Business Continuity, Crisis and Emergency Management, Kidnap & Ransom, Protective Service/Executive Protection, Security Consulting, Travel Security, Business Intelligence, Anti-Money Laundering, Compliance, Corporate Intelligence & Due Diligence, Corporate Investigation & Litigation, Corporate Security & Business Controls, Corporate Investigations, Due Diligence, Financial Advisory & Intelligence, Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, Forensic Accounting, Fraud & Embezzlement Investigations, Fraud Detection & Prevention, Hostile Takeovers/Proxy Contests, Industry & Competitor Insights, Market Entry/Political Risk etc.

…a Tokyo based boutique marketing agency specializing in strategy, social media planning & brand building.

Bringing Local Japan to the World
Buy directly from small manufacturers, designers
and merchants across Japan - only on Loopto.

Feed your excess tweeters to the tiger & tame Twitter in 2010!

Have fun unfollowing your way to a slimmer timeline by taking a quick information diet. Connect with your Twitter account to get started here: Tigertweet.me!

What’s it all about?

2010 is the year of the tiger, and what better way to start it than with a good clean out of your Twitter timeline? TigerTweet.Me is a fun service that encourages you to do just that. We believe that in this age of information overload, keeping control of the signal to noise ratio is vital in enjoying, and getting the most out of the 24/7 stream of information.

Our hungry tiger loves nothing more than chomping through tweets, whether they’re endless lunch updates, pet statuses or just plain old spam. So feed all those noisy tweeters to him and enjoy a slimmed-down, info-rich, noise-free 2010.

So get feeding, and have a Happy New Year!

A project by A.C.O. Inc., Tokyo.

Date: Friday, 8th January 2010
Time: 18:00 - 20:00
Place: Gallery Speak For in Daikanyama
Address: Sarugakucho 28-2 Speak For B1F

Join us for the opening of HANAMI, an Outsider’s View of Japanese Icons. For about 2 weeks starting on the 8th January photographs I have taken between 2007 and 2009 will be on display in Gallery Speak For (located near Daikanyama Station, see map below). HANAMI is a collection of images based on what I consider to be essentially Japanese, but I have taken the liberty to include images that do not fit this brief in the strictest sense.

For those of you who speak Japanese, you can find a bit of writing below as posted on the Gallery’s blog.

We will have a reception party from 6-8pm on Friday (8th) evening. There will be a few bottles of wine, but supply will be limited.

In case you cannot make it to the opening (or like to come again), please note that Gallery Speak For is open every day from 11am-8pm except Thursdays (so on the 14th the Gallery will be closed).

I am looking forward to welcoming you at my show and hope you will enjoy the works and of course each others company on the 8th.

ON ZA LINE The 5th Collection
The Garden as Science Fiction Vol.2

with Photography by Sebastian Mayer　SM/AEIOU

Venue: ROCKET - www.rocket-jp.com
Date: 11th (Fri) -15th (Tue) ?December 2009 /12:00-19:30

★Opening Party: 11th (Fri) December 2009 /18:00-20:00

“The Garden as Science Fiction” is a series of works which represent the life of those who yearn for nature and their immediate future to be one of “Science Fiction.” In this exhibition, we have added new works to the collection we announced last fall under the same title. We feel we can never complete this series, however this will be our very first collection.

This time, the work of ON ZA LINE is linked and exhibited with the work of German photographer Sebastian Mayer SM/AEIOU. We hope you will enjoy the world of “The Garden as Science Fiction” ever more.

This is a completely new exhibition which takes place only once a year. Please don’t miss this exhibition as it runs only for five days.

Sebastian Mayer SM/AEIOU

Sebastian Mayer is a photographer and creative artist from Berlin. His works has been published in magazines and newspapers such as The New York Times, The Wire, Spex, Dazed & Confused as well as Leica Fotografie International. Mayer is known for his stylistically reduced, simplified photographs and works with a basic theme of portraiture. His favorite motif is one of artists, musicians and other bizarre people encountered on his travels through Europe, South and North America and Japan. Currently, Mayer resides in Tokyo and is working on a book for publication.

