Koji Iyama

Art Director / Graphic Designer
iyamadesign
Japan

Following his successful years at Nippon Design Centre, Koji founded iyamadesign in 2000.Koji conducts a creative direction that unifies the entire brand, including product planning and development, event planning, space and graphic design. He has received numerous awards, including the D&AD Black Pencil, Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity Gold Lion, the SPIKES ASIA Grand Prix, the CLIO AWARDS Gold Award, and the One Show Design Gold Award.

Koichi Kosugi

Art Director
onehappy
Japan

Uncovering his character through the “personification” design, Kosugi works in the fields of creative direction and art direction. Major works include NHK television serial drama “Chimudondon”, SUNTORY “Tokucha”, Japan Post “Tegami no heya”, Chubu Yakuhin “Vdrug”, Shiseido “50 selfies of Lady Gaga”, book design for “TIMELESS Eiko Ishioka and her era”, SUZUKI “HUSTLER”, STARFLYER “Kagayaku hito e”, Nippon Television “Gaki no tsukai ya arahende” and Yellow Magic Orchestra “YMO40”. Kosugi has received a number of domestic and international awards, including the Tokyo ADC Award, JAGDA New Designer Award, D&AD, NY ADC, ONE SHOW and ACC Award. A member of Tokyo ADC, JAGDA and JIFE. A part-time lecturer at the Department of Integrated Design, Tama Art University.

Takafumi Kusagaya

Art Director / Graphic Designer
Kusagaya Design
Japan

Born in 1963. Graduated from Tamagawa University College of Humanities in 1985. Joined Hiromura Design Office in 1989. Founded Kusagaya Design in 1996. Awards include the Asahi Advertising Award Silver Prize in 1994 and 2008, the Asahi Advertising Award Grand Prix in 2009, the JAGDA New Designer Award in 1995, and the Good Design Category Award in 2002 and others.

Chiharu Shimizu

Art Director / Designer / Illustrator
Hakuhodo
Japan

Born in 1983 in Saitama Prefecture, Japan. Graduated from the Department of Design, Tokyo University of the Arts in 2006 and joined Hakuhodo. Winner of CANNES LIONS Silver, NYADC Gold, D&AD Bronze, ONE SHOW Gold, ADFEST Grand Prix, AD STRAS Grand Prix and Good Design Award, among others.

Norito Shinmura

Graphic Designer
garden
Japan

Born in Yamaguchi in 1960. Established Shinmura Design Office in 1995. Major works include design for Shiseido and art direction for MUJI’s camp site. Won the Mainichi Advertising Design Award Grand Prix, NY ADC Silver Prize, the Warsaw International Poster Biennale Silver Prize, the International Biennial of Graphic Design Brno Gold Prize, the JAGDA New Designer Award, the Tokyo ADC Award, etc.

Taku Satoh

Graphic Designer
TSDO
Japan

Graduated from Tokyo University of the Arts, Department of Design, in 1979, then from its Graduate School in 1981. Worked for Dentsu Inc., before establishing Taku Satoh Design Office (TSDO Inc.) in 1984. Satoh's work includes product development (Nikka Whiskey Pure Malt), packaging design (LOTTE XYLITOL Gum, Meiji Oishii gyunyu), graphic design (PLEATS PLEASE ISSEY MIYAKE), logo design (21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa; National Museum of Nature and Science, Tokyo), as well as on branding and corporate identity (CI) programs. He provides art direction on the educational channel of NHK Television, Nihongo de Asobo, overall direction for Design Ah! on the same channel, and overall direction of 21_21 DESIGN SIGHT. He has planned exhibitions such as water, JOMONESE, Design Anatomy and Design Ah!. His publications include Sosuru Shiko (Shinchosha, 2017).

Philippe Apeloig

Graphic Designer / Typographer
Studio Philippe Apeloig
France

Philippe Apeloig studied at the École supérieure des arts appliqués Duperré and the École nationale supérieure des arts décoratifs (Ensad). After two internships at Total Design in Amsterdam, he joined the Musée d’Orsay as a graphic designer in 1985. In 1987, Apeloig moved to Los Angeles to study and work with April Greiman. In 1993, he won a fellowship at the French Academy in Rome, where he designed typefaces. His series of posters for a dance and music festival, which used his original font, won the 1995 Tokyo Type Directors Club’s Gold Award. During the nineties, Apeloig taught typography in Paris at Ensad and was hired as a full-time professor of graphic design at the Cooper Union School of Art in New York where he was also appointed curator of the Herb Lubalin Study Center of Design and Typography. In 2013, the Musée des Arts décoratifs in Paris mounted a 30-year retrospective of Apeloig’s work. In 2015 the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam presented an exhibition focused on the designer’s typographic posters. In 2017, the Ginza Graphic Gallery (GGG) in Tokyo mounted a survey of Apeloig’s work. Apeloig collaborated with Ateliers Jean Nouvel on the wayfinding system for the Louvre Abu Dhabi.

