Representative Director, PRDESIGN JAPAN Co., Ltd.
Mr. Tomoyuki Sakuma

For this interview, we spoke with Tomoyuki Sakuma, a Morisawa supporter who has been speaking at seminars and working with local governments.

What kind of work do you do?

Leveraging his career as a civil servant, he advises on public relations and business improvement for government and local governments, creates catalogs as a designer, and works as a photographer and writer. Specifically, he advises in Nakano Ward, Tokyo, Kitamoto City, Saitama Prefecture, and Shimanto Town, Kochi Prefecture, working remotely as a rule. He is also a visiting researcher at Waseda University's Manifesto Research Institute, where he serves as secretary of the Human Resources Management Subcommittee. He also works as a training instructor and writes books for civil servants.

Her books include "Easy with Office! How to Create a 'One-Page Design' for Civil Servants" (Gakuyo Shobo), "Work Techniques for First-Year Civil Servants" (Natsume Publishing), "Quick Life Hacks for Civil Servants" (Gakuyo Shobo), "Design Techniques for Civil Servants that Communicate Instantly" (Gakuyo Shobo), and "Design Encyclopedia for Civil Servants" (Gakuyo Shobo). As a photographer, she has published the photo book "#Like Miyoshi Town" (Odyssey Publishing).
Tomoyuki Sakuma's booksHerefrom

The moment the font switch was turned “ON”

When I was working in my previous job in Miyoshi Town in 2011 and was tasked with creating a newsletter, I received complaints from residents that the letters were too small. However, as a result of using UD fonts extensively from the June issue of the following year, the complaints suddenly stopped, and I even received a letter from a resident thanking me for making the paper easier to read. This was the moment my font switch was flipped.
In my first year after being transferred, I outsourced the printing and binding, as well as the design layout, but the designs that came out were not what I had imagined. I wondered, "What is different from magazines?" so I read every magazine I could get my hands on and analyzed myself, and discovered that the crucial difference was the "font." Even if the layout is the same as the magazine, the impression changes completely if the font is different. Even the best photos can be ruined by the font. I realized that using "beautiful fonts" and "easy-to-read fonts" leads to beautiful, easy-to-read pages.

What Morisawa UD fonts do you use most often and in what situations do you use them?

In the town newsletter, the general rule is to use "UD Reimin" for vertical text and "UD Shin Go" for horizontal text. Miyoshi Town has introduced UD fonts throughout the town, so we have made it a rule to always use "BIZ UD Gothic," "BIZ UD Shin Go," and "BIZ UD Reimin" for internal documents, materials, and application forms filled out by residents.

Also, although it's not UD, A1 Mincho goes well with elegant photos and I often use it for titles, etc. I also like A1 Gothic, which is a Gothic font with ink pools and a combination of Japanese and Western styles.

What I want to challenge myself with next

I believe that if civil servants focus on "communicating" rather than simply transmitting information, it will lead to improved services for residents. At the same time, I also believe that internally, "communicating" information and thoughts to superiors and subordinates will lead to improved work processes. The first step toward this communication is the use of "universal fonts." COVID-19 has led to an increase in online communication, dramatically increasing remote opportunities through email and chat. On the flip side, this also means that we are increasingly exposed to text. I believe the possibilities of fonts are endless, from reducing fatigue by working with universal fonts that allow for stress-free viewing and improving work processes by early detection of typos and omissions. Meanwhile, in line with the fourth goal of the SDGs, "ensuring quality education for all, without leaving anyone behind," I want to promote consideration for children with dyslexia (a learning disability that makes it difficult to read and write). UNIVERSAL fonts exist for this purpose, and they can help people. I hope to expand the potential of universal fonts and transform a world in which "any font is fine" is no longer the norm, but rather, "unreadable fonts are difficult to read."
This is because I felt saved by Morisawa Fonts in 2012, and I believe that giving back to fonts is my mission in life.

What do you expect from Morisawa's UD fonts in the future?

There are two things I would like to say. The first is that if there are BIZ UD fonts, it would be interesting to have something called an administrative UD font or a civil servant UD font. For example, every local government creates budgets and financial statements. These are written with small numbers and letters, which can be quite stressful. Changing these to an "administrative UD font" that makes small letters and numbers easier to read could lead to improvements in business operations, and I would be delighted if this were to become widespread.

The second thing I would like is for you to create a UD font recipe. I think of design layout as being like cooking; even if you have good ingredients, the cooking method can make it taste good or bad. And the presentation can also make it look delicious.
For example, even if you have a proposal document with a very good business description, if the design layout is messy or the font is crushed and unreadable, or if the boss who will be judging the proposal has presbyopia and can't read the text, it may be rejected.
If that's the case, I think it would be nice if there was a recipe for this UD font type for this design, something like "UD condensed font is effective" when creating a table.

Thank you, Sakuma-san, for participating in this interview!
We look forward to continuing to work with you on various initiatives to realize the "Administrative UD Font" and "UD Font Recipe" that you have all hoped for from Morisawa.