Tokyo Midtown Koinobori
by CJ Dunn Louvette Pixel
I was invited to design a “koinobori” (carp streamer) for Children’s Day, to be displayed in Tokyo Midtown in front of 21_21 Design Sight, one of my favorite museums in Tokyo. This koinobori uses the typeface Louvette Pixel, which is the first release from CJ Type to include Japanese scripts Hiragana, Katakana, and (very limited) Kanji, as well as emoji. The design is centered around specificity of time and place, particularly Japan’s 19th microseason in early May: “Frogs Start Singing”, its seasonal flower: wisteria, seasonal fish: kinmedai, seasonal vegetable: carrot, and seasonal event: Children’s Day.
I’m thankful I could see this in person, and ensure that the typography functioned as intended. The large text side is designed to be readable from far away, and the smaller text side works as a texture from far away but encourages viewers to come up close to read the details. From close up, the top text reads clearly even though it’s hung high up above, which is something I was concerned about. Overall, I’m very happy with how this turned out, and a huge thank you to Aly Ishikuni of Mori Hawaiʻi for inviting me to participate.
