chris decker design portfolio
01–The Caus 02–Kanona S 03–Paradox 04–Adonai B 05–Super Sa 06–Ikko Tan 07–Sanctuar
se of Effect SakĂŠ Exhibition Banquets auces naka ry
The Cause of Effect is a compendium about process consisting of three different articles designed to convey a singular theme throughout.
The Cause of Effect 01
03–the cause of effect
04–the cause of effect
Evolution was the topic of the intro that I wrote for this compendium. Evolution in the context of the ultimate process. The three articles that were used each touched upon the topic of process in their own way. The design reflected this by using process colors with unfinished
rough images spread across multiple pages. The type treatment in each article needed to reflect the individual themes and concepts discussed but also communicate an overall message to the reader.
kanona saké is a branding design that takes it’s cues from traditional saké brewing methods while maintaining a modern commitment to sustainability and locally sourced packaging.
Kanona Saké 02
07–kanona saké Both the bottle and the logo are designed to compliment each other. The bottle is made from opaque glass to protect the sensitive saké from UV light. Graphics are screen printed in oder to reduce paper use and sustainable local Japanese cedar is used for the handle
and cap. The logo design was the result of extensive research into traditional saké brewing practices. Secondary graphics were the result of reducing a cross cut section of cedar wood and overlapping the lines.
08–kanona sake´
Paradox is a group exhibition about the paradox that is created in graphic design when one is expected to follow the rules and simultaneously break them.
l n r s t
Paradox Exhibition 03
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e PA
oct 30–no
By understanding the rules to break them in ways that dynamic results. Rules sho standards, instead one mu rules, and more often than are boundless. The comple still mirror conventional ide
o a e
b k
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11–paradox exhibition
12–paradox exhibition
The brand was created from a series of standard letters that were cut in half and then rearranged to create new letter-forms in order to communicate the intrinsic duality of a paradox. From this core concept exhibition posters, a brochure and wayfinding were developed.
Adonai Banquets is a family run catering service located in the Mission District in San Francisco.
Adonai Banquets 04
13–adonai banquets Adonai takes pride in their presentation. They are always using the best silverware and table cloths along with pristine plates. The brand communicates an elevated presentation by evoking the form found when a chef plates his food with an artistic sense of pride.
14–adonai banquets
Super Sauces is a company that makes all natural healthy sauces that are paired with high end healthy food.
Super Sauces 05
17–super sauces
super sauces be inspired
eat healthy
every day
18–super sauces
Ingredients are everything to Super Sauces. They use freshest and highest quality ingredients in their sauces and it shows. Not only does it taste amazing but the colors are very pure and almost paint like. From this observation the brand was developed to communicate
purity of a hand crafted product. Watercolor swatches that resembled the colors of sauces were chosen and when laid on top of each other communicate the pairing that occurs between the sauces and the food.
1963
1970
founder of Tanaka Ikko Deisgn Studio
display design for the Japanese History Pavillionat the Osaka Expo
silver medal at the Tokyo Art Director’s Club
Ikko Tanaka was a legendary graphic designer and this informative poster tells his story.
designed medals and invitations for 1972 Winter Olympics
1964 designs signage and the medals for the Tokyo Summer Olympic Games Prize at the International Council of Industral Editors
1965
New Spirit of Japan
one man show at the De Jong gallery
This poster was indic work where he utilize like no one had befor Japanese scenes.
Imagination of Letters
Tanaka used his skill with typogrpahy to create forms in a series of striking posters that became internationally known. By enlarging Japanese typography to such an extreme degree, Tanaka brought the intricacy of Japanese writing and Japanese culture to the rest of the world.
Japan Poster JAIG, 1965
This poster is a prime example of Tanaka’s ability to blend traditional Japanese elements with a modernist style.
Tanaka Green Tea Ceremony
Konze Noh Theater
Tanaka was exposed to traditional Japanese rituals from a young age growing up in the Kansai district of Japan. One ritual he carried with him for the rest of his life was the Japanese tea ceremony.
