Profile

Ian's first visit to Japan came in the guise of playing music. Inspired by Japanese aural and visual culture, Ian came back to Japan several times, finding work directing and designing for Japanese TV commercials along the way. Having already established a significant client base as a designer in Los Angeles, he shifted his operations to Japan in 2005, confident that he could work "anywhere in the world".

http://www.ianlynam.com/

Tell me how you came to be working in Japan.

I first came to Japan 13 years ago as part of a noise band. At the time, I was really inspired by the visual culture of artists such as Eye Yamataka*1 and Shinro Ohtake*2, and that sparked my interest in Japan. Over several visits to Japan, I got to know more and more people, some of them as friends, and through them I was able to secure some work directing TV commercials. At that time, I already had quite a lot of clients as a designer in Los Angeles, and it became really clear to me that I could actually work anywhere in the world. So, with that conviction and the pathway provided by my work in TV commercials in Japan, I decided to come and work in Japan where I could explore my interest in its art and culture more deeply.

(*1 Eye Yamataka: Japanese musician born in 1964. He changed his name from Ai Yamatsuka to Eye Yamantaka, and then later to Eye Yamataka. In 1983, he formed the noise band Hanatarashi. Based in Osaka, he later went on to form a number of bands and musical projects, most notably the Boredoms, and has periodically worked in the U.S. since 1990. Eye also works as an illustrator. (*2 Shinro Ohtake: Japanese contemporary artist born in 1955. Together with Eye Yamataka, he formed the "Puzzle Punks" performance unit. He also published an art book with Eye Yamataka.

Overall, what do you think are the characteristics of your work, and how do they appeal to the audience?
Also, what do you see as being the main focus of your work?

What is distinctive about the body of work I have put together over the years is perhaps the complexity of the work and an articulated sense of detail. I try to explore materials that I work with and be true to those materials.

Simultaneously, my body of work explores the contimuum of graphic design history, picking up elements that I find intriguing, and deploying them in new ways- using history to inform the present- while also creating new form to bring into play.

My graphic design practice is threefold: I am a graphic designer, a writer, and a graphic design educator. I am a firm believer in "critical practice": I am engaged in creating graphic design work for both clients and practitioners (such as designing fonts for others to use); writing essays for publications like IDEA Magazine that push the boundaries of perception of graphic design as a practice; and finally, being a graphic design educator at Temple University Japan where I teach typography, motion graphics, web design, and graphic design.

Having a viewpoint that accesses multiple perspectives of practice in the field is very valuable to me.

What is the theme of this work?

"Attention to detail" is central. When I produce a piece of work, I put a lot of thought into the details beforehand, such as the color specifications and the print finishing. Since metallic inkjet printing technology is a new innovation, I'm very interested in how design are reproduced. Will it add a new level of intensity to the representation, or will it produce completely unexpected results?

I revel in chance processes, and every time one works with a new printer or a new piece of technology, a designer enters into a collaboration. Will the pressman/presswoman reproduce your work accurately? Will the new printing technology accurately reflect your intention?

In this sense, it's accurate to say that the underlying theme of this work was the collaboration between Roland DG and myself.

What sort of thing did you have in mind for this work?
What did you intend to express?

This design is entitled "Space Is The Place." It is an attempt to represent the world of graphic design as I see it- a form of space exploration, looking for a spatial place that is unfettered by rules, gravity, et al. What I'm seeking is to create a new space that we haven't discovered yet. As a child, I was enchanted with early science-fiction novels, prior to boundaries being slapped on the genre. One particular favorite is the short story "Mimsy Were the Borogroves" by Lewis Padgett (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mimsy_Were_the_Borogoves).

The wide-eyed optimism in potentialities of the future are reflected both in those types of stories and in the work of R. Buckmister Fuller (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buckminster_Fuller), an author, designer, and engineer I admire greatly. Fuller popularized the architectural integrity of the geodesic dome (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geodesic_dome) and was a forward-thinking, wide-eyed (yet bespectacled) pusher of Modernist themes.

And for this project, I also produced works called "UTOPIA" and "Future Streets," which depict a utopian Tokyo of the future. While creating all these works, I've tried to think of ways to take advantage of the beautiful results of metallic inkjet to reinforce these ideas- both a future modular city and one peopled by robotic denizens.

What do you think when you see design printed out?