TiWiKi DESIGN is a creative agency cherishing ideas to develop original and cheerful products. The creative process is focused on experimentations, modeling and prototyping,  to carefully mature ideas…

The design concept for the website emerged while watching the busy TiWiKi folks pursuing their work. There is always an incredible amount of tools, glues, paints and such, involved. The tools to be seen on the website are all actual tools which are used frequently at TiWiKi Design.

The website is based on the Wordpress CMS which allows for RSS feed generation, commenting, a sliding gallery function with thumbnail generation and easy updates amongst other things. The website also features an e-commerce online shop were you can find cheerful handmade design products.

My office colleagues of the product design studio TiWiKi Design and Kollektiv Tokio are attending this years Design Tide with a very interesting project called code: TiWiKi. A “TiWiKi” is the funny little figure on the flyer above. Read below for more information:

There are three hundred TiWiKis in Shibuya, Tokyo. They are ready to explore the world but they can’t do this without your help! Thanks to a map showing each TiWiKi’s original location you can meet one of them. Stuck to its back TiWiKi has a personal I.D. code that you can scan to find out who they are. Take these little chubby creatures on a journey with you and take their picture in different places. By uploading those images onto codetiwiki.com, TiWiKi’s adventures can be followed.

渋谷に３００体TiWiKiいて、いろんな世界を見てみたいの。でも、あなたの助けが必要なの！各TiWiKiのロケーションが地図上で見れるため、その１つに会えます。背中には、TiWiKiのパーソナルIDコードが付いているので、彼らが何者かスキャンして知ることができます。このぽってりした生き物を一緒に連れて行って、いろんな場所で写真を撮ってください。その画像をcodetiwiki.comにアップロードすることで、TiWiKiのアドベンチャーを追うことができるのです。

Also, I just relaunched the new TiWiKi Design website.
Take a look here (some content still missing): www.tiwiki-design.com.

Hospitality Associates Asia Limited is an Asia based group specializing in hospitality asset management and project development, from concept to completion.

Corporate Identity Design

For the identity design a typographic style logo was designed, colours indicate the various fields of work of Hospitality Associates Asia Limited.

Website

The website has a fully trilingual setup (English/Japanese/Chinese-Mandarin). Another advantage is that the user can browse the site in only one language, without ever changing back to the default language. On initial page load the site automatically detects the default language setting of the user-browser. It will display the corresponding language, if it`s either English/Japanese/Chinese-Mandarin. Below are sample pages in either English, Japanese or Chinese-Manadarin.

Sample Prints - Custom Print CSS

The refined print style sheet allows the output of high-quality prints or PDFs. All unneeded items i.e. menus etc. are hidden on the prints and the logo is linked to a b/w high-resolution file.

Business Cards

In addition business cards were designed using the new corporate identity. More print items are likely to follow soon.

Hospitality Associates Asia Limited is a China based group specializing in hospitality asset management and project development, from concept to completion.

The redesign will include a logo brush-up, new CMS based website and a few print items like business cards and letterhead.

This project involved:

• Corporate identity design development, including logo
• Design of print collateral and various packagings
• Web design, (X)HTML/CSS template coding and setup of an online shop

The design process started with the development of a new logo and deciding on colours and fonts. The logo obviously takes reference from the spiny outside of a fresh chestnut. For the further packaging design the illustrations of chestnut and persimmon flower were used, the main ingredients of the first two products added to the Kuriya line. The corporate design and illustration were then applied to print collateral and various packagings i.e. sweet wrapper papers, printed paper bags, leaflets, obis (a paper belt for the packaging), stamp design, gift wrapping paper etc.

In between an extensive photo shoot was carried out in Gifu forest, capturing the initial Kuriya sweet products in a natural setting in front of a stunning waterfall. Photos by Sebastian Mayer.  These images, plus extra packaging shots were used for the website imagery. After the completion of the print design a new shop website was designed and set up on the Japanese Color-Me Shop! pro e-commerce platform.

An opening exhibition will be held at The Cover Nippon at Tokyo Midtown Galleria F3 on 9th - 11th September 2009. Please be warmly invited to the opening reception on 9th August 2009 from 19:00 - 21:00 to taste delicious chestnut sweets and marvel at our newly designed packaging. This event is a collaboration with MIJP (Made in Japan Project).

The basic concept was that Flutterscape.com will become a sort nest, where all the users (birds) will deposit their unique and interesting items for sale. Therefore the design of this site revolves around birds, nests and eggs. Also the mascot “Flutter-kun” originated from this idea.

