Ikko Tanaka. Japanese Graphic Designer | 1930 – 2002
Ikko Tanaka (田中一光, 1930–2002) was a celebrated Japanese graphic designer. His client list included Mazda, Hanae Mori and Issey Miyake, Expo ’85 in Tsukuba, World City Expo Tokyo ’96, and the Victoria and Albert Museum.
Share:
Members Content
This is a members-only article, gain access and support the archive for £1.99 a month. Memberships help grow the design collection and share research on the history of graphic design.
Ikko Tanaka was born in 1930 in Nara City. He graduated from the Kyoto School of Fine Arts in 1950 and worked for several companies, including the Osaka Economic Newspaper, before co-founding Nippon Design Center, Inc. In 1963, he established his own firm, the Ikko Tanaka Design Office.
Tanaka's awards include a silver medal from the Warsaw International Poster Biennial, the Mainichi Design Award, the New York ADC Award, the Tokyo ADC Membership Award, the Mainichi Art Award, and the Japan Cultural Design Grand Prix.
One of Otl Aicher's lesser-known works was the identity and publicity for the Gastein Valley. Gastein valley was a resort for the elderly, an Austrian Alpine village in the Austrian state of Salzburg
Blase’s long-term clients were Staatstheater Kassel (Kassel State Theater) and Atlas Films. Karl Oskar Blase produced countless posters for these two organisations. It’s not surprising considering Blase designed posters for the Staatstheater for twelve years between 1966 and 1978.
A collection of letterpresses German brochures from 1959/1960 designed by Hans Geipel for Süddeutsche Rundfunk (SDR), the South German Radio Network based in Stuttgart.
These one-colour forms have a playful but structured aesthetic through their geometric forms, they remind me of the abstract line drawings of Picasso blended with Jan Tschichold and the New Typography.
