Design ~ Pink Tentacle

Tag: ‘Design’

Electricity conservation posters

22 Mar 2011

In Tokyo and surrounding areas, signs of electricity conservation are visible everywhere. Rolling blackouts are in effect, train services have been scaled back, stores and businesses are using fewer lights, advertising signs and escalators have been switched off, and even some pachinko parlors have cut their hours of operation. On Twitter, a community of graphic designers has sprung up to create posters encouraging people to save power. Residents of eastern Japan are encouraged to print them out and post them where they live and work. [Link: Setsuden via GaijinPot]

Japanese electricity saving poster --
Everyone save electricity

Japanese electricity saving poster --
Please cooperate in conserving electricity

Japanese electricity saving poster --
Save power and carry on

Japanese electricity saving poster --
Let's conserve electricity! Switch OFF!

Japanese electricity saving poster --
Turn OFF the power. Now anybody can be Santa.

Japanese electricity saving poster --
Power saving!

Japanese electricity saving poster --
The amount you turn off will light someone else up.

Japanese electricity saving poster --
Please conserve electricity.

Japanese electricity saving poster --
Save electricity. Save somebody.

Japanese electricity saving poster --
Save electricity. Switch off.

Japanese electricity saving poster --
The light you turn off will light up a smile.

Japanese electricity saving poster --
Now conserving power

Japanese electricity saving poster --
The quickest aid you can provide now is electricity.

Japanese electricity saving poster --
Saving energy & open for business

Japanese electricity saving poster --
Open for business in power saving mode!

Japanese electricity saving poster --
Conserve electricity to prevent massive power failures!

14 Comments

Decorated gas tanks

10 Mar 2011

Local gas companies occasionally add a touch of character to the giant spherical gas containers that dot the landscape of Japan. Here are a few examples.

Decorated gasholder in Japan --
Nicotan (mascot of Shibata Gas) -- Shibata, Niigata prefecture [via]

Decorated gastank in Japan --
Watermelon -- Tomisato, Chiba prefecture [via]

Decorated gas holder in Japan --
Hikari-chan and Gatto-kun -- Niigata [via]

Decorated gas tank in Japan --
Zen monk-poet Ryōkan -- Tsubame, Niigata prefecture [via]

Decorated gasholder in Japan --
Soccer ball -- Kiryū, Gunma prefecture [via]

Decorated gastank in Japan --
Tokkikki (Niigata prefectural mascots) -- Niigata [via]

Decorated gas holder in Japan --
Ōnyūdō -- Yokkaichi, Mie prefecture

Decorated gas tank in Japan --
Peach -- Akaiwa, Okayama prefecture [via]

Decorated gasholder in Japan --
Ouchi dolls -- Yamaguchi prefecture [via]

Decorated gastank in Japan --
Welcome to Isesaki -- Gunma prefecture [via]

Decorated gas holder in Japan --
"Taisha" wheeled fish toy -- Niigata [via]

Decorated gas tank in Japan --
Morioka Gas character dancing the Sansa Odori -- Morioka, Iwate prefecture [via]

Decorated gasholder in Japan -- Decorated gastank in Japan --
Bunbuku Chagama tanuki -- Gunma prefecture [via] // Origami cranes -- Mie prefecture [via]

Gas holder art in Japan --
Japanese irises -- Niigata [via]

Gas tank art in Japan --
Watermelon -- Takizawa, Iwate prefecture [via]

Decorated gasholder in Japan --
Godai-chan (tourism mascot for the city of Kashihara) -- Nara prefecture [via]

Decorated gastank in Japan --
Kōfu, Yamanashi prefecture [via]

Decorated gas holder in Japan --
Kintarō -- Saitama [via]

Decorated gas tank in Japan --
Flowers and butterflies -- Niigata prefecture [via]

Decorated gasholder in Japan --
Artist's conception of Nintendo Kirby tanks [via]

10 Comments

Fake vintage Japanese ad mascots

01 Mar 2011

Argentina-based artist Juan Molinet has created a series of fictional Japanese ads featuring retro-style characters.

Fake vintage Japanese ad character by Juan Molinet --
Osaka's Marshmellow Kid

Fake vintage Japanese ad character by Juan Molinet --
Nagoya Sweet Salami Co.

Fake vintage Japanese ad character by Juan Molinet --
Sumitomo Calamari Ice Cream

Fake vintage Japanese ad character by Juan Molinet --
Cheesus by Hokama Good Cheese Co.

Fake vintage Japanese ad character by Juan Molinet --
Kyoto Seafood Processing Co.

Fake vintage Japanese ad character by Juan Molinet --
Satoyama Whistle Co.

Fake vintage Japanese ad character by Juan Molinet --
Hokaido Industrial Sushi Food Co.

[Link]

8 Comments

Japanese graphic design from the 1920s-30s

15 Feb 2011

In the 1920s and 1930s, Japan embraced new forms of graphic design as waves of social change swept across the nation. This collection of 50 posters, magazine covers and advertisements offer a glimpse at some of the prevailing tendencies in a society transformed by the growth of modern industry and technology, the popularity of Western art and culture, and the emergence of leftist political thought.