I was involved with the development of corporate identity design, illustration, information architecture, graphic design & layout, web design, (X)HTML/CSS template coding, Javascript (Jquery framework) amongst other things.

However large parts of my initial design have been changed after my handover.
Below are samples of my previous designs.

• pause
• play
• previous
• next

Below are some templates for the admin section of Flutterscape:

I will perform live visuals for the final Minimal Tokyo event!

VENUE
Liquid Loft in Ebisu.

DATE AND TIME
July 31, 2009
23:30 - 6:00AM.

COVER CHARGE
¥2500,
¥2000 with flyer.

E-mail us for discount.
ディスカウントをご希望の方はこちらまで E-mail ください。

“MADE IN TOKYO” is the final regular event produced by Minimal Tokyo collective. With this event we invite you to celebrate creative energy of Tokyo, featuring some of the top music and visual talents from this exciting city, including DJ Sodeyama (Archipel), Sackrai (Archipel, Minimood, Telegraph), Minimal Tokyo Crew and art/design collective Delaware.

『MADE IN TOKYO』はMinimal Tokyoの最後のレギュラーイベントとなります。今回は最後を飾るに相応しい日本人アーティストによる世界トップレベルの音楽と?映像を提供します。この「Tokyo」という素晴らしい街のクリエイティブなエネ ルギー をみんなで共有できたら幸いです。

MINIMAL TOKYO is a Tokyo-based event format that brings together an international selection of DJs, producers, designers and media artists. Since 2007 it has been running one of Tokyo’s top events for electronic dance music with a minimal flavor: minimal techno, click house and tech house.

MINIMAL TOKYO は、国際的に活躍するDJ／プロデューサー／デザイナー／メディア・アーティストを集め、東京を基点としてイベントを開催しています。２００７年より、ミニマル・テクノ／クリック・ハウス／テック・ハウスなど東京でもトップクラスのエレクトロニック・ダンスミュージックのイベントを行っています。

Business Card Designs

PowerPoint Template Design

Website Launch Page Imagery

Unfortunately parts of my original design have been altered quite a lot since my handover to their inhouse designer. Below is a screenshots from the original design.

If you would like to find out more about this project or get involved,
please follow this link: www.flutterscape.com

• ISBN: 9781592535156
• June 2009
• $40.00 | $43.95 Canadian | £25.00
• Hardcover
• 300 photos/illustrations
• 240 Pages
• Size (in): 9 x 11
• Size (mm): 229 x 279

Buy it from Amazon »

Visual Language for Designers

Principles for Creating Graphics that People Understand

Connie Malamed

Within every picture is a hidden language that conveys a message, whether it is intended or not. This language is based on the ways people perceive and process visual information. By understanding visual language as the interface between a graphic and a viewer, designers and illustrators can learn to inform with accuracy and power.

In a time of unprecedented competition for audience attention and with an increasing demand for complex graphics, Visual Language for Designers explains how to achieve quick and effective communications. It presents ways to design for the strengths of our innate mental capacities and to compensate for our cognitive limitations.

Includes:

• • How to organize graphics for quick perception
• • How to direct the eyes to essential information
• • How to use visual shorthand for efficient communication
• • How to make abstract ideas concrete
• • How to best express visual complexity
• • How to charge a graphic with energy and emotion

Connie Malamed has a background in art and cognitive psychology, with a B.S. in Art Education and an M.A. in Instructional Design and Technology. She is a consultant in the fields of e-learning, visual communication, media design, and information design.

I will - again - perform live visuals at the next Laptop Battle Tokyo event.

Date: 19. June 2009 | 6月19日(金)
Open 7pm Start 8pm
Entrance Fee: ¥1500 / Door: ¥2000 | 前売り1500yen ドアー2000yen
Place: Super Deluxe

Below is a video where you can see some of my visuals from the last event:

I just found an interesting website which let`s you represent your RSS feed as a tag cloud. Find out more here: www.wordle.net

The quite extensive identity development process followed the web design for this Wordpress CMS based blog site. It turned out that an every-day-doodle as a logo was the best choice for his purpose and earned the most sympathy amongst his colleagues. Also the fact that one easily starts doodling while absorbed by a daydream (or fantasy) has a nice touch to it.

