14 Facts About Yusaku Kamekura

Yusaku Kamekura was a Japanese graphic designer, the leading figure in post-World War II Japanese graphic design.

Yusaku Kamekura was born on April 6,1915, in Yoshidamachi, Nishi-Kambara, Niigata Prefecture, Japan.

Yusaku Kamekura graduated from Nihon University High School in 1933.

Yusaku Kamekura took his first paying assignment at 17, when he designed the Japanese edition of Antoine de Saint-Exupery's Night Flight.

From 1935 to 1937, Kamekura studied at the Institute of New Architecture and Industrial Arts in Tokyo.

Yusaku Kamekura was a fan of Cassandre, Saint-Exupery, and Jean Cocteau.

In 1951, Yusaku Kamekura helped found Japan Advertising Artists Club, which was the first group in Japan dedicated to graphic design.

Yusaku Kamekura hosted the World Design Conference in 1960 but was still a trifle ashamed of the level of Japanese design.

Yusaku Kamekura was art director or editor for a series of magazines: Nippon, Kaupapu, and Commerce Japan.

Yusaku Kamekura's best known work is the logo and poster series he designed for the 1964 Summer Olympics, reportedly created only a few hours before the design competition deadline.

Yusaku Kamekura eschewed the classical imagery traditionally associated with the Olympics in favor of a stark, modernist aesthetic, featuring the Olympic rings in simple gold below a red circle.

Yusaku Kamekura was the first to employ photography for Olympic posters, and this poster required split-second photography which was technically difficult to accomplish at the time.

Yusaku Kamekura went on to design posters for many other events, including the 1972 Winter Olympics and the 1970 and 1989 World Design Expos.

Yusaku Kamekura created a number of distinctive corporate logos, including NTT, Nikon, Meiji, and TDK.