Modernist Japanese poster --
"Buy Domestic!" poster, 1930 [+]

Modernist Japanese poster --
Cover of "Nippon" magazine issue #1, Oct 1934 [+]

Modernist Japanese magazine cover --
"Fuji Weekly" cover, Oct 1930 [+]

Modernist Japanese poster --
Poster for Japan's first national census, 1920 [+] // "Health for body and country" poster, c. 1930 [+]

Modernist Japanese poster --
Grand Nagoya Festival poster by Kenkichi Sugimoto, 1933 [+]

Modernist Japanese poster --
Kyoto Grand Exposition to Commemorate the Showa Imperial Coronation, 1928 [+]

Modernist Japanese poster --
Poster design by Shujiro Shimomura, 1928 [+]

Modernist Japanese magazine cover --
"NAPF" (Nippona Artista Proleta Federacio) magazine cover, Feb 1931 [+]

See more Japanese graphic design from the 1920s-30s »

38 Comments

Cute antique Japanese postcards

25 Jan 2011

Here is an assortment of playful Japanese postcards from the late 19th and early 20th centuries, found in a recent book by collector Hiroki Hayashi entitled "Antique Cute Post Cards in Japan" (Nippon no kawaii ehagaki).

Vintage Japanese postcards --
Betty Boop (Yamaguchi Seikyokudo Co., Ltd. - c. 1930s)

Vintage Japanese postcards --
Betty Boop (1937)

Vintage Japanese postcards --
Betty Boop, Mickey and Minnie (1936)

Vintage Japanese postcards --
Mickey (c. 1920s-40s)

Vintage Japanese postcards --
Kewpie Mayonnaise ad (1932)

See more cute antique Japanese postcards »

9 Comments

Welcome to Japan

19 Jan 2011

Poster by Masayoshi Nakajo, 1988 [+]

Behold a place where the people's needs miraculously meet the corporate agendas. Enjoy a nation of modern cultural perspectives -- "humanication," "forever freshness" and "the super next." Experience a country that does things better, or so its citizens fervently believe.
- Leonard Koren

3 Comments

LED-powered Harajuku smiles

17 Jan 2011

A commercial promoting the Laforet Grand Bazar winter sale in Harajuku (January 20-24) features a mob of people with flickering LED-illuminated smiles who overrun a dramatic love scene reminiscent of a popular '90s-era TV show.

Geee - Harajuku Love Story --

The ad -- entitled "Geee / Harajuku Love Story" -- makes use of wirelessly-controlled Mouth LED technology developed by artists Daito Manabe and Motoi Ishibashi.

+ Video

Here is a rough translation of the dialogue that takes place as the smiling mob approaches.

[Man]: We can make it work. I'll do my best.
[Woman]: Will you come to see me if I get lonely at night, no matter what?
[Man]: I will go immediately. I'll fly.
[Woman]: Will you come and pick me up if I call you from Mt. Everest?
[Man]: I'll fly there right away.
[Woman]: Will you bring me hot nabe soup if I ask for it?
[Man]: I will. I'll bring a year's worth.
[Woman]: What if I asked you to take me to the moon?
[Man]: That might be difficult...
[Woman]: That's not good enough.
[Man]: But I can make you happy.

The commercial appears to have been inspired by an earlier project by Manabe and Ishibashi entitled "Party in the Mouth," which featured a mob of women with glowing LED smiles wandering the streets of Tokyo at night.

+ Video

Here is some video from the Laforet website:

+ Video

8 Comments

Czech & Polish posters for kaiju films

11 Jan 2011

Here are a few classic Japanese monster movie posters from Poland and the former Czechoslovakia. [Via Monster Brains]

Polish Godzilla poster --
Godzilla (Poland, 1957)

Polish Godzilla poster --
Son of Godzilla (Poland, 1974)

Czech poster for Daikyoju Gappa --
Monster from a Prehistoric Planet (Czechoslovakia, 1986)

Polish kaiju film poster --
War of the Gargantuas (Poland, 1975)

Polish Godzilla movie poster --
Godzilla vs. the Sea Monster (Poland, 1978)

Polish Godzilla movie poster --
Terror of Mechagodzilla (Poland, 1977)

Polish kaiju film poster --
Gappa the Triphibian Monster (Poland, 1973)

Polish Gamera movie poster --
Gamera Super Monster (Poland, 1980)

Polish King Kong movie poster --
King Kong Escapes (Poland, 1967)

Polish Godzilla poster --
Godzilla vs. the Smog Monster (Poland, 1971)

Polish kaiju film poster --
The X from Outer Space (Czechoslovakia, 1968)

Polish Godzilla poster --
Godzilla vs. Gigan (Poland, 1977)

13 Comments

Rabbit New Year cards

31 Dec 2010

The Year of the Rabbit has come hopping around, and here to mark the occasion are some antique bunny-themed nengajō from the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston collection. Happy 2011!

Rabbit New Year's card --
Rabbit, 1951 // Snow rabbit, 1927