Ikko Tanaka
Noh theater was a passion project for Tanaka all through his life. He designed sets and posters for the annual Noh theater festival at the famous Konze Noh Theater in Kyoto. These posters represent what happens when a tremendous talent designs for their life long passion and creates a series of unforgettable posters over the course of his life. This series of posters usually depict a Noh theater mask reduced and reworked in some way.
12th Kanze Noh Poster
This poster is key work in Tanaka’s career. It represents the both the traditional and modern Japan, not only through the design which blends traditonal Noh theater mask with a more modern reduction but the play itself is a re-writing of a very traditional Japanese Noh play.
5th Kanze Noh
28th Kanze Noh Poster
06 近代的なのマスク Chris Decker
programmed by Toru Takemitsu, and Tatsumi Hijikata’s Butoh performances.The New National Theatre in Tokyo commissioned Tanaka to design posters, flyers and house programs for theatre and musical performances since its opening in 1996. Tanaka created 38 posters for this theatre over the past seven years, and the New National Theatre has graciously donated eight of their favourites for this exhibition. Tanaka collaborated on many projects with Japanese fashion designers Hanae Mori, Kenzo Takada and Issei Miyake. He was a master book designer. He was Art Director of the Saison Group, and led numerous design projects of department stores, shopping complexes and theatres. Tanaka’s work is represented in the permanent collections from the Museum of Modern Art in New York to the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam. The Graphic Characters of Ikko.
nese Design: Print
cative of Tanaka’s later ed geometric shapes re to create traditional
o Tanaka
Tanaka, a solo exhibition, was seen in Toronto, Halifax and Calgary in 2000-2001, co-organized by The Japan Design Committee and The Japan Foundation Toronto. Tanaka’s theme in this show was human nature and a global concern for humanity, expressed through "characters" - both human and written. Tanaka constantly worked on the front lines as one of Japan’s top graphic designers, and that work still influences the design world today. Tanaka’s unique works incorporate into Western modern design pre-modern Japanese common people’s aesthetic senses exemplified by traditional craft, Rimpa school and ukiyo-e, and those have caught on as modern expression. At the same time, his works are monumental achievements of graphic design in Japan, having not lost their luster even today.
近代的なのマスク
b
c
d
Logos
Aside from Tanaka’s prolific career as a poster designer he was also a prolific brand identity designer, creating many logos over the course of his career including Loft (a), Muji (b), Osaka Expo 70 (c) and the Ginza Graphic Gallery (d).
typography poster
Nara, Japan
a
Born into the Kansai district of Japan, Tanaka learned the rituals and values of traditional Japan and carried those values over to a more contemporary setting in Tokyo. He cites this early experience as one of the main reasons that he was able to blend not only tranditional and contemporary Japanese styles into a cohesive whole but also the eastern and western design styles wich helped make Tanaka an international figure.
Calza, Gian Carlo., and Ikkō Tanaka. Tanaka Ikko: Graphic Master. London: Phaidon, 1997. Print.
2121designsight.jp
http://ikkotanaka.blogspot.co.uk
http://www.japantimes.co.jp
Tanaka Ikko: Graphic Master
masks of modernism
Nihon Buyo Poster, 1981
Tanaka surveying his solo show 1963
Japan Style
While Tanaka was in school he discovered that he loved Theater and more specifically theater design. He contributed to the production design of many plays while in college and continued to do so after graduating and during his lifetime. He primarily designed sets for Noh theater. Noh Theater and Tanaka’s style went very well together as both utilized strong colors in a minimalist environment, and whose emotions were an undercurrent rather than a feature.
Ikk
Theater & Art
Tanaka infront of stage production 1988
Tanaka photographed on his 70th birthday 1989
After graduating from the Kyoto School of Art, Tanaka moved to Tokyo and started to develop his style of marrying a Japanese tradition graphic and international style became an icon of Tanaka's work. The famous poster Nihon Buyo for UCLA Asian Performing arts Institute 1981 is unforgettable. The sense of Japanese color and the simplicity of the geometric and typography treatment makes this poster usable for various purposes.
