Aisanka Information Magazine by Kiyoka Yamazuki is a highly esteemed winner of the very prestigious 2025 Silver A' Design Award in Graphics, Illustration and Visual Communication Design Competition Category.
SilverGraphic· 2025
Aisanka Information Magazine
Client: Aichi Prefectural Government, General Affairs Department, Regional Affairs Division
Silver A' Design Award Winner in Graphic Category
Verified Award Winner
Verify Award Status for #162363The Design
About Aisanka Information Magazine
She was asked to create a cover illustration with the theme of Aichi Prefecture Festivals in order to spread the appeal of Aichi Prefecture (history, culture, industry, etc.) to the whole of Japan and the world. She observed festivals unique to Aichi through video and documents, captured their characteristics, and expressed the fun and uniqueness of the festivals in her own way through illustrations.
The Recognition
About the Silver A' Design Award
Aisanka Information Magazine is a Silver A' Design Award winner, an extraordinarily prestigious recognition granted to top-of-the-line, gorgeous, and impressive designs. Silver winners are tremendously brilliant and exceedingly creative works that illustrate the outstanding expertise, talent, and acuity of their designers. Aisanka Information Magazine is expected to be a wonderful, showpiece work that is remarkably professional and profoundly innovative. This Silver A' Design Award-winning design is a highly notable, admired invention that benefits and advances the boundaries of art, science, design, and technology. Aisanka Information Magazine is a vastly envied creation that evokes desires, introduces positive feelings, and sparks amazement and wonderment.
Where to Get It
Award-Winning Illustration Services for Publications and Corporate Projects
We create captivating hand-drawn illustrations that bring stories to life for magazines, calendars, posters, and corporate communications. With over 35 years of experience and recognition from international design awards, we transform your vision into distinctive visual narratives that engage audiences.
Discuss Your ProjectInterviews
Design Interview
What is the main principle, idea and inspiration behind your design?
For example, when creating a cover illustration, which is the face of a booklet, you want the illustration to have an impact (or a sense of nostalgia or familiarity) that will make the reader want to pick it up.
Also, if there is anything seasonal in the illustration, include that in the illustration.
What has been your main focus in designing this work? Especially what did you want to achieve?
This booklet is a magazine that is published twice a year.
The cover illustration is also the face of the booklet, so we focused on creating it with a sense of the season and events taking place during that time.
What are your future plans for this award winning design?
This project magazine was commissioned and produced from 1993 to 1999, but the project has already ended.
There are no particular plans for the future.
If there is anyone who would like to use illustrations like these, please contact us.
I would also like to create illustrations if I find any other interesting themes.
Grand Interview
Your innovative approach to capturing Aichi Prefecture's festivals through illustration in Aisanka Information Magazine has earned significant recognition - could you share the creative process behind translating these dynamic cultural events into compelling visual narratives without having experienced them firsthand?
The first thing I received as reference material was a videotape of a festival in Aichi Prefecture.I wasn't born in Aichi Prefecture, so it was my first time seeing a festival in the prefecture.Just watching it, I was surprised and intrigued to learn that there are so many interesting (and little-known) festivals.I think the best way to convey the appeal of a festival is to experience it firsthand, be moved by it, and then create a visual.(There was probably no time or budget for this job.)I wanted to encourage people to visit the festival site by illustrating the charm and dynamism of this interesting festival.To that end, I often watched the video and drew scenes that moved me.
The Silver A' Design Award highlights your ability to promote regional culture through Aisanka Information Magazine - how did you balance preserving the authenticity of Aichi's traditional festivals while making them accessible and appealing to a global audience?
Even in Aichi, the festivals that are rooted in the local community are very interesting and fascinating.They are unique festivals that are specific to the area and have been supported and passed down by the land and its people since ancient times.There are many other festivals in Aichi that are known nationwide, but the festivals that people hold to worship gods and offer to them in ancient times (as opposed to commercial festivals) are very interesting (these are often called strange festivals).I picked out and drew some lesser known local festivals that fit the season.
