Tokyo Communication Arts College (TCA) and Morisawa Inc. have collaborated on a project called "Turning on the Sensibility of Fonts."
The company's assignment this time was to "propose a tool and plan to get students interested in Morisawa fonts." The tool to be created could be for merchandise or the web, and the genre was up to you!
In order to get other students interested in fonts, we started by becoming familiar with fonts ourselves.
This website was born from a project by a senior at the 2017 TCA. You can post your own onomatopoeia in your favorite font.onomatypeWhile playing, the children were trained to choose a font and explain in words why they chose it.
・Article on the 2017 TCA x Morisawa industry-academia collaboration project
Afterwards, the group will attend a seminar on how to choose fonts and see merchandise created through past collaborations with various schools.
(What kind of tool would I create?) This is the moment when my imagination starts to expand.
At the interim presentation, participants summarized their plans on a single sheet and explained the tools and plan proposals to everyone.
Following the interim presentations, the seven finalists gave presentations at Morisawa Inc.'s Tokyo headquarters.
One person suggested a web service game that lets you observe typefaces while having fun by finding one character from among kanji characters of similar shapes; another proposed tenugui hand towels using youth slang, focusing on "rebuses" that combine illustrations and letters; another suggested a clock app that changes font to match the day's weather or events; another suggested key chains that express the sizzle of food using the facial expressions and onomatopoeia of fonts; and another suggested a hunting app that rewards you with manga if you collect Morisawa fonts you see around town...
The unique proposals that were submitted showed that the participants had taken the ideas personally, as they targeted students like themselves (what kind of approach would interest them?).
Which ideas will be awarded? We'll find out in the next article!
Tokyo Communication Arts College, Jikei Educational Corporation
6-29-9 Nishikasai, Edogawa-ku, Tokyo 134-0088
TEL: 03-3688-3421 FAX: 03-3877-2766
http://www.tca.ac.jp/creative/
Tokyo Communication Arts College (TCA) and Morisawa Inc. have collaborated on a project called "Turning on the Sensibility of Fonts."
In the previous article, we introduced the events leading up to the students' presentations.
This time, we will introduce the winning works and interviews with the winners!
Grand Prize and Planning Award: Mizuka Nozaki "Morisawa Puzzle Hand Towel"
Nozaki's tenugui hand towel, which combines illustrations and text to create a "riddle" that expresses the slang of young people, won both the Grand Prize and the Planning Prize.
The idea was highly praised for its use of "picture puzzles" that were popular during the Edo period to express the slang of young people, and for its selection of a font that students would find fun to use.Suzumuri"Okemaru" usingHase ToppoWe have created merchandise using "Yabami-chan."
The goods that are realized will be used as novelties in the future!
Excellence Award: Takuma Saito "Send it to Morisawa-kun!!"
Saito proposed a "Morisawa-kun" figurine to be attached to a plastic bottle. The head of "Morisawa-kun" is made up of words representing the character's occupation and attributes, with fonts chosen to suit each. (The body is a mock-up using miniature Lego pieces.) He also came up with the idea of holding a photo contest where people could take photos using "Morisawa-kun" and post them on social media. The idea of treating the font as the character's face and linking it with a photo submission project to engage the target audience from both analog and digital perspectives was highly praised.
Special Award: Oh Seo-jun "Morisawa Macho Font"
In addition, with so many outstanding works submitted this year, a "Special Award" was also announced.
Oh Seojun proposed an impactful idea to name a font that has a strong, masculine appeal among Morisawa fonts as "Macho Font," and to set up a vending machine that uses the Macho Font, "Macho Magnet." The judges highly recommended this proposal, which appeals to the company's collection of powerful fonts with a unique name.
Surprise interview with the winner!
We interviewed the three award winners after they received their awards.
Q1. What was your impression when you first heard about the assignment?
Nozaki: "I thought there were many ways to propose ideas, but I felt it would be difficult to come up with a proposal that reflected the image the company wanted to project."
Saito: "There was no restriction on the medium, so I thought I could try a variety of different things."
Oh Seo-jun: "To be honest, I wasn't interested in fonts myself, so getting people interested in fonts was the most difficult thing I've ever done."
Q2. What inspired you to come up with this tool and plan?
Nozaki: "I was thinking about how to bring out the fun in fonts, and I decided on wordplay, which is what inspired me to come up with this project."
Saito: "My target audience is students who love miscellaneous goods, but I wanted as many people as possible to know about Morisawa fonts, so I wanted to create something that would make people pick it up, wonder what it is, and want to play with it."
Oh Seojun: "I created it with the goal of putting myself in the eyes of the target audience and making something that I would be interested in myself."
Q3. Have you noticed any changes before and after tackling this issue?
Nozaki: "I created the project by poring over the typeface sample book, so I've become able to find and be aware of Morisawa fonts in my everyday life."
Saito: "I began to think that fonts could convey a kind of will."
Oh Seo-jun: "I've become more conscious of fonts, such as the font of roads."
The assignment that TCA's Product & Interior Design major and Industrial Design Master's course students worked on this time will be exhibited at the Graduation Promotion Exhibition "We are TCA 2020" will also be exhibited.
If you are interested, please come and visit us!
Tokyo Communication Arts College, Jikei Educational Corporation
6-29-9 Nishikasai, Edogawa-ku, Tokyo 134-0088
TEL: 03-3688-3421 FAX: 03-3877-2766
http://www.tca.ac.jp/creative/