Tanaka began to design posters for the annual Kanze Noh theatre in Osaka in 1961. He continued to design Noh posters for more than 30 years, combining traditional Japanese aesthetics with contemporary Westernized imagery and feelings. Tanaka designed posters for the newly opened National Theatre for Traditional Performing Arts in 1966, and for Saison’s Seibu Theater in Tokyo beginning in 1973. These posters reflected Tanaka’s interest in a wide range of repertoire - from plays such as The Cherry Orchard or Equus, to modern Japanese plays, to the contemporary music concert series Music Today programmed by Toru Takemitsu, and Tatsumi Hijikata’s Butoh performances.
近代的なのマスク
Tanaka left the Nippon Design Center in 1963 to start his own business, establishing the Ikko Tanaka Design Studio. This forced Tanaka to take on work other than poster design. The following year, Tokyo hosted the 1964 Olympics, an event of extraordinary importance. It confirmed the universal acceptance of Japan’s full readmission into the international community. Tanaka designed the symbols and signage for the Tokyo Olympics as well as the medals.A year after the Tokyo Olympics, Dutch graphic designer Pieter Brattinga organized an exhibit of Tanaka’s work at the De Jong Gallery in Hilversum. Tanaka then toured Europe and the US, inviting graphic designers to take part in Persona, a new exhibition of graphic design for Tokyo in 1965. The Persona exhibition featured an international group of 16 handpicked artists, and was held in the Matsuya department store. The exhibit’s success exceeded all expectations.
1975 Art Director at the Origins of Japanese Clothing exhibition at the Kyoto National Museum of Art
1966 participates in the First International Biennial of the Poster
1930
gold medal of the Japan Sign Design
born in Nara, Japan
1950
1968
earns degree at Kyoto College of Art
one man show, Osaka
founding member of the Nippon Design Center
1980 Takes part, produces and is responsible for design of the Japan Style exhibtion at the Victoria and Albers Museum
1980
joint author of 12 nin no grahic designer
1960
Takes part, produces and is responsible for design of the Japan Style exhibtion at the Victoria and Albers Museum
Tanaka began to design posters for the annual Kanze Noh theatre in Osaka in 1961. He continued to design Noh posters for more than 30 years, combining traditional Japanese aesthetics with contemporary Westernized imagery and feelings. Tanaka designed posters for the newly opened National Theatre for Traditional Performing Arts in 1966, and for Saison’s Seibu Theater in Tokyo beginning in 1973. These posters reflected Tanaka’s interest in a wide range of repertoire - from plays such as The Cherry Orchard or Equus, to modern Japanese plays, to the contemporary music concert series Music Today programmed by Toru Takemitsu, and Tatsumi Hijikata’s Butoh performances.The New National Theatre in Tokyo commissioned Tanaka to design posters, flyers and house programs for theatre and musical performances since its opening in 1996. Tanaka created 38 posters for this theatre over the past seven years, and the New National Theatre has graciously donated eight of their favourites for this exhibition.
1969 participates in Gendai deisgn no tenbo e xhibtion at the KyotoNational Museum of Modern Art
1961 silver medal at the Tokyo Art Director’s Club
1963
Tanaka Sharaku Poster
1970
founder of Tanaka Ikko Deisgn Studio
display design for the Japanese History Pavillionat the Osaka Expo
silver medal at the Tokyo Art Director’s Club
designed medals and invitations for 1972 Winter Olympics
1964 designs signage and the medals for the Tokyo Summer Olympic Games
Tanaka collaborated on many projects with Japanese fashion designers Hanae Mori, Kenzo Takada and Issei Miyake. He was a master book designer. He was Art Director of the Saison Group, and led numerous design projects of department stores, shopping complexes and theatres. Tanaka’s work is represented in the permanent collections from the Museum of Modern Art in New York to the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam. The Graphic Characters of Ikko.
Prize at the International Council of Industral Editors
1965
New Spirit of Japanese Design: Print
21–ikko tanaka
This poster was indicative of Tanaka’s later work where he utilized geometric shapes like no one had before to create traditional Japanese scenes.