The design idea of the blog is - obviously - centred around the writers pad. The category menu is made up of post-it notes which allow re-sorting to view articles of only one particular category. When using the next/previous article links the post-it navigation will indicate the category of the displayed article.

This “digital writer pad” is also meant to records the progress of his upcoming book release called “Digitale Verwahrlosung” (roughly: State of Digital Negligence). But he will also share “every-day-poetry” as he calls it. The commenting function of a blog platform, as well as RSS feed and email subscription allows him to gather a following as a 21th century writer.

My client Dr. Parissa Haghirian is about to release a new book called “J-Management - Fresh Perspectives on the Japanese Firm in the 21st Century.” Dr. Parissa Haghirian is an Austrian associate professor of international management at Sophia University in Tokyo in Tokyo.

I also updated her website. The site became a lot leaner and more intuitive. It will also feature a new podcast section. Take a look here: www.parissahaghirian.com

RecruiterDB

“The Directory of Asia`s Top Recruiters” - quite an ambitious and large project:

Zap Associates

A group of entrepreneurs, based in Tokyo:

Von Fall zu Fall

Engl. “from case to case”, 3d animation from my better days:

Bruder Lustig

Engl. “Brother Merry”, a journey into information graphics.
My graduation project which had gone missing along the way:

Shanghai-Berlin

Website for the Berlin based advertising agency:

Bresse Bleu Japan - Bongrain

Production of a Japanese language pamphlet for this high-end cheese brand from France:

The website enables the user to view the photos as slideshow, picture wall or large fullscreen images. The sliding header menu contains other hidden menu items and a flashed based MP3 player with chart listing. All imagery and music files can be set with ease from the admin area of this CMS based site.

Carlos Gibbs is the founder of both the Deep House Project (DHP) and the RedBox Project. Carlos began DHP in 2001 to express his own passion for the culture that is house music. It was designed to embrace all facets of mixed media: using the fashion, music, art and style that thrives in the vibrant underground house music scene.

Considered a vinyl technician, Carlos consistently proves his ability to move a dance floor with his programming finesse. His DJing seems to be an extension of his passion for music and his inspiration to create. Part deep groove, part ghetto funk, he moves seamlessly across the ever-changing landscape of house music. He has played with such seminal house DJs as Land Shark, Ron Carroll, Mark Farina, Miguel Migs, Claude VonStroke, Justin Martin, Iz & Diz, T-Rek and many others. The list only gets longer as he is continually asked to play at scene-making parties and clubs the world over.

Always looking to expand, Carlos has now moved into the studio, working with some of the West Coast’s top production talent to begin a new label under the DHP moniker. Look forward to the new future of house music as Carlos Gibbs continues to unleash the funk worldwide.

Sliding Header Menu

Slideshow View

The sample photos used in the images above are provided by Bento Graphics.

Kika Style - Vol. 2 feat DJ D’Julz
@ La Boheme, May 2

Date: Saturday - May 2nd 2009
日付: 2009/05/02 土曜

Place/場所: La Boheme, Shibuya

ラ・ボエムクアリタ渋谷
150-0042 東京都 渋谷区 宇田川町20-11 渋谷三葉ビルB1,B2
http://www.qualita.boheme.jp/jp/casual/home/index

Time: 23:00 - morning
時間: 23:00から朝まで

Door/料金: ¥3000 / ¥2500 (flyer/フラヤー)

iFLYER discount link (¥2000): www.iflyer.jp/event/37638

Main Room:
DJs
- D’JULZ - Ovum / Pokerflat / Circus Company / 2020 Vision / audioFAMILIES
- Tim Boffa (Sydney Australia) vs Skinni Pants (REDBOX)
- Shotaro Meada (EDEN)
- Christian Mora (Bang the Box San Francisco)

VJs
- Chroma Fresh
- Ben Sheppee (Light Rhythm Visuals)

Level one DEEP LOUNGE:
DJs
- SATOSHI OTSUKI (Tres Vibes)
- Aosawa (KSR HOUSE)
- Kikiorix (Redbox / Ladies and Gentlemen)
- DJ Aki (Sound&Space / Lime light / KIKAstyle)
- Raha (Ooooze)

