Logo for Hebi Metal, a stationery startup here in Tokyo. “Hebi” means “snake” in Japanese, and snakes don’t have arms, so it is just extremely silly that a snake might try to be a shredder on electric guitar. Hebi Metal makes very silly greeting cards, hence this very silly logo.

TRIP TO JAPAN GRAPHIC is the first in a series of bilingual guidebooks that allows readers to explore Japan’s visual culture with the help of art and design professionals. This 150-page, pocket-size book focuses on Tokyo, with design experts like Kenya Hara, Ian Lynam, Kiyonori Muroga, and Sakura Nomiyama sharing the very top art and design spots in the capital of Japan!

Additionally, the cover folds out into a handy map of Tokyo with all of the locations within noted clearly in Japanese and English.

Get your copy here: http://wordshape.com/trip-to-japan-graphics-must-visit-design-destinations-in-tokyo

I also contributed a short piece to the debut issue of Clementine. Honored to be asked!

I contributed an essay to the latest issue of Logo Archive, translated by my erstwhile colleague Iori Kikuchi.

Format A5 Booklet
Pages 24pp + 2pp Insert
Paper: Takeo Tela & Takeo Pachica
Ink: Process Black
Stitching: Unbound
Design: Hugh Miller
Editor: Richard Baird
Print: Identity Print

I wrote an essay months ago now for Dain Blodorn Kim’s digital homage to Japanese color theorist Wada Sanzō: https://sanzo-wada.dmbk.io/

I designed a highly referential tee shirt about CalArts-related publications, studios, adjacent musics, and other stuff for the upcoming CalArts t-shirt show.

I designed the flyer for the latest installment of Mystery Meat, Tokyo’s hottest punk DJ night. I was honored to get to play that night, as well.

I have a new essay called “The Protagonist” in Slanted #36, which you can check out here: https://www.slanted.de/product/slanted-magazine-36-coexist/

This issue’s theme is coexistence. It’s a thick one!

We provided 360-degree branding and identity design for AXES Partners, a multidisciplinary consulting firm specializing in project management services within the construction industry of Japan. Now in the Work section.

I have a new book poised to come out, published by Onomatopee called The Impossibility of Silence: Writing for Artists, Designers & Photographers. You can check it out and pre-order it here: https://www.onomatopee.net/product/the-impossibility-of-silence/

The Impossibility of Silence is a 200+ page paperback for creative folks interested in approaching writing about their vocation and culture.

It features illustrations by Ed Fella and Paul Nitsche, as well as myself.

The book is edited by Taro Nettleton.

It features two-color gatefold colors and the body is printed in black and white. Perfect beach reading!

Within, I write about metaphoric heroes and villains, inspiration, story arcs, structure, and all of the things one might use to construct compelling writing about art, design, or photography.

We’ve got some great press for this book, as well. Check it out:

“Ian Lynam is the Hunter S. Thompson of design writing.”
– Sereina Rothenberger, Jan Van Eyck Academie

Lynam adeptly juggles platters of diverse knowledge that include history, theory, philosophy, humanities, and the gamut of pop culture.”
– Louise Sandhaus, author of Earthquakes Mudslides Fires & Riots: California & Graphic Design, 1936-1986

“Lynam is a bitingly humorous writer – gifted with the intuition to give stories depth.”
– Lars Harmsen, Slanted Magazine

“Joyfully and skillfully straddling the line between creator and critic, theorist and practitioner, formalist and rebel, American and expatriate, serious analyst and humorous deconstructor, Ian Lynam always brings a wholly original perspective to his writing on design. The insights are always fresh, and the stakes are always extremely high.”
– W. David Marx, author of Ametora: How Japan Saved American Style.

I’m pretty excited about it and I hope you might be, too. Check it out here: https://www.onomatopee.net/product/the-impossibility-of-silence/