Iwata Mincho, Wapuro Mincho, and Gothic MB101 are layered together. The small English title uses Tsukurimashou.

In the smaller text sections, I paired Japanese and English fonts as follows: Chu Gothic BBB with Lo-Res, Tsukushi A MaruGothic with VAG Rounded, and Tsukushi A Old Mincho with Garamond Premier.

The layout for the inside of the flyer repeats the same information while varying the typography. In addition to the poster’s fonts, I incorporated pairs such as DNP Shuei ShogoMincho with Didot, HanaKocho with Garamond Premier, and Midashi Go MB31 with Univers Next.

The flyers are offset printed and have a half-fold format.

Japanese Design Since 1945. A Complete Sourcebook was edited by Naomi Pollock and Masaaki Kanai and published by Thames & Hudson:

Design in Japan is deeply rooted in the country’s historic craft culture, profound understanding of materials and commitment to functionality. These qualities yield chairs, cups and other daily use items which are easy on the eye, comfortable in the hand and always do their job well. Even as mass manufacturing became widespread in the post-war period and cross-cultural exchanges began to take place with the West, Japan held fast to these core values and practices. This dedication has given rise to timeless objects of great beauty and utility as well as innovations in materials, form and technology.

To design this book, Ryuhei Nakadai used the typeface Maax designed by Damien Gautier and distributed by 205TF. The typeface used for Japanese text is yet unidentified [edit: it appears to be Midashi Go MB31, see comments].

Industrial waste — certified as skincare

The use of synthetic chemicals in textile production harms the environment, workers, and wearers. To solve this, Japanese startup AIZOME developed an innovative dyeing method that uses only water, medicinal plants, and ultrasound. Because of that, not only do the textiles come with additional health benefits – but even the wastewater. So to demonstrate the quality of AIZOME’s textiles, we bottled the wastewater, branded it as a premium skincare product, and sent it to key opinion leaders in the textile industry.

We use three different typefaces: Neue Haas Grotesk for English text, paired with Midashi Gothic Pro MB31 for Japanese text – two timeless typefaces, matching AIZOME’s reinvention of traditional aizome dyeing. For titles, we created our own, custom Ultra One type. We used the traditional Mincho type Hiragino Mincho Pro W6 as a base to reflect the rich history of the ancient Japanese dyeing tradition. We then used p5.js to generate frequency waves on top, which represent ultrasound, which is the core of AIZOME’s innovative dyeing technology.

Check out the full project on Behance.

The recycling process can feel complex and opaque, no matter where you live. To provide a little guidance, Ray Masaki of Bathboys湯, a small art imprint based in Tokyo, designed a customizable poster that details the rules of recycling and garbage collection in Tokyo. Depending on your ward, you can place the day-of-the-week stickers in the designated spots as a reminder for when to take out your waste.

The poster uses four typefaces by Morisawa. The Kanji describing the categories is set in Ryumin. The sans serif Latin type and the days-of-the-week stickers are set in Midashi Go MB31. The serif Latin type and the vertical Japanese type are set in UD Reimin, and the footnotes that detail how to recycle each item are set in Futo Go B101.

On his relationship with recycling and his motivation for making the poster, Masaki writes:

I find the process to be somewhere between annoying and overly complex to fascinating and meditative. There are so many careful steps and rules that need to be followed (like separating a PET bottle into 3 different types of plastics), so I wanted to make a print that I can refer to with customizable day-of-the-week stickers for your own ward with various recycling tips. I realize the irony of producing a niche product that may also eventually become waste, but it's printed on recycled paper and maybe it'll inspire more people to dispose of their waste properly.