VJs
- Remo Camerota ( White Wall Studio)
- Bento (Minimal Tokyo/BentoGraphics.com)

KIKA STYLE PHOTO EXHIBITION by
- Yu Hokazono (KIKAstyle/ Redbox)
- Jeaq (KIKAstyle)

Live Art
- Pinkman

Book Release:
Japanese-English Guide to “Sex, Kink and Naughtiness” Signing Party

Author and collaborator Nate Jensen will be present to sign his new
book “A Japanese-English Guide to Sex, Kink and Naughtiness”. Jensen,
a long time resident of Japan and language enthusiast has amassed and
documented over 600 words in areas often overlooked by most Japanese
language and cultural guides. This new guide is certain to complete a
missing space on everybody’s bookshelf.

Books will be available at the party for a promotional price of 1,000 JPY.

www.tokyodusk.com

GELMANNICA 2009

First International Festival for Electronic Music and Media Arts

Friday, April 10, 2009

Unit Main Floor:
Apparat+Transforma LIVE

Saloon:
Gelmannica party of parties

Open: 23:00

Admission: 3500 YEN (3000 W/FLYER)

http://gelmannica.com

—

I will perform live visuals from 11pm - 2am at Saloon area of Unit at the above event. Drop me a mail for discounts, 2000y instead of 3500y.

I am currently working on a German-language blog site for soon-to-be writer Sonning Strauß from Hamburg.

Watch this space: www.alltagsfantasien.de

Carlos Gibbs is the founder of both the Deep House Project (DHP) and the RedBox Project. Carlos began DHP in 2001 to express his own passion for the culture that is house music. It was designed to embrace all facets of mixed media: using the fashion, music, art and style that thrives in the vibrant underground house music scene.

Considered a vinyl technician, Carlos consistently proves his ability to move a dance floor with his programming finesse. His DJing seems to be an extension of his passion for music and his inspiration to create. Part deep groove, part ghetto funk, he moves seamlessly across the ever-changing landscape of house music. He has played with such seminal house DJs as Land Shark, Ron Carroll, Mark Farina, Miguel Migs, Claude VonStroke, Justin Martin, Iz & Diz, T-Rek and many others. The list only gets longer as he is continually asked to play at scene-making parties and clubs the world over.

Always looking to expand, Carlos has now moved into the studio, working with some of the West Coast’s top production talent to begin a new label under the DHP moniker. Look forward to the new future of house music as Carlos Gibbs continues to unleash the funk worldwide.

Discounted tickets for ¥2000 including one drink can be ordered from here:  guests@madeinglitch.com (please send full names). Tickets at the door are ¥3500, advance tickets are ¥2500.

After the epic first party at Legato,the Made in Glitch crew is back for another unmissable event. The crew that created the 1st and only glitch hop party in Tokyo, offering something music-wise truly different,is pushing the boundaries even further this time. Made In Glitch is very proud to announce, for the 1st time in Japan, Speakerbruiser Rob from Meagasoid (Turbo Crunk / Ninja Tune) from Montreal and Mochipet (Daly City Records) from San francisco. Its gonna be the usual made in glitch music trademark: a mix of glitch and hip-hop empowered with laser basses.

Please be warmly invited to MINIMAL TOKYO 11 - “Connaisseur Recordings Label Night” at Unit on Friday 30th, January 2009. I will perform live visuals in the main hall during the DJ set by Tatsuya starting from 23:30.

entrance: 3,500yen, 3,000/W flyer

【UNIT】

DJs:
Patrick Chardronnet (Connaisseur Recordings/Poker Flat)
Alex Flitsch (Connaisseur Recordings)
Tatsuya
Ivan Kuzbass

☆LIVE☆
Shu Okuyama Feat. Kazuma Ishii

【UNIT】

GUEST Vj:
DELAWARE

Vjs:
Spielfilm
Bento
Moa
Teru (curl)

【Saloon】

yoshiki (op.disc)
PERNOD (Virgin)
ya’man (Mancheez/Technique)
Valentino De Bronff (minimood)
Kenji

