Nagaoka Institute of Design
Department of Visual Design, Faculty of Art and Design
Professor Makoto Amano

Q. What kind of classes do you teach? What is your research field?

The main courses are in the fundamentals of typography and visual design, with a specialization in editorial design.

Q. The moment when the font's sensitivity was turned on

It was when I was a student and a senior colleague at the design firm where I worked part-time introduced me to the world of Western typefaces. I was also shocked when I learned about the rational system of phototypesetting. It was an encounter with a completely different philosophy from the design I had known up until then.

Q. What is your favorite Morisawa font and why?

I like typefaces that have remnants of typefaces. For example, "Shuei Shogo Mincho" and the kana typefaces in the same series. Although this is off topic from the intent of the question, the criteria for choosing a typeface depend on the theme and purpose, so I choose and use reliable typefaces based on my "preference."

Q. What do you think of the students at this school?

He is very serious. What I have noticed particularly recently is that he is thinking a lot about how to arrive at the answers. I think that this is because he is properly facing the problems that design should solve, but at the same time, and this may sound harsh, I also feel a sense of crisis that he has become accustomed to design.
It seems like you care too much about what others think of you and are afraid of failure.

Q. The moment the switch turns "OFF"

It's hard to turn off the phone. Text is always present in our lives, so any text we see can be distracting. Even when reading a book, we can sometimes get distracted by the font, spacing between characters, and the space between lines rather than the content, preventing us from moving forward.

Q: What would you like to challenge yourself with in the future? What are you interested in?

I've already started this project, but my teacher from my days at art school has entrusted me with creating a book that compiles the activities of our graduates, so I want to make sure I create the best design possible. Also, although this is still a long way off, I would like to work with the graduates, not as teacher and student, but as fellow designers.
I'm interested in how typography can be made more accessible to the general public, rather than being a technique or expression reserved for specialists. I think it would be interesting if typography could be learned naturally, in the same way as subjects like Japanese or mathematics.