Japanese Graphics Now! [Paperback]

Julius Wiedemann (Author), Gisela Kozak (Author)

Book Description

Series: Midi Series | Publication Date: November 1, 2003

BIG IN JAPANEXPLODING WITH EYE-POPPING ORIGINALITY AND FRESHNESS, TODAY'S BEST JAPANESE GRAPHICS HAVE BEEN GATHERED TOGETHER TO MAKE THIS MUST-HAVE GUIDE TO CONTEMPORARY AESTHETICS IN JAPAN. WITH THEIR UNIQUE PERSPECTIVE, THE JAPANESE HAVE A WAY OF LOOKING AT THE WORLD THAT HAS LONG BEEN A SOURCE OF GREAT INTEREST FOR THE WESTERN MIND. HERE, JAPAN'S MOST TALENTED CREATIVE PROFESSIONALS STRUT THEIR STUFF IN THE FORM OF POSTERS, ADVERTISEMENTS, PRINT MEDIA, VISUAL IDENTITY, AND PRINT DESIGN. DIVIDED INTO CHAPTERS BY MEDIA TYPE, THIS HIGHLY VISUAL GUIDE PRESENTS A DIVERSE SELECTION OF GRAPHICS AND INCLUDES AN INDEX OF DESIGNERS, COMPLETE WITH WEBSITE ADDRESSES AND CONTACT INFORMATION. WE'VE ALSO THROWN A DVD INTO THE PACKAGE, ON WHICH YOU'LL FIND A VIDEO TOUR OF THE COOLEST PLACES TO VISIT IN TOKYO, INTERVIEWS WITH ART DIRECTORS, FILMMAKERS, AND DESIGNERS, AND THE LATEST AND GREATEST TELEVISION COMMERCIALS FROM JAPAN.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"It's a visual feast showcasing the best Japanese packaging, posters and advertisements. An uplifting must-buy for anyone with an appreciation of the Asian fascination with karaoke, fast food, mobile phones, pets, clutter and all things cute and colourful." House and Leisure, Cape Town

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

Julius Wiedemann was born and raised in Brazil. After studying graphic design and marketing, he moved to Japan, where he worked in Tokyo as art editor for digital and design magazines. Since joining TASCHEN in Cologne, he has been building up TASCHEN'S digital and media collection with titles such as Animation Now!, and TASCHEN's 1000 Favorite Websites. Gisela Kozak was born in Argentina, where she got her degree in industrial design. After completing graduate studies in packaging, she moved to Japan to pursue a PhD in packaging. She also works for an advertisement company and has published several articles about Japanese packaging. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 608 pages
• Publisher: Taschen; Pap/DVD edition (November 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 3822825891
• ISBN-13: 978-3822825891
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 7.7 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,331,920 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another source of inspiration, February 17, 2005

By 

subgrav (Chatham, NJ United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Japanese Graphics Now! (Paperback)

I picked this up, being a huge fan of Japanese design.
As a source of inspiration for graphic designers, this book does a terrific job. I currently have at least 10 pages flagged for follow-up, to use as a launching pad for my next concepts.

The book covers packaging, posters & ads, print, and web design, with each section offering up a visual smorgasboard (or revolving sushi-plate, if you will) of designs, including CDs, logos, ad campaigns, billboards, etc. As an added bonus, the CD offers a visual tour of Tokyo, interviews with prominent people in the Japanese advertising and design world, and samples of ads that have run on television.

All in all, this, as most Taschen books, is a brief, very general survey, with little if no copy, serving to inspire visually rather than educate intellectually. But the price is right, and the book is a great resource for visual designers everywhere.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars great content for its price!!, November 15, 2004

By 

sora (Maryland, United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Japanese Graphics Now! (Paperback)

I spontaneously bought this book (at the bookstore, not on amazon) because the cover and its weight/size caught my attention. After browsing through the entire design section, this huge book (which looks like a dictionary!) is 100% color (at 600 pages that's amazing..!) and considerably cheap compared to other books. The content chosen is visually appealling and very inspirational, I've flipped through this book a lot whenever I'm at a design block or just to get ideas. There is a lot of different content and a great way to look into the Japanese culture of design, its good for people curious about multicultural styles as well as making their own style a little more unique :)

2 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Design at his best..., June 28, 2004

By 

Nicolas Agudelo "Nicolas Agudelo" (Bogotá D.C., Colombia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Japanese Graphics Now! (Paperback)

I have to disagree with the previous comment, the one referring to "Japanese Art". Sure, it would attract artists, architects and industrial designers as well, because it's such a beautiful book...

However, this book is targeted to Graphic Designers since it's called Japanese Graphics Now. I've seen it in detail... it contains a lot of stuff, from letterhead logos, web design, product and packaging design, poster and advertising examples... everything a graphic (or even an industrial) designer wants in a HUGE ammount (this book is really big... hundreds of pages).

The most interesting feature about this book is that the Oriental people, specially the Japanese have such a different notions of visualization and space treatment, that the way they develop graphic projects usually offer very different results to the ones we expect... (A signage project for a hospital IN THE FLOOR ??????????? Come on guys !!...)

Of course everything is very aesthetic and artistic, but all I have to say is that this book is REALLY a mind opener for graphic designers everywhere in the world...

Thanks.