I just received the catalog for the 2012 Asia Pacific Design Awards in the mail from Sandu Media in China. It’s a mammoth tome – over 500 pages, gilt-edged with blind debossed covers.

I would like to give a shout-out to all of the folks in Japan that I selected as a judge for the Asia Pacific Design Awards this year…

… but none more than Yuki Masuko, one of the hardest-working graphic designers out there and a fabulous, inspiring individual.

I wrote an essay for the book and am including it here. It expounds on certain themes from recent pieces I’ve written, as well as taking aim at certain trends within graphic design which I find problematic. You can read it in full here.