Interview with Katsunari Shishido

I wasn't an aspiring designer when I was a student, and I was heavily influenced by street culture. I was attracted to dance, skateboarding, graffiti, and hip-hop. That led to pop art, and I was so impressed by Andy Warhol's posters that I decided to become a graphic designer.

The ability to put things together. To be able to look at things from different perspectives. The ability to draw anything. We focus on these three things. In order to identify problems and find improvement ideas that come across in the various requests, it is important to put them together in one piece. You can't be a designer if you think like other people, you have to have a 360-degree perspective and an eye for what no one else can see. From there, new ideas are born, and it's a question of whether you can draw the ideas in your head by hand first. The touch of handwriting, which is faster and more delicate than a computer, can open up even more possibilities for ideas. I think the most important thing is the process before you go into the design process using a computer.

I can't stop getting excited when I'm thinking about being creative. The first thing I get excited about is when I'm working on an idea. How do you aim for a goal that has no answer? That roadmap is the point where it's up to my ideas. The next step is when the idea actually takes shape. This is the moment when the blueprints in your mind come true. At the end of the day, the excitement of being able to please the client and the people in the future is like flying into space.

To have the ability to finish the job and to enjoy everything. Everyone can do what they think they can do, but it takes courage and resolve to try something that may not be possible. They have the spirit to never give up, and the ability to find the elements that they enjoy and enjoy themselves, even on the difficult and uneventful roads. In design, the idea of creating an idea from 0 to 1 and sparing no effort to give it form, and a positive spirit that can transform the impossible into the possible will enable you to realize the idea you envisioned.

I want to be involved in the design of services on a national and regional basis. Design has a role to play in making people happy, and since I haven't worked on any big projects yet, my goal is to work on design projects that reach the important people around me.

They say you need to value your peers and your team, but how dense your personal time can be is also important. It's important to gather information and gain experience, but I think it's also important to be able to experience the process of challenging, experimenting, and verifying to create everything with your own hands. In my case, I didn't have any seniors, teachers, peers, or bosses, so I experimented with design by groping and asking myself many times in order to establish my own style. I think I will be able to show even more strength in the team with my individual experience.

In my case, I tend to be frank with my clients and build relationships that are easy to communicate with. By working together on challenging and experimental designs, we ultimately eliminate the loss of design ideas and save time and allow time to improve the quality of the design, thus facilitating a smooth flow from idea to completion.

Condition your body and mind so that you can focus on more meaningful time and production. Starting with morning stretching/yoga, meditation is a must, and I take a break every hour or so to refresh myself with my favorite chocolate and coffee and dedicate all of my day to work and thought time.

I'm not particularly aware of any design trends. I've only seen it on the news. I genuinely face the theme and concept of the project and keep coming up with ideas and challenging the production. There may be times when I am influenced by a great design, but I will go for originality as much as I can.

I have a definition of what I consider to be good design when there is no waste and it is in beautiful condition. There is a simple existence of an indispensable thing, a convenience that is built into a hidden function without asserting itself, and the existence of a supporting role that does not interfere with the main but asserts its existence. The concept, the theme, the look, the function, the convenience and a little bit of margin in one brilliantly designed thing feels so great that it makes you drool.

There is no end to the design if the goal is to complete one project. Even if we were to create a 100% design, who would it be for? If you think about it from a designer's point of view, even if you were 100% at the time, what about tomorrow? It can improve over time, or conversely, it can be negative. In my opinion, a good time to complete a design is when there's a little bit of wiggle room. The fact that there are margins means that the design is accessible and accepted by the public. It's a playful design, a design that is sometimes intentionally carved from a 100% state and feels differently to each person who touches it.

Ikko Tanaka (died in 2002), a Japanese graphic designer from his home country. He has received worldwide praise for his imposing and graceful style, sublimating Japanese shapes, colors and textures into modern design. He is a wonderful creator who knows the culture of the people of his country, from the inheritance from the historical culture of his home country to future insights, ukiyo-e prints, traditional performing arts, and so on, and uses them as the subject of visual expression in his contemporary creations.

I planned events in the area where I was born and raised, and handled everything from branding to design and promotion. The event hosted a music festival using the campground. He was also involved in the planning and management of the Marche, which brought together some of the best local restaurants and artists to create a community, and provided a place for local people to interact with shops and artists.

