2012.06.29

JAGDA Award 2012: selection process and exhibition information

Awarded works:
Poster “Kazunari Hattori: November 2010” 

General Graphic “Air Bonsai”

Visual Identity “Book Express”

Book / Editorial “Phillippe Weisbecker Drawings”

Package Design “Special Package for Shiseido Parlour Ginza Flagship Store”
Ambient Design & Spatial Graphics “Form, Color and Structure: The Sensual World of Aoshi Kudo”
Combined Design “Louis Vuitton Forest Photo Exhibition by Mikiya Takimoto”


JAGDA Annual: “Graphic Design in Japan 2012” published on 25 June 2012.
Award Ceremony: JAGDA General Assembly 2012 on 9 June, 2012 at Toyama International Conference Center
Exhibition: Friday, 22 June – Sunday, 29 July at Tokyo Midtown Design Hub

Awarded works

Poster “Kazunari Hattori: November 2010”
Designer: Kazunari Hattori
(Poster for a solo exhibition / org: ginza graphic gallery)


General Graphic “Air Bonsai”
Designers: Ryohei “wabi” Kudo/Kazushi “sabi” Nakanishi
(Vinyl doll in a bonsai style, self-commissioned / cl: Wabi Sabi)


Visual Identity “Book Express”
Designer: Atsuki Kikuchi
(VI for a book store inside the station building / cl: JR East Retail Net)


Book / Editorial “Phillippe Weisbecker Drawings”
Designer: Kaoru Kasai
(Catalogue for an artist's exhibition / cl: Hamonika Books)


Package Design “Special Package for Shiseido Parlour Ginza Flagship Store”
Designer: Masayoshi Nakajo
(Packaging for limited store of confectionery / cl: Shiseido Parlour)


Ambient Design & Spatial Graphics “Form, Color and Structure: The Sensual World of Aoshi Kudo”
Designer: Aoshi Kudo
(Spatial composition for solo exhibition / cl: ginza graphic gallery)


Combined Design “Louis Vuitton Forest Photo Exhibition by Mikiya Takimoto”
Designer: Hiroaki Nagai
(Exhibition tools for fashion brand / cl: Louis Vuitton Japan Company)


Selection Process of the 2012 JAGDA Awards
Considering it an important activity to commend and record excellent graphics created every year, JAGDA instituted the JAGDA Award (initially called JAGDA Category Award) in 2008. From 2012, a JAGDA Award winner was selected from each category, in appreciation of the breadth of work that graphic designers undertake.

From among the screened works to be included in the Graphic Design in Japan 2012, the top five works in each category were nominated as Award candidates. (As the number of entry works was greater in the Posters category, the top ten works were considered as candidates. In the categories of Book/Editorial, Package Design, and Motion Graphics, the top six works were considered as nominees because there were two works gaining the same number of votes. All four of the works screened for Interactive Design were considered as candidates.)

For graphics in general, 28 Selection Committee members gave up to three votes respectively on the form (not obliged to give all three votes, and the designers’ names of nominated works were not disclosed). The works which gained the largest number of votes and exceeding the majority 15 votes were selected as the JAGDA Award winner. For General Graphics, and Ambient Design & Spatial Graphics, more than one nominated work gained the same top votes in the first round, therefore, the second round of voting took place with one vote per Committee member (with no abstention), and the top work in each category won the Award. For Newspaper & Magazine Advertising, the largest number of vote was 14, hence, no work won the Award.

As the numbers of entry works were small for Interactive Design and Motion Graphics, five Selection Committee members gave one vote on the form (the names of designers were not disclosed) for the first time, but there was no work which obtained the majority 3 votes. The Committee discussed if the second round of voting was required as one vote per member was a stricter rule than other categories. By majority vote, however, the second round of voting did not take place, and JAGDA Award winners were not selected from these two categories.