Integration Disaster Prevention Pictogram by Noriaki Mori is a highly esteemed winner of the very prestigious 2022 Bronze A' Design Award in Graphics, Illustration and Visual Communication Design Competition Category.
BronzeGraphic· 2022
Integration Disaster Prevention Pictogram
by Noriaki Mori
Client: Innos Tokyo
Bronze A' Design Award Winner in Graphic Category
Verified Award Winner
Verify Award Status for #128155The Design
About Integration Disaster Prevention Pictogram
This pictogram is an integrated display of the information required in the event of a tsunami disaster. Anyone can check the hazard map of the area by reading the QR code displayed with the tsunami arrival wave height display on a smartphone. At first glance, one action by smartphone realizes a mechanism to promote the next action. The idea is based on actual experiences such as earthquakes and tsunamis caused by it, and is based on the unique idea of Japan, which can be said to be a disaster-prone country. They propose a globally unified pictogram that was unlikely before.
The Recognition
About the Bronze A' Design Award
Integration Disaster Prevention Pictogram is a Bronze A' Design Award winner, a highly prestigious recognition granted to outstanding designs distinguished by creativity, ingenuity, and astuteness. Bronze winners are amply skillful and strikingly creative artifacts that authenticate the vast experience, imagination, and resourcefulness of their designers. Integration Disaster Prevention Pictogram is expected to be a highly regarded, admired, and cherished object that is notably professional and innovative. This Bronze A' Design Award-winning design incorporates best practices in art, science, design, and technology, and is excellent for its attention to detail. Integration Disaster Prevention Pictogram splendidly satisfies needs, touches desires, charms feelings, and appeals to curiosity.
Interviews
Design Interview
What is the main principle, idea and inspiration behind your design?
The concept that no one is left behind.
To fulfill the mission of equalizing safety disparities.
What has been your main focus in designing this work? Especially what did you want to achieve?
Even in Japan, We have witnessed the disparate graphic designs, pictograms, and icons related to the colors and shapes of sea level displays of local governments, and the reality that disaster displays have not been clearly established.
I thought that it should be integrated and unified not only in Japan but also in the world.
What are your future plans for this award winning design?
I will strongly appeal to relevant government agencies, local governments, and members of the Diet, including receiving a prestigious award, and will lead to activities that improve society.
Grand Interview
Your innovative Integration Disaster Prevention Pictogram combines tsunami wave height information with QR-linked hazard maps - what inspired you to create this unified approach to disaster prevention communication?
The biggest trigger was the Great East Japan Earthquake that occurred in 2011. I noticed that in Tokyo, which has areas at zero meters above sea level and areas that are several meters above sea level, the design and color used to indicate sea level varies from one local government to another.When we looked at sea level indications across Japan after the earthquake, we found that not a single one had the same design. Therefore, we came up with the idea of standardizing sea level indications across Japan, and creating a display system that clearly classifies the expected maximum wave heights of floods and tsunamis in a given area into three levels: 1m or more, 3m or more, and 5m or more. In addition, we came up with the idea of using QR codes to clearly integrate links to flood hazard maps, which had been developed all over Japan after the earthquake.
The color choice in Integration Disaster Prevention Pictogram matches Japan's standardized road signage blue - could you elaborate on how this deliberate alignment with existing infrastructure enhances public recognition and response?
This color complies with the colors designated by the Japanese Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism.Green is used for emergency exits and to indicate evacuation, but the purpose of the Integrated Disaster Prevention Pictogram is to enable people to instantly recognize the current situation in the area on a daily basis, even before that.Therefore, we designed it so that it can be seamlessly incorporated into road signs all over Japan in the future, not just for pedestrians. This will allow anyone to know the current situation and preparations in the area, along with the sea level indications that vary all over Japan. Furthermore, we have taken care to consider the landscape of each area.
Having experienced numerous tsunami events in Japan, how did real-world observations shape the development of Integration Disaster Prevention Pictogram's three-tier wave height warning system?
Many people have seen tsunami footage, but from the time a tsunami occurs until it reaches us, every second counts. In such a situation, there are only a limited number of graphic elements that can be instantly recognized. In reality, it has been verified that a person's feet can be swept away even with water only 30 centimeters below the knee, but it still made us realize how important it is to recognize the expected scale of tsunamis and floods at a glance, and this influenced our development.
Behind the Design
Press Kit
Credits, team members and technical details provided by the designer.
- Unique Properties
- This pictogram is an integrated display of the information necessary for tsunami disaster countermeasures.
You can check the height above sea level along with the predicted wave height of the arrival of the tsunami.
In addition, you can check the hazard map of the area by reading the QR code displayed together in the pictogram. - Dimensions & Packaging
- Since it can be expressed on any printing or display device, the size can be set in any way.
When writing on utility poles in Japan, it is desirable to write in the vertical and horizontal directions of about 300 mm. - Tags
- Integrated display, Predicted maximum tsunami wave height, Hazard map, QR code
- Production Technology
- As a result of examining the displays of all local governments, it was found that they were only displayed above sea level, and that none of them displayed the maximum wave height of the tsunami, and that the display colors were not unified at all.
Therefore, the display color is the same as the blue color used for road display, which is unified by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism. - Design Challenge
- We focused on how to express it concisely and clearly.
At a glance, we were able to understand the risk meeting of the place we are now, and we were enthusiastic about realising a mechanism to encourage the next action with one action. - Research
- This is a pictogram proposal that embodies the linked display of the predicted maximum wave height and hazard map for tsunamis, which no one had ever wondered if it did not exist.
It was unlikely, but it is actually a very important information display. - Inspiration
- Japan has experienced many tsunami damages caused by the earthquake. However, the official arrival wave height and hazard map for the tsunami in the area have not been prepared.
In addition, the display that evokes the tsunami is not unified by local governments.This is a universal reality.
We developed this integrated pictogram to return to the world where it is common for information needed in an emergency to be clear on a daily basis. - Project Duration
- The project started in Tokyo in 2012, entered the business design award sponsored by Tokyo in 2013, and is still promoting to each local government.
- Operation Flow
- You can know the maximum predicted tsunami wave height of your current location in 3 stages of 1 meter or more, 3 meters or more and 5 meters or more, and you can also obtain a hazard pap by reading the QR code.
As a result, it is possible to instantly confirm where to evacuate. - Patents
- Design registered : 1497145
- Image Credits
- Image #1 : Noriaki Mori, Image #2 : Noriaki Mori, Image #3 : Noriaki Mori, Image #4 : Noriaki Mori
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