The 9th Yusaku Kamekura Design Award was bestowed on Shin Matsunaga for his packaging design for ISSIMBOW’s “Katachi-koh” line of incense. Already well known for his designs for such long-lived and long-loved products as Takara’s “Can Chu-hi” beverage, “Scottie” tissues and Shiseido’s “UNO” men’s cosmetics, Mr. Matsunaga this time applied his peerless talent to creating a visually distinctive new design scheme for ISSIMBOW, a company named after Japan’s oldest medical compendium (10th CE). His contribution was part of a project thematically focused on “wellness,” proposing peaceful and healthful lifestyles for all. To promote the project, Mr. Matsunaga created two large-size posters (1456 x 1030mm) to serve as the key visuals for future product and service development. The first product is “Katachi-koh” incense (“koh” means incense), launched this spring, offered in three vividly colorful package variations: blue for “healthy life,” red for “beautiful life,” and yellow for “lively life.” In addition to the line’s packaging, Mr. Matsunaga also designed the incense’s various shapes (“katachi” means shape), colors and other details. He was presented the 9th Yusaku Kamekura Design Award in recognition of the outstanding quality and level of perfection of his creative input.