21_21 Design Sight presents an exhibition exploring the history of modern graphic design, with an emphasis on how, since the 1990s, computer-based desktop publishing (DTP) technology has revolutionised the potential to make arrangements of text and images ‘sing’ on both digital screen and printed page.
Diverse work from around 50 graphic designers, mainly Japanese but with acclaimed international creators also in the mix, forms a total of 13 themed areas. Across these, special focus is also given to how Japan’s distinctive graphic culture (encompassing hiragana, katakana and romanised text in both horizontal and vertical formats, and ample use of images) has come to interact with digital technology, and what future possibilities may emerge from this relationship.
Individual exhibits range from magazine covers to the ‘etiquette’ posters seen on Japanese trains, from designers including Japan’s Kashiwa Sato, Noritake and Kenya Hara, as well as UK-based The Designers Republic, and Experimental Jetset from the Netherlands.
Note: the exhibition is closed from December 27 2023 to January 3 2024.
Text by Darren Gore