Young Guns 19: Kosuke Takahashi

By Alixandra Rutnik and Brett McKenzie on Oct 27, 2021

Featuring the creative stars of Young Guns 19

A year and a half of uncertainty across the creative industry and beyond has finally given way to a light at the end of the proverbial tunnel — a spotlight with a great big "YG19" standing in the middle of it. After more than 70 acclaimed creatives from around the world and across a multitude of disciplines reviewed hundreds of submissions, whittling them down to a formidable finalist list, we can finally reveal the phenomenal winners of Young Guns 19!

This year, we welcome a diverse class of 32 inductees into the exclusive Young Guns family, a collection of young creative talent that is already near the top of their game — and will only get better. These are the designers, the art directors, the illustrators, the filmmakers, the animators, the multidisciplinary artists whose names you'll want to know — if you aren't already following their every move, that is.

Ahead of the Young Guns 19 Ceremony + Party taking place on Wednesday, November 17 — our first in-person event since the pandemic began — we are featuring the future legends who will be stepping into the spotlight that evening.

KOSUKE TAKAHASHI
INVENTOR & COMMUNICATION DESIGNER

Based:

Tokyo, Japan

Hometown:

Tokyo, Japan

SEE KOSUKE'S ENTRY

When did you learn about Young Guns?

I know a past winner– Chihiro Konno (YG13).

Congrats on the first-time win! What made you enter this year?

I applied because I wanted to test myself and expand my projects into other countries. I've been meaning to apply for a while, and now that I'm almost 30 I decided to do it.

Since you are only allowed to submit six projects, how did you decide which pieces were best to enter and truly reflected you and your work?

I didn't have too much trouble because there were exactly six projects that I liked. However, the concept that sums up my six projects was a problem I had to solve.

How did you feel when you found out you won Young Guns?

I received the news at home. My partner and I were delighted.

If you had to pick one of the six projects that you entered as your favorite, which one would it be and why?

Braille Neue is my favorite. The most important point of this project was not only to create a typeface, but also to create a natural communication between a sighted person and a visually impaired person. Through this project, I learned about things I didn't know and I discovered needs that were not apparent to me before.

If you had to describe your creative style, the part of your work that’s most distinctively “you,” what would it be?

My mission is to design mechanisms for people to mix naturally and interact positively with each other. Most of my projects begin with the discovery of universality beyond disability, nationality, age, and gender.

Who are some of the biggest influences on your work and career– people who may have had a hand in mentoring and supporting you?

Product Designer Shunji Yamanaka was my mentor at university. He has participated in researching areas that designers have not been involved in before, and he has produced and presented various prototypes. He has influenced me in many ways, including the way I work with prototyping.

Now that you’re in the Young Guns family, are there any past winners you look up to and admire?

Chihiro Konno (YG13). I love her beautiful graphics and ideas.

The pandemic of 2020 is slowly starting to taper a bit, so do you have any big goals moving forward into 2022?

As the Corona disaster came to a head and people started to get together more, we felt the importance of in person socialization and communication. Personally, I'm interested in spatial design. I would like to challenge myself to create a system that connects people through space.

Name a professional dream that you have yet to fulfill — hey, maybe Young Guns can help propel you in that direction!

At the moment I only work in Japan, but in the future I would like to work all over the world. I believe that by solving communication problems we can make the world a better place. I want to work all over the world, with people I've never met, and come up with great ideas that I've never seen before.