It’s amazing! Totally fantastic. I think Roland have achieved an unbelievable result. I've never seen a texture like that before. One way to describe it would be as a combination of silver Pantone and foil printing. But at a more detailed level, what I notice is its finely detailed reproduction and beautifully rendered edges. I think this will really push the work to a new level of formal excellence.

What I find particularly pleasing is that the Roland DG printers are set up so that they faithfully reproduce the creator's vision. With process color, monitors tend to show different colors to what is actually printed. So it's really good that these printers produce colors that are almost identical to the colors shown on the monitor.

When you're working on a project, at what point do you decide on the printing method? In what situation might you select metallic inkjet?

So far, about 20 of my works have been produced using offset printing with custom mixed inks. One that I recall most clearly one I produced a couple of years back which used silver sparkle additive powder normally used for screen printing with a particularly dense black. If I'd had the opportunity to use a Roland printer to produce proofs for the client at that time, it would have produced very similar effects.

When it comes to using metallic printing or other special printing techniques, I have an image in my mind of the finished work, so I decide at the start of the project whether or not it is possible to use specialized printing. I also have to keep the cost within the budget requested by the client, so that's also a factor in deciding whether it is possible.

This experience has shown me the sorts of outcomes that metallic inkjet can deliver, so I'll be using it in as many different situations as my clients are game for!

Are colors used differently in Japan compared with other countries? What do you find particularly noticeable?
How about metallic inkjet colors?

When I'm producing a work, I'm particularly careful with the use of color, and that's because I've been very heavily influenced by the way color is used in Japan.

For instance, pedestrian safety barriers in Roppongi often use a beautiful bright green color. But in the U.S., these types of barriers are typically just industrial grey or white, so they just blend in to the concrete backdrop to life there. In Japan, sampling from even the most mundane aspects of the street offers up a number of exciting potentials.

Overseas, Japan is well-known for its use of color from chiyo-gami (Japanese paper with traditional patterns) and in works such as the movie posters from the 1960s. I find the use of color by Kiyoshi Awazu*3 to be particularly unique and very beautiful.

Metallic color is often about adding impact to a work, but using it in just a detail of a work can add exceeding sophistication and elegance.

(*3 Kiyoshi Awazu: 1929 - 2009. Japanese graphic designer. Awarded the Japan Advertising Artists Club Award at the Japan Advertising Art Exhibition in 1955. In 1960 he got together with a group of architects to form "Metabolism." He was also the Art Producer for the Theme Pavilion at the Tsukuba Science Expo.)

Will you be using this metallic inkjet in the future?
And if so, how do you plan to apply it to your work?

Absolutely. I'll definitely be using it.

I'm actually in the middle of planning my first solo exhibition, and I'm planning to exhibit a range of different types of work. These will probably include a giant-sized series of posters hung as the focal point of the exhibition. I want to exhibit works from the last 10 years - an "early retrospective" if you will. It would be great if I could have some works using metallic inkjet there...

Besides simply using as an alternative to hot stamping, can you envisage other interesting uses for metallic inkjet, other ways of using it that take advantage of the textures offered by inkjet?
What particular aspects of your own work would benefit from its use?

Besides large-format printing, I think metallic inkjet would be really great for small things like stickers and promotional products. Particularly for things like business cards, it could provide some really excellent effects. Even in very small amounts, using these metallic colors really adds a touch of sophistication and nuance.

Using them to express yourself on a business card, just including a tiny amount to make the work stand out, is really fantastic. This approach reinforces primary form-giving and adds sophistication.

Do you have any comments specifically for designers and creators?

Well, I certainly recommend that they all at least try out this amazing metallic inkjet process for themselves. Most designers use Adobe® Illustrator® and Photoshop® to design, but what is most important is how beautifully it will print, even for just one photo.

Roland printers represent colors very faithfully, and the way they produce super-clear lines is really impressive. The finest details are reproduced clearly, and the breadth of the color options is particularly exciting.

As I said earlier, it's especially pleasing as a designer when the colors on the screen are reproduced faithfully in the printout, and that is what is on offer here. This project has been the most exciting collaborative experience that I've enjoyed this year, creatively. And that's saying something!

Can you give us a brief idea of your future plans?

I've been appointed to be a judge representing Japan for the Asia Pacific Design Awards, which are to be held in China this month, so I'll be participating in that.
And as I mentioned earlier, I'm planning my first solo exhibition.
I've just finished the first installment of "BetterLetter", a quarterly bilingual lecture event based on graphic design and typography here in Tokyo.

(Interviewed on July 21, 2010)