“The Awakening of Design” is the experience of Japanese design godfather and creator of MUJI Kazuko Tanaka and design for thirty years. What is the function of design, how does design work in society, and what solutions are there? “Awakening of Design” takes us back to the scene, following Tanaka Ichiko’s witty and beautiful words, and using meticulous and keen observation to experience the ubiquitous design consciousness between work and life.
The era of the rise of Japanese design, the birth of the “MUJI” brand concept, the development of professional sensitivity of young designers, the design story behind the famous brand… Stop the busyness in your hands and look back.
Perhaps it is more than design.
“The Awakening of Design” author Tanaka Kazumitsu said: The 21st century cannot avoid the responsibility of reflecting on and saving the last century. Design cannot be separated from the triple considerations of “environmental regeneration”, “consumption-use-discarded civilization circle”, and “recovery of human feelings”. When the ideal blueprint slowly disappeared on the extension line of modern cities, a certain grotesque religion began to sneak into people’s barren hearts.
In the book “The Awakening of Design”, Tanaka has been using ordinary language to tell us about the awakening process of his design thinking throughout his life.
Tanaka Ichiko is a famous Japanese designer. He is a godfather in the field of graphic design. In the book, he talks about his design ideas, work details, and the growth of many designs along the way. After reading that book, I feel that Tanaka Ichiko is not just a design. He is just a teacher, he is a classic example of the Japanese who consciously introspected after World War II, exploring the real needs of the Japanese, the real design. His book reflects on the collision and impact of design and society. The way design solves real problems, following the text of this book, I feel the resonance between design work and life and the ubiquitous design inspiration. Tanaka used his bumpy life experience and brilliant design process to interpret the awakening process of design thinking, and because he experienced the development process of the design industry in Japan after World War II, he spent a lifetime guiding the direction of graphic design.
MUJI is also written in the book. I have always been curious about MUJI. The new human perception brought by that simple design is very simple and clean. It is the kind of design I like. I have always liked it. Clean design, not complicated. In fact, the simpler it is, the harder it is.
The goal of this book is to let people understand that China’s economy is becoming stronger and stronger, and design is becoming more and more important to everyone. At the same time, there are all kinds of confusions. It is trying to let everyone know about those who are in daily life through Tanaka’s design thinking. We are not familiar with how we “do not understand” what we are used to in ordinary daily life, so that people stand on the shoulders of new knowledge, encounter fresh “design”, and make “design” awaken in their own bodies.
The awakening process of design is the process of designers constantly awakening their cognition of life in daily life. This means that there are also a lot of unknown parts in common things that are worth rediscovering. “Awakening” is an important role that design should play. “The Awakening of Design” is an attempt to provide us with an entrance close to the awakening of design.
The second half of the book is a biography of Ichiko Tanaka by Zhu E. I am very interested in this. The following are some of Tanaka’s characteristics I picked
1. He liked to watch theaters when he was young, including musicals, stage plays, dance plays, and movies;
2. His youth coincided with Japan’s post-war development, hosting the Olympics and World Expos. (The holding mode of their grand event is different from ours);
3. Nara-Kyoto-Tokyo, this is the change of his address；
4. He was unmarried all his life；
5. He loves cooking, and all the assistants who come out of his studio can cook good dishes. It is said that if a girl goes to work with him for a year, she can become a bride-to-be；
6. When he was young, he always had noble people to help him, and his seniors supported him. In his middle and old age, he has been supporting newcomers；
7. Cross-field reading, his reading volume is very extensive, although the book does not write very detailed；
8. Very curious, good travel around the world.
From the book, I learned Tanaka’s attitude towards life and work, and his thinking about what he saw. I feel that a designer must be diligent in thinking. In addition, we who are designing should have more contact with those who are designing, learn from each other and make progress. Constantly improving ourselves in the learning process, slowly I believe that we will become an excellent designer.
