This was our first staff group exhibition since IN FOCUS was founded in 2012.
It took its cue from the “__ _____” in our logo. The mark can act as a divider or prompt you to look at something differently. Tilt it and you might see an “i.” It might even look like a piece of code.
So what exactly is it? Each member of IN FOCUS brought their own interpretation to the exhibition, drawing on the skills and experiences they knew best.
Works on View
There was the space between moments in a life, a timeline marking where you are now. There was a hamburger, made of two shapes and the gap between them. There was also the hometown as a starting point for making things. One simple mark gave rise to all kinds of interpretations and ways of expressing them.
Design starts with looking closely enough to notice what makes something special. Even a roadside stone, the sort of thing we dismiss as “just a pebble,” can be surprisingly charming. Look long enough and you might find yourself taken with its little quirks.
Anna Senzaki (Graphic Designer)
“__ _____” is made of two shapes with a gap in between. In other words, it’s a hamburger. A strange character you loved as a kid, a flash of inspiration, the subcultures you grew up with: anything can go in. Put it between two buns and, just like that, it becomes a burger. There’s something so generous and straightforward about that idea that I can’t help saying, “I’m lovin’ it.” I named the work BLACK CASTLE after White Castle, a burger joint my roommate in New York loved. Please enjoy these homemade custom burgers, served hot off the 3D printer.
Atsushi Kaneishi (Creative Director)
Tapping, swiping and scrolling are gestures we make on touchscreens every day. The changes they trigger on screen have become familiar affordances. Even a tiny change can leave a surprisingly tangible impression on an otherwise intangible display. We experiment with that kind of touch every day at work, and it became the starting point for this piece.
Our subjects include a boy born that year, a little bird spotted in a nature documentary, and a seal that went viral on social media. These are things that stayed with us outside of work. We used the web technologies we work with every day to express what they meant to us, and we hope the results leave you with a feeling of your own.
Junya Ohara (Developer) and Takenobu Suzuka (Web Director)
Working with a digital medium, it’s easy to tweak things in infinite ways an infinite number of times. With each of these changes, whether spurred by the pursuit of design integrity or another round of feedback, the question I have to ask is
Why?
The rationale behind our work as designers and artists is, at least to me, more important than the final product. The story it tells. The problem it solves.
By immortalizing this work in stone, there is no room for changes. No feedback, no “make the text bigger,” no FINAL-FINAL.svg. The stone poses the question, and then answers it, forever and without rebuttal.
Nate Cover (Global Creative Director)
I introduced the underline in the IN FOCUS logo to distinguish “IN” from “FOCUS.” It does more than decorate the words. It complements them, brings their meaning into focus and acts as a kind of rule. This work explores what happens visually when the line is replaced with “what we see.”
Shinya Nakayama (Art Director)
I turned 25 this year. Part of me still thinks I’m just starting out, but I’ve also begun to feel the pressure of expectations and the anxiety of time slipping by. Whenever I stop to think about it, I find these conflicting feelings coexisting in me.
I saw the IN FOCUS logo as a timeline and the gap as an in-between moment in life. With this film, I wanted to express what it feels like to be 25 and pulled in both directions.
Riona Yamamoto (Project Manager)
I took “__ _____” to mean the days and the self that remain when I take IN FOCUS out of the picture. I work with words, so I turned to tanka, a short Japanese verse form, to express who I am and what my everyday life looks like.
Shiori Saeki (Editor)
I stuck “Tsuyoshi Harada” on the wall the way a child might cover it with favorite stickers. He’s funny, pathetic and somehow endearing. In looking at him, I hope you can recognize the loneliness and pain in yourself, face them and hold them close, and share with someone else a life that can never be fully shared. Maybe there you’ll find something that connects me to you, you to others, and all of us to society.
Wang Shuqiang (Art Director)
Fragments of memory from the past 15 years, from when I first took up photography to now, flash by and come together as one. To me, “__ _____” is about putting things side by side and letting each exist in its own right at the same time.
Tadamasa Iguchi (CEO)
Beyond a cutout in the shape of “__ _____,” I drew a world that represents IN FOCUS. Each star has a character of its own. Together they look like a galaxy.
Tsubasa Tsukidate (Art Director)
Fifteen years ago, I left a place that felt so closed off I could barely breathe. Yet it comes back to me in unguarded moments, and I realize how deeply rooted it is in me. I think we all have a place like that. Without our noticing, it becomes part of where our everyday lives and our creative work begin.
Youdai (Film Director)
Inside the Exhibition
Most of the work we do is for clients. What would we make if we were free to explore an idea of our own? How would people see it, and what might we feel through making it? This exhibition gave us a chance to try it and see for ourselves.
I exhibited a series of tanka. Letting strangers read words I’d never meant to share gave me a sense of how thrilling and how frightening it can be to put something you’ve made out into the world.
Posters and Merchandise
The participating staff also made posters, and we sold original merchandise throughout the exhibition.
Opening Reception
We held an opening reception on December 13. More than 300 people came, and it was a lovely evening to share with everyone.
Thank you so much to everyone who came. It was our first exhibition of this kind, and we hope you went away with something that stayed with you and still feels warm.
Wishing you all a happy new year.
