“Ever since I landed on Earth, I’ve known words to be limiting,” says Jo Iijima, a graphic designer and creative based in New York City. “Visuals, however, speak to me in infinite ways.” Through design, Jo layers cultures, colours and typography that go beyond mere language and dimension – and it shows. His brand identity, campaign, art direction, Risograph printing and custom typography work embraces a chaotic blend of Japanese and English, putting diverse letterforms and graphic textures into a blender. “Because I’ve lived in so many cities, I see Japanese culture from a cosmic point of view. My roots are in Japan, but my imagination floats somewhere out in space,” says Jo.
The rhythms of Jo’s moving images are a blistering swirl of technicolour and personality borrowed from the “playful eccentricity” of Japanese culture. Jo cites J-pop as an inspiration in pushing everything to the 200% (just listen to the ear-popping walls of volume of Ging Nang Boyz). As well as that, vocaloid artist Hatsune Miku influences Jo’s impossibly high tempos – he exaggerates visuals with “joy and purpose”. Jo’s work wants to stay in people’s, something he ensures with sparks and whiplashing movement. “From the glowing vibrant Chinese character signs in Hong Kong, to the neon sounds of Tokyo’s arcades, to the dynamic rhythm of people in New York, all these memories swirl together inside me like a vibrant colorful collage from a cosmic point of view,” shares Jo. “Design isn’t just something I create; it’s something that has been waiting for me like a memory from the far future. I see a world no one else has seen.”