Tanaka, a solo exhibition, was seen in Toronto, Halifax and Calgary in 2000-2001, co-organized by The Japan Design Committee and The Japan Foundation Toronto. Tanaka’s theme in this show was human nature and a global concern for humanity, expressed through "characters" - both human and written.
ko Tanaka
one man show at the De Jong gallery
Tanaka left the Nippon Design Center in 1963 to start his own business, establishing the Ikko Tanaka Design Studio. This forced Tanaka to take on work other than poster design. The following year, Tokyo hosted the 1964 Olympics, an event of extraordinary importance. It confirmed the universal acceptance of Japan’s full readmission into the international community. Tanaka designed the symbols and signage for the Tokyo Olympics as well as the medals.A year after the Tokyo Olympics, Dutch graphic designer Pieter Brattinga organized an exhibit of Tanaka’s work at the De Jong Gallery in Hilversum. Tanaka then toured Europe and the US, inviting graphic designers to take part in Persona, a new exhibition of graphic design for Tokyo in 1965. The Persona exhibition featured an international group of 16 handpicked artists, and was held in the Matsuya department store. The exhibit’s success exceeded all expectations.
Tanaka constantly worked on the front lines as one of Japan’s top graphic designers, and that work still influences the design world today. Tanaka’s unique works incorporate into Western modern design pre-modern Japanese common people’s aesthetic senses exemplified by traditional craft, Rimpa school and ukiyo-e, and those have caught on as modern expression. At the same time, his works are monumental achievements of graphic design in Japan, having not lost their luster even today.
Imagination of Letters
Tanaka used his skill with typogrpahy to create forms in a series of striking posters that became internationally known. By enlarging Japanese typography to such an extreme degree, Tanaka brought the intricacy of Japanese writing and Japanese culture to the rest of the world.
Japan Poster JAIG, 1965
This poster is a prime example of Tanaka’s ability to blend traditional Japanese elements with a modernist style.
近代的なのマスク
Tanaka Green Tea Ceremony
Tanaka was exposed to traditional Japanese rituals from a young age growing up in the Kansai district of Japan. One ritual he carried with him for the rest of his life was the Japanese tea ceremony.
a
c
d
Logos
Noh theater was a passion project for Tanaka all through his life. He designed sets and posters for the annual Noh theater festival at the famous Konze Noh Theater in Kyoto. These posters represent what happens when a tremendous talent designs for their life long passion and creates a series of unforgettable posters over the course of his life. This series of posters usually depict a Noh theater mask reduced and reworked in some way.
typography poster
5th Kanze Noh
28th Kanze Noh Poster
近代的なのマスク
Nara, Japan
Konze Noh Theater
Aside from Tanaka’s prolific career as a poster designer he was also a prolific brand identity designer, creating many logos over the course of his career including Loft (a), Muji (b), Osaka Expo 70 (c) and the Ginza Graphic Gallery (d).
12th Kanze Noh Poster
This poster is key work in Tanaka’s career. It represents the both the traditional and modern Japan, not only through the design which blends traditonal Noh theater mask with a more modern reduction but the play itself is a re-writing of a very traditional Japanese Noh play.
b
Born into the Kansai district of Japan, Tanaka learned the rituals and values of traditional Japan and carried those values over to a more contemporary setting in Tokyo. He cites this early experience as one of the main reasons that he was able to blend not only tranditional and contemporary Japanese styles into a cohesive whole but also the eastern and western design styles wich helped make Tanaka an international figure.
Calza, Gian Carlo., and Ikkō Tanaka. Tanaka Ikko: Graphic Master. London: Phaidon, 1997. Print.
2121designsight.jp
http://ikkotanaka.blogspot.co.uk
Chris Decker
http://www.japantimes.co.jp
Tanaka Ikko: Graphic Master
Tanaka began to design posters for the annual Kanze Noh theatre in Osaka in 1961. He continued to design Noh posters for more than 30 years, combining traditional Japanese aesthetics with contemporary Westernized imagery and feelings. Tanaka designed posters for the newly opened National Theatre for Traditional Performing Arts in 1966, and for Saison’s Seibu Theater in Tokyo beginning in 1973. These posters reflected Tanaka’s interest in a wide range of repertoire - from plays such as The Cherry Orchard or Equus, to modern Japanese plays, to the contemporary music concert series Music Today programmed by Toru Takemitsu, and Tatsumi Hijikata’s Butoh performances.The New National Theatre in Tokyo commissioned Tanaka to design posters, flyers and house programs for theatre and musical performances since its opening in 1996. Tanaka created 38 posters for this theatre over the past seven years, and the New National Theatre has graciously donated eight of their favourites for this exhibition. Tanaka collaborated on many projects with Japanese fashion designers Hanae Mori, Kenzo Takada and Issei Miyake. He was a master book designer. He was Art Director of the Saison Group, and led numerous design projects of department stores, shopping complexes and theatres. Tanaka’s work is represented in the permanent collections from the Museum of Modern Art in New York to the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam. The Graphic Characters of Ikko.