Your work on Aisanka Information Magazine spans from 1994 to 1998, coinciding with Aichi's World Expo aspirations - how did this international context influence your artistic decisions and visual storytelling approach?
Even before 1994, my illustrations had a fictional animal motif.The first illustration for "Aisanka" wasn't festival-themed, it was a dragon illustration.Perhaps it was the impression I got from the illustrations that inspired the image of a festival?I was just starting out as an illustrator at the time, so I don't really know what kind of impact this information magazine had on the Aichi Expo held in 2005 or the international situation.As for me, it was that I got more work drawing illustrations of festivals (though I don't draw them as much nowadays).I also got more work drawing World Heritage sites.There are still many unique festivals in Japan and around the world, and I would like to draw them again if I have the time.
Behind the Design
Press Kit
Credits, team members and technical details provided by the designer.
- Unique Properties
- This information magazine is for promoting Aichi Prefecture. It is a tool to let Aichi residents and people from other prefectures know the good points of Aichi Prefecture, and to remind them that Aichi Prefecture is a rich city with culture, industry, and tradition, and an attractive city that we can be proud of on the world stage.
- Dimensions & Packaging
- This information magazine is one of the tools to let people know about the appeal of Aichi's traditional culture, industry, and products, encourage participation in vibrant urban development, introduce Aichi to other prefectures, and promote the good things about Aichi.
Height 29.7mm x width 21mm, 18 pages.
It is a quarterly magazine published twice a year, and is also introduced to the Aichi Prefectural Government, each branch office, and other prefectures. - Tags
- #142430 Silver A' Design Award for Graphics, Illustration and Visual Communication Design Category/Kumanokodou
- Production Technology
- She didn't have a chance to actually see the festival, but she watched a video of the Aichi festival and was inspired by it to create a hand-drawn illustration (of the fun and splendor of the festival).
- Design Challenge
- Although she never had the chance to actually go see a festival, she studied videos of festivals in Aichi Prefecture and created illustrations to convey the fun and realism of the festivals. It is unclear whether the magazine achieved its goals, but in 1996 she created and published an illustration of the Tahara Kite Festival, which earned her a letter and a mini kite from the Tahara Kite Preservation Society, and she participated in the kite flying that year.
- Research
- The purpose of the magazine was to convey the charm of Aichi's traditional culture, industry, and products to people inside and outside the prefecture, and to have them rediscover the good things about Aichi. At the same time, Aichi Prefecture was also working hard to attract the World Expo at the time, so the magazine was globally conscious. The warmth of the hand-drawn illustrations and the unique use of color fascinated people visiting the local traditional festival.
- Inspiration
- This was an information magazine created at the time to promote Aichi to the people of Aichi and other prefectures, as well as to the world, in order to attract the World Expo to Aichi Prefecture. The cover illustration she created was based on the theme of "festivals," a tradition passed down since ancient times, and promoted the charm of Aichi both within and outside the prefecture.
- Project Duration
- The project period was from 1994 to 1998. It was a four-year project that was published twice a year, with the focus on Aichi Prefecture and disseminating to the rest of the country.
- Operation Flow
- At the time, the Aichi Expo was about to be held, and in order to ensure the success of the Expo, the client wanted the people of Aichi to rediscover the good things about the prefecture and promote it not only to other prefectures but also to the world. So she designed the illustration with the hope that people would be able to feel the good things about Aichi through its traditional festivals that are close to them.
- Patents
- Copyright Kiyoka Yamazuki 1995
- Image Credits
- ＃162363：Illustrator/Kiyoka Yamazuki 1995
#1:Illustrator/Kiyoka Yamazuki 1995
#2:Illustrator/Kiyoka Yamazuki 1996
#3:Illustrator/Kiyoka Yamazuki 1998
#4:Illustrator/Kiyoka Yamazuki 1996
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