ADC Awards
The ADC Annual Awards is the oldest continuously running industry award show in the world. Now in its incredible 102nd year, these awards celebrate the very best in advertising, digital media, graphic and publication design, packaging and product design, motion, experiential and spatial design, photography, illustration and fashion design all with a focus on artistry and craftsmanship.
Category
Animation / Single
Annual ID
ADC101_ILT026B
About the Work
JAPAN 2021 was a Japanese film campaign by the British Film Institute carried out from 2020 to 2021 across the UK. The project focused on over 100 years of Japanese film, through cinema seasons, online exhibition, theatrical releases and education events. We used archetypes from different film genres to create an overarching design style, which was both traditional and modern. The illustration style allowed us to create a really strong and iconic promotional and advertising campaign.
The BFI wanted a campaign that would represent key genres from over 100 years of Japanese cinema. They wanted to present Japanese culture in a way that felt contemporary and would be attractive to a UK audience, so the artwork needed to feel authentic yet modern in order to reach a broader audience.
In order to present over 100 years of Japanese film history in a singular, authentic yet modern style, we came up with the idea of using black & white manga-style illustrations.
This paired authentic Japanese inspiration with a cool modern finish. The key campaign logo was also inspired by Japanese calligraphy, but again was designed with a modern finish.
It was key to keep in mind that the design would need to feel accessible to non-Japanese audiences. Whereas traditional Japanese calligraphy often pushes the contrast between “thick and thin” lines to the extreme, we aimed to give a “slick, modern finish” to the wordmark – one that still captures a “Japanese essence” yet feels in-keeping with the BFI’s own branding and audiences.
The BFI wanted a campaign that would represent key genres from over 100 years of Japanese cinema. They wanted to present Japanese culture in a way that felt contemporary and would be attractive to a UK audience, so the artwork needed to feel authentic yet modern in order to reach a broader audience.
In order to present over 100 years of Japanese film history in a singular, authentic yet modern style, we came up with the idea of using black & white manga-style illustrations.
This paired authentic Japanese inspiration with a cool modern finish. The key campaign logo was also inspired by Japanese calligraphy, but again was designed with a modern finish.
It was key to keep in mind that the design would need to feel accessible to non-Japanese audiences. Whereas traditional Japanese calligraphy often pushes the contrast between “thick and thin” lines to the extreme, we aimed to give a “slick, modern finish” to the wordmark – one that still captures a “Japanese essence” yet feels in-keeping with the BFI’s own branding and audiences.
2022 Awards
Total Points: 9
Bronze Cube
Credits
Design Firm
Centre Creative / London
ZYLA / Tokyo
Creative Director
Darren Wood
Nariaki Kanazawa
Illustrator
Tatsuya Kondo
Producer
Kenichiro Goto
Tomoya Iwasawa
Animation Creative Director
Yuki Matsushima
Animation Director
Susumu Yamaguchi
Design Director, Graphic Designer
Keita Takemura
Head of Marketing
Tim Platt
Marketing Campaign
Sebastian Stern
Modeling Agency
Outer Space Technology
Music
Hiroshi Shimasaki
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