Kuwasawa Design School 2022 Guidebook

I design with a focus on the near future, considering how things have evolved from the past to the present and how they are likely to change in the future. I strive to come up with answers that were not possible in the past, aiming to provide innovative solutions.

I placed great importance on capturing the impression that one would feel when holding this piece. Above all, I wanted it to evoke a surprised and amazed reaction.

Currently, it has been materialized in the form of a book, but I envision expanding it on a larger scale to create an even more exciting experience. My goal is to have an exhibition by the end of this year. I would like to showcase it not only in Japan but also, if possible, overseas.

My starting point was a desire to ensure the school prospectus would not merely be a booklet for reading information. Beyond simply explaining Kuwasawa Design School, I wanted the publication to be something that allows readers to physically experience what design is from the very moment they pick it up.Typically, a school prospectus is a relatively passive medium where pages are turned to read text and view photographs. In this project, however, I wondered if I could challenge the very premise that "a book is a static object" and "printed matter does not react when touched." As the reader touches and slides the booklet, the once-static image begins to move. I aimed for that moment of surprise to serve as the initial threshold into Kuwasawa’s approach to design education.In the initial stages, I explored how close we could bring the analogue medium of paper to the sensation of a digital interface. I was not seeking to express an analogue warmth or nostalgia; rather, I attempted to generate—solely through printing and binding—the sensation of swiping a tablet screen, where information shifts in tandem with the movement of one’s fingers.The slit animation technique was the most appropriate approach to realize this concept. By moving a page integrated with slits, multiple underlying images appear in sequence, making the printed, static graphic appear to move. Though it utilizes neither a power source nor a screen, the book responds instantly to the reader’s hand movements, directly linking physical manipulation with visual transformation.Once the slit animation was chosen, it became necessary to redesign the entire booklet around this mechanism. Instead of merely adding a gimmick to a single page, my team scrutinized which direction and how far the pages should move, the speed at which the images would transform, and whether the book could be operated naturally while holding it. We calibrated the graphic and physical structures simultaneously—including the width and intervals of the slits, the division of the underlying images, the thickness and friction of the paper, and the ease of movement after binding.Furthermore, if the kinetic effect became overly complex, the act of understanding the mechanism itself would become the ultimate goal. What I emphasized was a state where users could interact intuitively and experience an immediate sense of surprise without requiring detailed instructions. I sought a balance that retains the tactile feedback of physically moving paper while possessing the immediacy of a digital interface.Ultimately, this school prospectus became not just a booklet that explains Kuwasawa, but a design experience that is completed through the reader's own action. Before reading the information, one touches, moves, and experiences surprise. Through this experience, I wanted to convey that questioning the premises of familiar objects and forging new relationships is itself an act of design.

The most significant technical challenge was to make the printed typography appear to move while simultaneously ensuring it functioned rigorously as a piece of graphic design.Through over one hundred prototypes, my team sought to strike a delicate balance: creating a dynamic transformation that surprises the user upon touch, while maintaining the graphical integrity required for a school prospectus cover when in its static state. Rather than making decisions solely on-screen, we iterated by producing physical mockups—touching and shifting them to validate the experience.Another crucial objective was determining how close we could bring the slit animation—which typically functions as a simple, looping visual effect—to an intuitive user interface. The typography responds instantly to the act of a person touching and moving the book. Our goal was not merely to exhibit an animation, but to design an experience where physical interaction and visual shift are directly linked.Ultimately, my priority was not to showcase a technically complex mechanism, but to ensure that anyone picking up the booklet would naturally interact with it without reading instructions, experiencing the typographic transformation the exact moment they moved it. The surprise occurs before the user even becomes conscious of the underlying gimmick. To realize this simple, intuitive experience, over one hundred physical trials were absolutely essential.What this production process revealed is that in kinetic printed matter, graphics, material properties, finishing, and binding cannot be treated as separate phases. The very structure of the book serves as the interface,

When I was entrusted with designing the school prospectus as an alumnus, I decided to candidly express the core design values I hold today. This choice stemmed from my belief that these very values were cultivated and forged during my time studying at Kuwasawa. Instead of explaining the institution from an outsider's perspective, I wanted to manifest my current creative philosophy through the prospectus itself.What I learned at Kuwasawa was not to accept preexisting formats as they are, but to think critically, engage with my own hands, and seek new methodologies through continuous trial and error. For this project, rather than mimicking the established formats of conventional school prospectuses, I chose to reconsider the very nature of the book as a medium.I believe that Kuwasawa's pioneering spirit as Japan’s first design school is not demonstrated by visually referencing its historical imagery. Rather, it lies in the attitude of questioning established conventions and continuously challenging oneself to create new expressions required by the times. By presenting my own design without reservation, I believed it would ultimately convey both the education I received at Kuwasawa and the true essence of what the school stands for today.