Aki Kanai

Graphic Designer
KOKUYO
Japan

Born in Tokyo, Japan. Graduated from Tokyo University of the Arts in 2008 and joined KOKUYO. Major works include art direction for THINK OF THINGS, KOKUYO TOKYO2020 movie and “THE CAMPUS”. Awards include JAGDA New Designer Award 2018, ADC Award 2018/2020-2021, Good Design Gold Award, Red Dot Design Award and Special In-House Award, KOKUYO Design Award 2014.

Aaron Nieh

Graphic Designer
Aaron Nieh Workshop
Taiwan

Aaron Nieh is a graphic designer based in Taipei and the first Taiwanese member of AGI (2012). He deals with details subtly, yet his visual presentation is provocative, ambitious and imaginative. Aaron’s shaped a new landscape in the graphic design realm in the Chinese-speaking market. His studio, Aaron Nieh Workshop, in Taipei is praised for gracefully owning control over imagery, symbols and materials, and for crafting a new perspective for the audience to observe graphic design.

Ryosuke Uehara

Creative Director / Art Director
KIGI
Japan

Born 1972 in Hokkaido, Japan. Graduated from Tama Art University, majoring in Graphic Design. After working for DRAFT, co-founded KIGI in 2012 with Yoshie Watanabe. Works include art direction for companies, brands and products, as well as “KIKOF”, an original brand launched in cooperation with artisans in the Lake Biwa area and a product brand “D-BROS”. Outside of work, Uehara also creates and exhibits independent works, crossing over genres with free-spirited ideas and expressions while exploring new ways of creation. Since 2015, he runs the gallery and shop “OUR FAVOURITE SHOP” in Shirokane, Tokyo. In 2017, a large-scale solo exhibition “KIGI WORK & FREE” was held at Utsunomiya Museum of Art. In 2018, “YOIGOMA - The Standing Sake Bar” was exhibited as a part of “The Hojoki Shiki” at Echigo-Tsumari Art Triennale. In 2019, the series of “YOIGOMA” projects received the ADC Members Award. Other awards include the Tokyo ADC Grand Prix (2015) and the 11th Yusaku Kamekura Design Award (2009).

Ping Wu

Graphic Designer
Hubei Institute of Fine Arts
China

Professor of Hubei Institute of Fine Arts. Dean of School of Visual Art and Design, master tutor. Member of Chinese Artists Association. Vice chairman of "East + West" International Design Week, member of academic Professional Committee of Hubei Advertising Association. Zijin Award · Judge of China (Nanjing) College Students Design Exhibition. Judge of Silk Road Spirit Western International Design Biennale. Member of Editorial Board of Packaging Engineering. She has won the 12th Hubei Province Fine Arts Exhibition Silver Award, the first Hubei Province 100 Fine Arts Talent, Hubei Province People's Government issued the "Chutian Wenhua Fine Arts Award", Hubei Colleges and Universities the 3rd, the 5th Fine Arts and Design Exhibition Gold Medal, selected for the 10th, 11th, 12th National Fine Arts Exhibition. Invited to lead the team to design the visual image and exhibition design of "Centennial of Hubei Institute of Fine Arts". Won the 1st National Draphic Design Competition entry qualification (the final highest level). GDC Award 2021 Merit Award.

Michihiko Yanai

Creative Director
KAZETOROCK
Japan

Born 1964 in Fukushima, Japan. Graduated from the Department of Design, Tokyo University of the Arts. Yanai worked for Hakuhodo prior to establishing KAZETOROCK. He has led a number of successful advertising campaigns, including “NO MUSIC, NO LIFE” for Tower Records. He is also the Creative Director for Fukushima Prefecture, a professor at Tokyo University of the Arts, as well as the guitarist in the rock band Inawashirokos, which performed at NHK Kohaku Uta Gassen in 2011.