The Japan Graphic Designers Association Inc. (JAGDA), established in 1978, is one of Asia’s largest design organizations, its membership currently standing at some 3,000 designers. JAGDA undertakes a wide variety of activities aimed at enhancing the environment for communication through design. These include organization of exhibitions and seminars, support of design education, initiatives to cultivate public design and revitalize regions, international exchange, and publication of a yearbook: Graphic Design in Japan.
Each year, from among the works selected for inclusion in Graphic Design in Japan JAGDA presents the “JAGDA New Designer Awards” to promising designers under the age of 40 who are expected to be prominent in the field in the years to come. Since the awards were inaugurated in 1983, they have been bestowed on 113 designers now active at the very forefront of their profession. As a result, today the JAGDA New Designer Awards are considered a gateway to success, and their winners garner much attention among members of both the design and advertising fields.
In 2020, after a rigorous selection process evaluating 145 eligible candidates, the 38th JAGDA New Designer Awards were presented to Shun Sasaki, Seri Tanaka and Tomomi Nishikawa. This exhibition will introduce their winning and recent works, with a focus on posters, product-related designs, and videos. Shun Sasaki has created designs for a substantial variety of clients, including book designs for poetry collections and literature and publicity materials for an art museum and theater troupe. Seri Tanaka, working at Dentsu, is involved in corporate branding and projects, starting from the planning phase. Tomomi Nishikawa, as a member of the design office 10inc, is active in designing publicity materials for art museum exhibitions and posters for department store events, and she also creates an array of noncommissioned works.
The exhibition will present an insightful and entertaining overview of the design works of this year’s three JAGDA New Designer Award winners.
Shun Sasaki
1. Graphics for show of art museum’s permanent collection (client: The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo)
2. Standup signboards for exhibit at art museum (organizer: Art Museum & Library, Ota)
3. Poster for book fair (client: Daikanyama Tsutaya Books)
4. Noncommissioned poster (client: AYOND)
5. Logo for theater troupe project (client: LOLO)
6. Book design for poetry collection (client: Shogakkan)
7. Picture book cover design (client: Holp Shuppan Publications)
Seri Tanaka
1. Branding for sake brewer (client: Senkin)
2. Logo for sake product (client: Senkin)
3. Logo for landscape gardener (client: PuaLoa)
4. AI project logo (client: Yamaha)
5. Posters for recital by AI pianist (client: Yamaha)
6. Noncommissioned posters (client: Seri Tanaka)
7. Packaging for advertising agency’s anniversary gift (client: Dentsu)
Tomomi Nishikawa
1. Tool for designer’s own solo exhibition (organizer: Recruit Holdings)
2. Exhibits and layout for own solo exhibition (organizer: Recruit Holdings)
3. Page spread for ad information magazine (client: Sendenkaigi)
4. Noncommissioned posters (client: Tomomi Nishikawa)
5. Poster for retrospective of picture book artist (client: Nerima Art Museum)
6. Tool for art museum exhibition (client: Itabashi Art Museum)
7. Posters for department store event (client: Tobu Department Store, Ikebukuro)
8. Poster to exhibit at commercial facility event (client: Tokyu)
Born in Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture, in 1985; currently residing in Tokyo. Graduated from Tama Art University, Department of Graphic Design, in 2010. After working at ADBRAIN and GritzDesign, in 2016 he founded the graphic design office AYOND.
Born in Ibaraki Prefecture in 1987. Graduated from Musashino Art University, Department of Visual Communication Design, in 2010, and joined Dentsu.
Born in Hachinohe, Aomori Prefecture, in 1987. After dropping out of Japan Women’s College of Physical Education majoring in Sports Health in 2009, she graduated from Vantan Design Institute in 2011 with a concentration in Graphic Design. In August of that year she joined the design office 10inc. In 2018 she won the Grand Prize in the 19th “1_WALL” Graphics Competition.
Traveling Exhibition
We are currently planning to hold this show in Aichi Prefecture in December 2020, and then in Osaka in February 2021. More information will be provided when available.
Publication Featuring the Award-winning Works
The award-winning works will be featured in the opening pages of Graphic Design in Japan 2020, slated for publication in July. This annually produced collection of JAGDA members’ works was launched in 1981 to introduce Japan’s multitude of high-quality graphic design works worldwide. All JAGDA members are eligible to enter their works of the previous year into the competition to be selected for inclusion in the yearbook. (Publisher: Rikuyosha Co., Ltd. Price: JPY 16,500)
Organizer
Creation Gallery G8
Co-organizer
Japan Graphic Designers Association Inc. (JAGDA)
