Todoroki Kawaii

Where would movie titles and design be today without Saul Bass?   Saul Bass On Titles.  Documentary Parts 1, 2 and 3.  

A recent graphic design assignment has availed me to discover and rediscover some great artists in graphic design.  Shigeo Fukuda being one of them.  Victory 1945 is perhaps one of his best known works.  Awesome, simple and effective commentary. Fukuda has a very stark and compelling sense of design that could make someone say, "a Japanese Saul Bass"  but Fukuda takes it one step further. Using planes that are clearly flat and 2D with subjects which had undeniable weight and volume make them greatly appealing. Some his work compels the eye to travel so well the images border on being animated. Fukuda was quoted, " I believe that in design, 30% dignity, 20% beauty, and 50% absurdity are necessary.  Rather than catering to the design sensitivity of the general public, there is advancement in design if people are left to feel satisfied with their own superiority, by entrapping them with an optical illusion." 

Had the privilege of getting the assignment to design a mascot/ logo for the entertainment production company  Young Lion Productions .  They are best known for producing the film, "The Harimaya Bridge" starring Danny Glover.    The client wanted something that was nostalgic of his youth.  In this case his high school's mascot.  So the mission was to turn this image: Into what you saw above.  While the original has some crude appeal, something more sophisticated was in order.    Designing a mascot or logo requires a lot of discussion and mediation as it should impact the viewer emotionally and psychologically.    Personally, I gravitate towards a '3D' and animation sense of design.  (I guess what is called the "Disney Style")   My first pass looked something like this: Looks like a distant cousin of the Exxon Tiger, haha.  But though the Exxon Tiger and characters like him in the old days had a lot of pencil milage an...