The Design Award gave me a challenge and an opportunity to think deeply about each and every thing, clarifying my position. It has helped guide the status and level of the designer in future activities. By participating in this event, I was able to feel the quality from around the world up close and personal, which gave me the motivation to aim high.

I wasn't an aspiring designer when I was a student, and I was heavily influenced by street culture. I was attracted to dance, skateboarding, graffiti, and hip-hop. That led to pop art, and I was so impressed by Andy Warhol's posters that I decided to become a graphic designer.

When I was running an event as a student, I was asked to create a poster for the event. At that point, I hadn't studied design in school, so I was an amateur, but I was making designs, but they weren't very complete. The more I studied from there, the more I was drawn to graphic design, and the more I became interested in poster design, the more I wanted to be a designer.

I do art direction and design by myself, but taking advantage of the lightness of footwork, I do branding, naming, logo development, store design, illustration, web design production. Sometimes we plan and produce events regardless of genre such as organizing.

They say you need to value your peers and your team, but how dense your personal time can be is also important. It's important to gather information and gain experience, but I think it's also important to be able to experience the process of challenging, experimenting, and verifying to create everything with your own hands. In my case, I didn't have any seniors, teachers, peers, or bosses, so I experimented with design by groping and asking myself many times in order to establish my own style. I think I will be able to show even more strength in the team with my individual experience.

I have a definition of what I consider to be good design when there is no waste and it is in beautiful condition. There is a simple existence of an indispensable thing, a convenience that is built into a hidden function without asserting itself, and the existence of a supporting role that does not interfere with the main but asserts its existence. The concept, the theme, the look, the function, the convenience and a little bit of margin in one brilliantly designed thing feels so great that it makes you drool.

I have a definition of what I consider to be good design when there is no waste and it is in beautiful condition. There is a simple existence of an indispensable thing, a convenience that is built into a hidden function without asserting itself, and the existence of a supporting role that does not interfere with the main but asserts its existence. The concept, the theme, the look, the function, the convenience and a little bit of margin in one brilliantly designed thing feels so great that it makes you drool.

The ability to put things together. To be able to look at things from different perspectives. The ability to draw anything. We focus on these three things. In order to identify problems and find improvement ideas that come across in the various requests, it is important to put them together in one piece. You can't be a designer if you think like other people, you have to have a 360-degree perspective and an eye for what no one else can see. From there, new ideas are born, and it's a question of whether you can draw the ideas in your head by hand first. The touch of handwriting, which is faster and more delicate than a computer, can open up even more possibilities for ideas. I think the most important thing is the process before you go into the design process using a computer.

Ikko Tanaka (died in 2002), a Japanese graphic designer from his home country. He has received worldwide praise for his imposing and graceful style, sublimating Japanese shapes, colors and textures into modern design. He is a wonderful creator who knows the culture of the people of his country, from the inheritance from the historical culture of his home country to future insights, ukiyo-e prints, traditional performing arts, and so on, and uses them as the subject of visual expression in his contemporary creations.

Design is closely related to people's lives and exists everywhere. It enriches people, it's beautiful, it's functional, and it's able to express emotions. I believe that the design is also made of love.

I am grateful for my loving partner, my family, Quarryant, and my favorite friends.

It's an exhilarating mind. I can't stop getting excited when I'm thinking about being creative. The first thing I get excited about is when I'm working on an idea. How do you aim for a goal that has no answer? That roadmap is the point where it's up to my ideas. The next step is when the idea actually takes shape. This is the moment when the blueprints in your mind come true. At the end of the day, the excitement of being able to please the client and the people in the future is like flying into space.

It was every person I met.

I learned a lot from the Japanese manga in my home country. From the detailed setting to the characters, the background and message you want to convey, the layout, the expression of your emotions.

He is what is called a master of the past. I would like to know how they completed the painting hundreds of years ago.

It may be very important as a status, but what's important is that you can create a design that's benefiting the world.

I like the colorful taste, but I think monotones are colorful too.

I have a habit of evaluating advertisements, billboards, store designs, products, and so on in my daily life, and people who are with me think I'm a weirdo.

I have a daily routine of diet, exercise, yoga, and meditation because a better design is only possible when you build your body and mind.

