PingMag Podcast Vol.2: Ichiro Higashiizumi

25 Jan 2006 Category: Features, Graphics, Japan, Podcast, Products, Technology

PingMag Podcast Vol.2: Ichiro Higashiizumi

Ichiro Higashiizumi talking

This is the PingMag Podcast vol2! Enjoy this audio cast (with pictures) by putting this feed into your podcast player! (instructions here)

http://www.pingmag.jp/category/podcast/feed/

The PingMag Podcast Vol.2 is a audio podcast of a recent seminar given to us by graphic designer Ichiro Higashiizumi. Even though he is called “graphic designer,” his works are extremely varied - from product design, space design, to web projects. He also co-directed an experimental internet project, sensorium (which was awarded in Ars Electronica, and production concept work for the 2002 FIFA world Cup Korea/Japan

He mainly talked about his philosophy behind making things rather than explaining how he actually made them.


book design “MOD EAST” for DJ/producer Comoesta Yaegashi

Planning and design for the book called, “the age of the atom” pictures of mashroom clouds were gathered

The first thing Higashiizumi talked about was graphic design work. Among them, there was a picture book called “the age of the atom”. He not only designed this book, but also planned it and gathered mushroom cloud images from atomic bomb explosions. This book was released to mark the 50th anniversary of the war’s end, which was also 50 years from when the A-bomb was dropped. Higashiizumi said, that these images had rarely been collected together like this and had been disappearing. He felt the need to make this book, especially being Japanese, he felt somewhat obligated to do so.


“Physical Model Of The Internet” at National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation

White and black ball represents 0 and 1 in digital

The “Physical Model Of The Internet” was a some kind of machine to show how data moves within networks and the internet. Originally, what their client (Higashiizumi was making this project as a team), told them to do was to make an educational video to show how internet works. He found it pretty boring, and tried out something completely different and more meaningful.


Dr. Robert Moog. Higashiizumi admires him

excited audience

In 2003, he was working as one of the plans board members for the Icograda Congress Nagoya. Japan. He was in charge of selecting guest speakers for their interactive session, and he chose Dr. Robert Moog as he had admired him for long time. Higashiizumi said that the great thing about Moog was that he invented something totally new when nobody believed that you could create music out of electronics. Higashiizume went on, “as Dr. Moog did, I would like to create something new. And when you can realize that, you should proud of not being categorized. I mean, if you make something new, there will be no genre for what you made.”


concept model for cell phone, “apollo 01″ Sliding bottom part, keyboard will show up

“apollo 01″

concept model for cell phone, “apollo 02″

functions are almost same with apollo 01. But appearance is completely different

Lastly, Higashiizumi showed us his interface designs. He worked with one of the biggest Japanese phone companies to design a cell phone for the project called au design project. Though “apollo 01″ and “apollo 02″ have similar functions, they look totally different. “apollo 01″ has 2 layers, and if you slide the bottom part, a keyboard shows up. “apollo 02″ has a front panel besides the LCD screen inside. You can play with Scrabble-style pieces to make up your own words. For this panel, Higashiizumi didn’t aim to make something practical. It is fun to play around, and make your own design.


after the seminar, Higashiizumi signing on the paper

“Adventure and Love” Thank you, Higashiizumi-san1

That’s the rough summary; please make sure you check out the podcast for the audio commentary (in English, courtesy of Kyoko and Jon)!

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8 Comments

  1. [...] http://www.pingmag.jp/category/podcast/feed/ [...]

    Posted by: PingMag - The Tokyo-based magazine about "Design and Making Things" » Archive » PingMag Podcast Vol.2: Ichiro Higashiizumi on January 25th, 2006 at 12:10 am

  2. Nice site . Bookmarked!

    Posted by: Shreder on January 25th, 2006 at 5:43 am

  3. would like to speak to ichiro higashiizumi.
    Contact Brian Lorne Maged at
    toonisbureaut@msn.com.
    Would like to create internet interactive interlocking robots for use
    on site and in stage show at Shanghai Expo 2010.

    Posted by: brian lorne maged on August 17th, 2007 at 3:29 am

  4. Would also be internet relations between visual images and robotics. You could make the two act together - robot and image or independent of each other.
    Brian Lorne Maged

    Posted by: brian lorne maged on August 17th, 2007 at 3:32 am

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