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Another Japan Yamagata Website by Tsutomu Tojo |
Home > Winners > Design #95346 >Interview |
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FS: What is the main principle, idea and inspiration behind your design?
TT: In all my design work, I get inspiration from the Japanese “Zen Spirit”. Zen style design is characterized by simple, elegant and powerful message.
FS: What has been your main focus in designing this work? Especially what did you want to achieve?
TT: I focused on firmly communicating the goodness of Yamagata to travelers visiting Japan from overseas. Many of the users who viewed this site would like to visit Yamagata during their trip to Japan.
FS: What are your future plans for this award winning design?
TT: In a few years, I'll suggest clients to renew their website. Good design is universal, but it's still a bad idea to ignore trends.
FS: How long did it take you to design this particular concept?
TT: I decided the concept in about a week while communicating with the clients.
FS: Why did you design this particular concept? Was this design commissioned or did you decide to pursuit an inspiration?
TT: I designed it at the request of a company. It is a design that realizes the client's desire to convey the charm of a traditional Japanese hotel with a history of 300 years to people all over the world.
FS: Is your design being produced or used by another company, or do you plan to sell or lease the production rights or do you intent to produce your work yourself?
TT: Since my award-winning work is a website, no special manufacturing process is required, but all copyrights are transferred to the client. Of course, the client's permission is fully obtained upon entry.
FS: What made you design this particular type of work?
TT: I wanted you to know the charm of Yamagata city, and created this design to maximize it. Since this is a website for tourists, I decided to use this design because I think it is more appealing to use large photographs rather than posting many detailed explanations.
FS: Where there any other designs and/or designers that helped the influence the design of your work?
TT: No designers were influenced by the design of this website. Instead of the existing design, the design focuses on the psychology and behavior of the user.
FS: Who is the target customer for his design?
TT: No designers were influenced by the design of this website. Instead of the existing design, the design focuses on the psychology and behavior of the user.
FS: What sets this design apart from other similar or resembling concepts?
TT: When appealing to the world, the local area alone is trying to appeal, so we have considered the surrounding area as one piece of content.
FS: How did you come up with the name for this design? What does it mean?
TT: When we hear Japan, many people imagine Tokyo or Kyoto. That's not a mistake, but the true Japaneseness can be seen in a small town without a name. Another Japan that is different from Japan that everyone knows. That is "Another Japan".
FS: Which design tools did you use when you were working on this project?
TT: I used Adobe products such as Photoshop and Illustrator and the code editor "Coda".
FS: What is the most unique aspect of your design?
TT: It is not just about advertising by one company, but about the appeal of the entire area. This is a technique called "Shakkei(borrowing scenery)" used in Japanese gardens, and I incorporated it into my website.
FS: Who did you collaborate with for this design? Did you work with people with technical / specialized skills?
TT: In most cases, I do all the projects alone. So is this project.
FS: What is the role of technology in this particular design?
TT: For websites, everything is a gift of technology. Hurray for technology!!!!
FS: Is your design influenced by data or analytical research in any way? What kind of research did you conduct for making this design?
TT: I studied behavioral psychology of overseas travelers visiting Japan and economic activities based on it. To that end, we conducted interviews with more than a dozen travelers and analyzed the information obtained from them.
FS: What are some of the challenges you faced during the design/realization of your concept?
TT: Targeting travelers from various countries such as the United States, Europe, and Asia, it was very difficult to design each preference into the greatest common denominator.
FS: How did you decide to submit your design to an international design competition?
TT: I was recommended by the secretariat and decided to apply.
FS: What did you learn or how did you improve yourself during the designing of this work?
TT: In the past, I often created targeted designs, but this time I learned how to extract the greatest common divisor of designs that people around the world like and challenged myself. I feel it worked.
FS: Any other things you would like to cover that have not been covered in these questions?
TT: Japanese culture is a culture that values the attention to detail. It is a very important element for design. Born and raised in Japan, I have acquired a sense of nature and attention to detail. I think that is my personality as a designer. I am grateful to my hometown of Japan and its culture.
FS: Thank you for providing us with this opportunity to interview you.
A' Design Award and Competitions grants rights to press members and bloggers to use parts of this interview. This interview is provided as it is; DesignPRWire and A' Design Award and Competitions cannot be held responsible for the answers given by participating designers.
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