Born in 1985, Yohei Matsuda's acquaintance with design stems from his love of music, and he confesses, "The reason I wanted to become a designer, who loved music a lot, was because I wanted to design record covers." In the process of studying design, he also kept the habit of thinking about the story behind the design: "Since college, and even up to now, I would hunt down what I thought 'looked good' and try to understand the designer's ideas and how he designed the look in front of me. "

His studies at the Department of Basic Design Studies at Musashino Art University in Japan had a great influence on him. Founded in the 1960s, the department has nurtured a number of outstanding designers who have influenced Japan and the world through its philosophy of "cross-cutting and disciplinary integration". Speaking about his experience at the school, Matsuda says, "The lectures in the classroom were very impressive. For me, who thought design was the same as cool, the academy was a big shock. The founder of the school, Mr. Mukai Choutarou, had the greatest influence on me. When I was in school, Mr. Mukai's writings, such as "The Poetics of Shape Making" and "The Philosophy and Formation of Design," became the spiritual pillars that I kept studying. In addition, the designs of Mr. Kenya Hara, Takaki Itto and Taro Yamamoto, as well as the lectures of Kaoru Maidi and Nobuo Nakagaki in my fourth year, etc., made me realize the unfathomable depth of the design field."

After graduating from university, Yoko Matsuda worked at Sony Music, iino mediapro Pictures, and Nippon Design Center before establishing his own studio in 2020 and becoming increasingly active at the forefront of current Japanese graphic design.

During his time at Nippon Design Center, Matsuda was an art director and designer of invitations and brochures for Mitsukoshi Isetan banquets, which were a big hit at the time. Taking inspiration from the line drawing technique popular in France in the 16th and 17th centuries, Matsuda was greatly appreciated for his elegantly shaped outlines of letters and the detailed illustrations he invited illustrators to create.

The book "Motohiro Tomii: Interact", designed for artist and professor of sculpture at Musashino Art University, also reflects Matsuda's attitude of exploring the stories behind the conveyed objects and embodying them in design. If "using everyday objects to free objects from their original meanings and functions and redefine them in a sculptural way with simple techniques" is one of the characteristics of Tomii's creations, then the use of ready-made MUJI folders and transparent laminated pages for the overall binding of this book, which includes Tomii's early works up to 2016, is "a hope that the reader will be able to see the book when turning through it. The purpose of using MUJI folders and transparent laminated pages to frame this collection of Tomii's early works up to 2016 is "to let the reader experience the artist's thoughts while flipping through the book" and to explore the possibilities of book design. In terms of structure, Matsuda minimizes the conventional design factors such as "classification" and "uniformity" and instead uses shapes, colors and symbols as the axes of book design, echoing the artist's creative language from the design perspective, so that the design and the work can achieve a delicate balance.

Regarding the current context of the times and the discussion of design, Matsuda feels, "Today, the content covered by the word 'design' seems to have become broader and more complex. I think 'design' refers to the thinking behind the work. In the future, the scope of the profession and the competencies expected of designers may become more and more diverse, and I believe that the approach to communication will not stop at a single design. And the only part that 'design' and 'designer' have that can't be replaced by anything else remains the excavation of the story of the work and the attitude of sincere expression with design."

Article Source:艺术与设计

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