I have some drawings in this benefit show.

“Can you see the rainbow from there?”
Japan earthquake/ tsunami benefit :Art across the ocean
Place: 3331 Arts Chiyoda
6-11-14 Sotokanda Chiyoda-Ku Tokyo 101-0021
http://www.3331.jp/en/
Date: May 18 – May 30 (Closed on Tuesday)
Hour: 12:00 – 19:00
Opening Reception : May 21 Saturday
Place: 3331 Arts Chiyoda Main Gallery

I have a ton of work in the latest International Design Yearbook published by MDX in China.

Logo for The YACHT Trust, upholders of the darkness and light that is YACHT.

In huge news, I was invited to speak at this year’s TypeCon in New Orleans. I’ll be giving a wide-ranging lecture about Japanese typography, covering both the bases of the Japanese visual language, as well as a number of nuanced aspects. I’ll be presenting alongside heavy hitters like John Downer, Akira Kobayashi, John D. Berry and a number of others. Should be good!

Poster for Fukuoka Flower Party concert.

Website for CAE, Japan’s largest supplier of 3D software systems.

I just finished editing the catalog for the upcoming exhibition Pacific at Scion’s gallery in Culver City in Los Angeles. Curated by PMKFA and Antonin Gaultier, the exhibition is a great overview of emerging Japanese contemporary artists. Read all about it here.

While the art itself is great, I think the catalog is a real slam-dunk. Designed by PMKFA, the book features writing by some of the best emerging critics in Japan, most notably Cameron Allan McKean. His lengthy essay on the work of artist Kyohei Sakaguchi, “Down By The River, I Built My Shelter”, is an exceptional piece of prose.

Beyond berating the writers involved and nagging art director Micke about widows and hyphenation, I contributed a lengthy essay on the work of Sweden-based artist Yuri Suzuki.

The artists involved in the exhibition are:
Atsuhiro Ito, Kyohei Sakaguchi, Megumi Matsubara, Motoyuki Daifu, PMKFA, Takashi Suzuki, Teppei Kaneuji, Ujino, Yotaro Niwa and Yuri Suzuki.

The official blurb about the exhibition:
“Cutting through the layers of reality and challenging the notion of what most of us consider as “everyday”, Pacific brings together ten artists that give their interpretation on what many ignore in the rush from point A to B or simply don’t see. In Pacific, the audience is invited to witness how; the mundane transforms the poetic; the unwanted morphs into the amusing and the practical ends up as the beautiful.”

If you’re in LA, I definitely recommend checking out the show. It’ll be an eye-opener.

Somehow, I didn’t catch this when it came out in 2009: the boombox I designed for Rap-Up made a cameo in the Chris Robinson-directed, guinea pig-infested music video for rapper Flo Rida’s “Jump.” The song can be found on Flo’s second album R.O.O.T.S. as well as in the Disney movie G-Force, in which a specially trained squad of guinea pigs is dispatched to stop a diabolical billionaire from taking over the world… nothing like having your hard work surrounded by CGI guinea pigs. Video also features a really awkward 3D model of Nelly Furtado. Bizarre, but Will Arnett is in it, which is usually a good sign…

Teyana Taylor and Akon model the boombox’s two colorways. The red was a special markup unit that only made it into limited release.

Due to tremendous support from the CalArts and Temple University communities, as well as numerous concerned individuals worldwide, my type foundry and select shoppe Wordshape generated $5000 for Japan’s Red Cross, which was just sent. A giant round of thanks to all who purchased magazines, books and licensed fonts – you all pitched in to help in a very meaningful way.

Also, a giant thank you to the participants worldwide in Inspire Japan events – together, you have raised over $40,000 (!) to benefit rebuilding projects in the north of Japan.

Loads of new work:

I finished this book design recently for Portland, Oregon’s Dill Pickle Club. It is called Walls of Pride and is a full-color guide and overview of African American public art in Portland. You can pick up a copy from the Dill Pickle Club here.

“If you know where to look, Portland is an art gallery. And somewhere amid this miles-wide showroom is a collection of African American mural art. But there’s no glass or alarms to protect what artists have made here; no guards to tell people not to touch. So, while bits have survived, some have been defaced and others have been torn down in the name of development…The booklet, “Walls of Pride,” offer[s] short histories on the pieces throughout the city, a map for self-guided tours and interviews with two local muralists, Shamsud-Din and Adriene Cruz, ‘to tell the story from the artists’ perspective rather than this outsider’s perspective.’”
– Ryan Kost, The Oregonian

The official blurb about the book:
Walls of Pride: A Tour of African American Public Art in Portland provides a self-guided tour to twenty of the city’s African American public artworks through color photos, a detailed map, mural descriptions and artist bios. The book gives context to these vital works through interviews with artists Adriene Cruz, Henry Frison and Isaka Shamsud-Din, and and a transcribed conversation between history professor Reiko Hillyer and curator Robin Dunitz. Walls of Pride at once celebrates Portland’s African American art, while underscoring the need to preserve these oft-overlooked cultural contributions.

I was included in the new book Designers’ Identities by Liz Farrelly, published by Laurence King Publishing.

Again, the official blurb:
For graphic designers no project is more personal or more crucial, both in terms of commercial success and peer-group positioning, than their own corporate identity. From the first hello, to delivering the invoice, designers are judged, again and again, on the quality of their printed and virtual presentation, including their company name, logo, business card, letterhead, website, blog, newsletter, delivery packaging, brochures, promos, even the typeface they choose.

This book examines the corporate identities of 76 designers, at various stages in their careers and from around the world, providing blueprints for best practice and inspiration. Along with detailed information about formats, materials and methods, the book includes a number of interviews with designers, who talk through their own corporate identity programme and the reactions they have had to this, their most personal design project.

I just put together a fun inspirational safari for Unilever with the kind folks at Five By Fifty. It consists of a 2-day walking tour of the coolest new spots in Tokyo rendered in a wall-size map, tour booklet, and a Google Map that Unilever employees can utilize to find inspiration over the upcoming vacation.

The booklet exterior.

Booklet interior.

And finally, I am transformed into Kevin Costner in hand model Patrick Tsai‘s latest post about the secret origin of our cat Willy.