Mitsuo Katsui is celebrated as a luminary not only in the world of Japanese graphic design but also on a global scale. Famed for his expert use of colors and gradients, Katsui is known today for his innovative use of technology at the pivotal advent of programs such as Adobe and the creation of the Macintosh computer. I chose Mitsuo Katsui as the subject of my project because his experimental approach to graphic design and masterful use of color and form continually challenge conventional visual language and inspire my own work in many ways.
14 weeks, Spring 2025
Sole Designer,
Advised by Brett Yasko
Taking on this project, I faced the daunting task of representing the work of the legendary Mitsuo Katsui through my own lens as a designer. The first deliverable was a poster representative of Katsui's life work and philosophy. Floating letterforms and vibrant colors showcase Mitsuo Katsui’s distinctive and inventive approach to design. Inspired by his “Letters and Light” series for Morisawa, the Japanese and Roman characters are layered with gradients and transparency to create a sense of depth and luminosity.
For this 16 page booklet I tried to convey the inspiration behind Mitsuo Katsui's work. This booklet features quotes from Katsui, samples of his work, and a timeline providing an overview to readers hoping to make sense of Katsui's life and career as a designer.
Citing the inspiration for his award winning work, Mitsuo Katsui mentions, in addition to the novel Iki no Kōzō, nature itself. He says, “The universe, man, nature, life—everything blends and reverberates. “Light” has always been a perpetual theme for me. Man and light are very closely tied. Light is translated into colors and things are seen through light. Communication is born through light. Interactive techniques as opposed to computer graphics let one further from a flat format to a moving image. This will be looked at from now on as a way to convert dimensions” (Shirakawa, Mitsuo Katsui interview 2021).
Although memories of war still plague many in the older generations, Mitsuo Katsui always held firm to his belief in the importance of illuminating and finding the bright side of such events. As counterintuitive as it may seem, Mitsuo Katsui’s design has done just that, and that is exactly what makes it worth studying and remembering. Like so many in his time, he took nothing and made it beautiful. In his words, “The fact that there was a huge gap between us and the rest of the world was the driving force that created the era. But that’s not the case with people today. They do things flatly, you know. That’s why it’s necessary to see the flow from a larger perspective and then position design accordingly. Unless we look back at our archives and do that, I don’t think we’ll be able to find a way to break through to the next level” (Ishiguro & Kubota, MitsuoKatsui 2016).
Before his death in 2019, Katsui spent his final years as a professor at Musashi Art University fighting to pass on his legacy as a designer to future generations. Today, Mitsuo Katsui is celebrated as a luminary in the world of early digital design.
This mobile experience aims to help people better understand who Mitsuo Katsui is as a person and as a designer. Users can toggle through selected works on the gallery page as well as read up on important events in his life on the timeline page or see quotes from Mitsuo Katsui on the about page.
When I was first asked the question "who is your design hero?" I was at a complete loss. Ultimately I decided to focus on Mitsuo Katsui to broaden my own horizons as a designer. With his masterful use of color and gradients— I felt Katsui provided a challenge for me intellectually and creatively. Throughout the process of creating each deliverable for this multimedia project, I had the opportunity to explore my voice as a designer and develop my technical skills in motion, print, and typography. Certain projects were more challenging than others. The poster might have been one of the most difficult for me as it determined the creative direction for all future undertakings. The animation is one of the projects I'm most proud of from this semester. While it's not without its imperfections, and there are certainly aspects I would approach differently in hindsight, I’m still very pleased with the overall result. More importantly, it marks significant progress in my After Effects learning journey. Completing this project has given me confidence in my motion design skills, and I look forward to applying what I've learned to similar projects in the future.