Ikko Tanaka
Tanaka, a solo exhibition, was seen in Toronto, Halifax and Calgary in 2000-2001, co-organized by The Japan Design Committee and The Japan Foundation Toronto. Tanaka’s theme in this show was human nature and a global concern for humanity, expressed through "characters" - both human and written.
Theater & Art
Tanaka infront of stage production 1988
Tanaka constantly worked on the front lines as one of Japan’s top graphic designers, and that work still influences the design world today. Tanaka’s unique works incorporate into Western modern design pre-modern Japanese common people’s aesthetic senses exemplified by traditional craft, Rimpa school and ukiyo-e, and those have caught on as modern expression. At the same time, his works are monumental achievements of graphic design in Japan, having not lost their luster even today.
While Tanaka was in school he discovered that he loved Theater and more specifically theater design. He contributed to the production design of many plays while in college and continued to do so after graduating and during his lifetime. He primarily designed sets for Noh theater. Noh Theater and Tanaka’s style went very well together as both utilized strong colors in a minimalist environment, and whose emotions were an undercurrent rather than a feature.
1975
1950
1968
earns degree at Kyoto College of Art
one man show, Osaka
participates in the First International Biennial of the Poster gold medal of the Japan Sign Design
1968
one man show, Osaka
founding member of the Nippon Design Center
joint author of 12 nin no grahic designer
1960
founding member of the Nippon Design Center
1961
silver medal at the Tokyo Art Director’s Club
1963
founder of Tanaka Ikko Deisgn Studio
silver medal at the Tokyo Art Director’s Club
1964
typography poster
silver medal at the Tokyo Art Director’s Club
participates in Gendai deisgn no tenbo e xhibtion at the KyotoNational Museum of Modern Art
Nihon Buyo Poster, 1981
1963
1970 display design for the Japanese History Pavillionat the Osaka Expo designed medals and invitations for 1972 Winter Olympics
1964 signage and Tanakadesigns surveying histhe medals for the Tokyo Summer Olympic Games solo show 1963 Prize at the International Council of Industral Editors
1965 New Spirit of Japanese Design: Print
Japan Style
one man show at the De Jong gallery
After graduating from the Kyoto School of Art, Tanaka moved to Tokyo and started to develop his style of marrying a Japanese tradition graphic and international style became an icon of Tanaka's work. The famous poster Nihon Buyo for UCLA Asian Performing arts Institute 1981 is unforgettable. The sense of Japanese color and the simplicity of the geometric and typography treatment makes this poster Imagination of Letters usable for various purposes. Tanaka used his skill with typogrpahy to create
This poster was indicative of Tanaka’s later work where he utilized geometric shapes like no one had before to create traditional Japanese scenes.
forms in a series of striking posters that became internationally known. By enlarging Japanese typography to such an extreme degree, Tanaka brought the intricacy of Japanese writing and Japanese culture to the rest of the world.
Japan Poster JAIG, 1965
This poster is a prime example of Tanaka’s ability to blend traditional Japanese elements with a modernist style.
1975 Art Director at the Origins of Japanese Clothing exhibition at the Kyoto National Museum of Art
1980 Takes part, produces and is responsible for design of the Japan Style exhibtion at the Victoria and Albers Museum
Born into the Kansai district of Japan, Tanaka learned the 1980 Japan and carried those values rituals and values of traditional over to a more contemporary setting in Tokyo. He cites this early experience as one of thepart, mainproduces reasons that was able for Takes and he is responsible to blend not only tranditional contemporary designand of the Japan StyleJapanese exhibtion at the styles into a cohesive Victoria whole butand alsoAlbers the eastern and western Museum design styles wich helped make Tanaka an international figure.
