July 2007

Cover Story

Japanese Design Opens Up to the Future

SPECIAL FEATURE

20th Anniversary Special Issue - The Future of Design

Stepping up from the age of “Why to Design” from that of “How to Design”

Nikkei Design first saw the light with its inaugural issue in July 1987. Looking back over these 20 years, we experienced the decade over which the economic bubble formed, burst and vanished, followed by the period of turbulence and change when recovery and growth worked to gain a foothold. For Japanese design also, expansion and vitality seemed to be within reach all at once, only to see a great limitation to its activities over a period of more than 10 years when it struggled through a recession. It was when the industrial world started to make full-scale investments in facilities and human resources in anticipation of the next period of growth that design was once again able to flex its muscles and expand its field of activity.

No Design, No Business - The message and information in this magazine went beyond the world of design and sought to become a necessity in the industrial world and in society as a whole. There are many people who need design in order to solve the problems at hand and open up the way to the future. It is no longer a question of asking why design is necessary but investigating how design should be best used, with the actual topic now being how it can be framed in a strategic fashion.

In the 20th anniversary issue, we salute 20 people who are active in conjunction with designers, in the periphery of design, to use, support, study, promote, discover and transmit design, and listened to how each of them sees the future through design and what their expectations and recommendations are for the future of design. As expectations for design and designers expand, so does the level of what is asked for grow more sophisticated.

(Takehiko Katsuo, Kazuya Shimokawa, Takehiko Imai, Kenichiro Ota, Ikuno Ito, Hiroshi Maruo)

SPECIAL FEATURE 2

UD Rankings 2007

UD moves beyond expansion to the pursuit of greater depth

COLUMNS

Telling a Story without Being Asked: Akiko Takehara

The molded metal electricity pole that turned into timber

Design Marketing

Focusing on Japanese style today by generation, gender, and earning power

Working men in their early 40s, earning more than 10 million yen a year per household

Short-Term Abbreviated Serial - The character environment is changing with Windows Vista

Short-Term Abbreviated Serial - The changing shape of product user information   Part 2   01 (6 parts in total)

Understanding through actual examples: The design of and the art of producing “digital user manuals”

Design Innovation Strategy

Design’s Blind Corners

Brand Improvement Committee