Design is made of love.

I do art direction and design by myself, but I also do branding, naming, logo development, store design, illustration, and web design with my light footwork. We also plan and produce events regardless of genre, such as organizing.

Design is an integral part of our lives, enriching us and making us indispensable. Design is made up of love.

One of my favorite designs is a simple look that incorporates a variety of concepts. In other words, it's a logo.

I'm sorry. There are too many nice designs to answer. Of course, I love my designs.

It's the name of my design office, Cocodoru. The Japanese version of Heart Dancing expresses heart as “Cocoro" and dancing as “Odoru", and it is a coined word combining the two languages, a naming that does not yet exist in the world.

That's when I made a new discovery. From the words to the motifs, to the layout of the text, to the coloring, it's when I was able to create my own originality.

We focus on the concepts and themes before the production.

It's exciting. It's always exciting and fun to design your own ideas.

It makes you feel alive. Not all progress is going to be successful under trial and error and difficult to achieve circumstances. The design that was completed after that arduous process is equivalent to shaving a soul.

It's a matter of whether or not you can create a design that will be completed and loved by the people who come after it.

It's about conveying the concept without any superfluous things.

Regardless of the size of my role, can I make the community, the small things and the important people around me happy with my design? I think about this on a daily basis. I feel that designers have a role to play in making people happy and taking care of the earth.

Because we look at things from different angles, we can sometimes find small discoveries and unlikely connections. I think the design was born with that flexible 360-degree view.

I don't have a design theory because I didn't work for a company and spent my days learning and experimenting with design on my own. This makes it possible to create challenging designs in a unique way. And I only make designs that I enjoy.

I was born and raised in Japan. We are heavily influenced by our Japanese predecessors' designers. National treasures such as Katsushika Hokusai, Ogata Korin, and Ito Jakuchu are at the core of my work, with bold and delicate graphic design that is unimaginably old-fashioned. While I feel that the level of delicate production techniques in Japan is excellent, I feel that it is inferior to other countries in terms of major changes and bold differences.

I don't use computers or other foots in the early stages of production. I compile my thoughts in notebooks and draw ideas and plans, and sometimes the notebooks serve as a proposal and are presented to the client. Only after we have a sense of direction for the project do we use a computer to share a completed image with the client. And spend a lot of time brushing up.

Condition your body and mind for more meaningful time and reflection. It starts with morning stretching/yoga, and meditation is a must. I take a break once an hour, refresh myself with my favorite chocolate and coffee, and use all of my day for work and thinking time.

The good thing is that it gives you the ability to think. The bad part is that I look at the negative side of everything. People who are with me tend to think of me as a negative person because I tend to observe the negative aspects of services and things in the world, such as how I would think about them or what could be improved.

I think it's the ability to pump it out. How is the content of the request linked to society and how is it circulated and used by people? I think that design is not just about making things, but also about the structure.

I use Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop as my main software, and I manage everything on my Mac. I've had a plain Moleskine notebook for years and keep all the things, plans, and ideas from my notes in that notebook. Inspiration comes from carrying a compact camera and recording it. My favorite camera is Ricoh's GR.

Prior to production, we propose a design that is close to the finish in the sketching and planning stages, taking as much time as possible to enhance the finished product. Within that, the production schedule is managed in hourly increments.

At the time of the idea, the rough sketch, the object is roughly formed. However, it takes quite a few days to brush up.

Where do the sensations and ideas come from? When do you think about it? I often get the question, "What do you think? Incidentally, the way to answer this question is that ideas and designs don't come about by chance, so it's something I'm always thinking about.

I didn't have a client to start with. I took the work from the people close to me and went to the present. That's why I value each project, not the company or the size of the project, so each one is an experience.

We mainly work with clients for branding, but we also provide logo and visual design services for new businesses, start-ups, company foundations, and brand development.

The best part is the pre-process of creating a design. With a goal without an answer, how do we find a theme, solidify the concept as such, and what approach can we take to come up with as a design? I have the most fun when I'm working on a logo.

I want to be involved in creativity for the rest of my life. When the time comes for me to retire as a designer, I want to set up a learning space where I can spread the creative mindset.

I basically do everything from direction to design by myself. Depending on the case, a team may be formed.

You can contact me through my web site.