1969
participates in Gendai deisgn no tenbo e xhibtion at the KyotoNational Museum of Modern Art
Tanaka Green Tea Ceremony
Tanaka Sharaku Poster
Tanaka was exposed to traditional Japanese rituals from a young age growing up in the Kansai district of Japan. One ritual he carried with him for the rest of his life was the Japanese tea ceremony.
1970
display design for the Japanese History Pavillionat the Osaka Expo
Calza, Gian Carlo., and Ikkō Tanaka. Tanaka Ikko: Graphic Master. London: Phaidon, 1997. Print.
designed medals and invitations for 1972 Winter Olympics
2121designsight.jp
http://ikkotanaka.blogspot.co.uk
designs signage and the medals for the Tokyo Summer Olympic Games
http://www.japantimes.co.jp
Tanaka Ikko: Graphic Master
Prize at the International Council of Industral Editors
1965
1969
1961
Konze Noh Theater
earns degree at Kyoto College of Art
Nara, Japan
1950
Takes part, produces and is responsible for design of the Japan Style exhibtion at the Victoria and Albers Museum
1960
22–ikko tanaka
1966
born in Nara, Japan
1980
joint author of 12 nin no grahic designer
silver medal at the Tokyo Art Director’s Club
Aside from Tanaka’s prolific career as a poster designer he was also a prolific brand identity designer, creating many logos over the course of his career including Loft (a), Muji (b), Osaka Expo 70 (c) and the Ginza Graphic Gallery (d).
1930
Takes part, produces and is responsible for design of the Japan Style exhibtion at the Victoria and Albers Museum
近代的なのマスク
d
Logos
1980
gold medal of the Japan Sign Design
born in Nara, Japan
Tanaka photographed on his 70th birthday 1989
c
participates in the First International Biennial of the Poster
1930
founder of Tanaka Ikko Deisgn Studio
代的なのマスク
b
Art Director at the Origins of Japanese Clothing exhibition at the Kyoto National Museum of Art
1966
Ik
Tanaka Sharaku Poster
近代的なのマスク
one man show at the De Jong gallery
Imagination of Letters
Tanaka used his skill with typogrpahy to create forms in a series of striking posters that became internationally known. By enlarging Japanese typography to such an extreme degree, Tanaka brought the intricacy of Japanese writing and Japanese culture to the rest of the world.
This poster tells the story of Ikko Tanaka. It showcases some of this most famous works. It also Japan Poster JAIG, 1965 story of his life through tells that This poster is a prime example of Tanaka’s ability toa blend traditional Japanese career timeline and biographielements with a modernist style. cal information.
New Spirit of Japanese Design: Print
This poster was indicative of Tanaka’s later work where he utilized geometric shapes like no one had before to create traditional Japanese scenes.
Noh theater was a passion project for Tanaka all through his life. He designed sets and posters for the annual Noh theater festival at the famous Konze Noh Theater in Kyoto. These posters represent what happens when a tremendous talent designs for their life long passion and creates a series of unforgettable posters over the course of his life. This series of posters usually depict a Noh theater mask reduced and reworked in some way.
12th Kanze Noh Poster
This poster is key work in Tanaka’s career. It represents the both the traditional and modern Japan, not only through the design which blends traditonal Noh theater mask with a more modern reduction but the play itself is a re-writing of a very traditional Japanese Noh play.
5th Kanze Noh
28th Kanze Noh Poster
近代的なのマスク Chris Decker
近代的なのマスク
Sanctuary is a publication conceived as a vehicle for Bay Area refugees to share their stores.
Sanctuary 07
25–sanctuary
26–sanctuary
Completed as part of the San JosĂŠ State University Design Department senior thesis project. The goal is to find a commonality between communities and communication. Each story reflects a different stage of a refugees journey and showcases their individuality.
chris decker design .com @gmail.com 916.207.5221