Connaisseur Recordingsは2005年発足以来、一貫して良質なディープハウスとミニマルテクノをリリースし続け、その独特なコスモポリタンな特徴を合わせ持つ洗練されたエレクトロニック・サウンドには定評がある。今やドイツを代表するディ―プハウス／ミニマルテクノレーベルへと急成長したConnaisseur Recordingsには現在、Patrick Chardronnet、Daso、Ripperton、Simon Baker、Afriloungeなどの優秀なアーティストが所属。さらに、来年の2009年にはAudioflyとTimoMaasの参入も決定！

今回、日本初のConnaisseur Recordingsのレーベルナイトを開催するにあたり、レーベルオーナーのALEX FLITSCHと所属アーティストのPATRICK CHARDRONNET(Raum Musik, Connaisseur Recordings, Poker Flat)が来日。東京を拠点に活躍中のビジュアルアーティストのDELAWAREのスペシャルVJ-setと共に、Patrick ChardronnetとAlex Flitschのプレイに乞うご期待！

LINKS:

* Minimal Tokyo:
http://minimaltokyo.com

* Connaisseur Recordings:
http://www.connaisseur-recordings.com/

* Patrick Chardronnet
http://www.myspace.com/patrickchardronnet

* Alex Flitsch
http://www.myspace.com/alex_connaisseur_rec

* Delaware
http://www.delaware.gr.jp/

* Shu Okuyama
http://www.myspace.com/shuokuyama

The re-designed website for WITH (www.with-web.com) will launch soon. WITH is a Japanese interior design company with offices in Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya.

p.s. I promise to savely relocate the above dogs from the world wide web.

The Tokyo based publishing house White Rabbit Press asked me to re-design their website and incorporate a blog. A support area and the online shop were linked to the new site as well. To keep things in line with their old style we decided to keep the pink signal colour, but give the site a fresh, more contemporary look.

The site is based on a Wordpress CMS and can easily be updated by the client. The home page contains a Javascript based slideshow of their latest products and bold buttons to drive traffic to the various areas of their online shop. The news area features sorting capability for certain categories or tags and archives by month. The support area, based on a the Help Desk sofware, received a new header menu in order to tie them together with the main site. The linked WRP online shop will be re-designed in the near future as well.

Logo design for Japan Journal, a German language news website run by Martin Fritz, who is a long time Japan journalist for the German news channel ARD. He will supply the interested public with new insights into Japanese politics, economy and society.

www.japanjournal.de (German only)

SKM (株式会社エスケイエム) provides various facility services mainly to the Toyota Corp. and is also a 100% subsidiary of Toyota. Services provided by SKM include: building maintenance, car park management, cleaning services, construction work, security services, recruitment, real estate/rental services and others.

Their website was re-designed from the ground in standards compliant valid XHTML/CSS and runs on a Wordpress CMS, with an added custom CMS for the parking, rental and recruitment pages. The menu includes an open/close effect and highlight states of the menu items are indicated with arrows. Headline colours and header pictures change throughout the site, depending on which page is being displayed.

Their old domain www.skm-t.co.jp will be re-pointed to the new site shortly.

Design of the main cover graphic for the newly released DVD of the media artists Max Hattler and Robert Seidel. This DVD is released on the Tokyo based Uplink label.

Preview: www.whiterabbitpress.com

I will be performing live visual at Laptop Battle Tokyo on Thursdays 6.November 2008 at SuperDeluxe. More information here: www.laptopbattle.jp

Shortly the German language news website, JapanJournal.de, will be released.

Work in progress: http://japanjournal.de/site/ ]]> http://bentographics.com/blog/japan-journal-will-be-releases-soon/feed/ http://bentographics.com/blog/japan-journal-will-be-releases-soon/ http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/bentographics/~3/h3Ojwoe_TmA/ http://bentographics.com/portfolio/print/minimal-tokyo-vs-uplink/#comments Tue, 14 Oct 2008 06:28:01 +0000 Benjamin Thomas http://bentographics.com/portfolio/print/minimal-tokyo-vs-uplink/

Production of flyers for a collaboration event of Minimal Tokyo with Uplink, a Tokyo (Shibuya) based art center, DVD label and cinema theater.

Please be warmly invited to the next Minimal Tokyo event on Saturday, 1th November 2008 at SuperDeluxe/Tokyo. This time it is a collaboration with Uplink, an Tokyo (Shibuya) based art center, DVD label and cinema theater.

The event will consist of two parts, the first half of the evening will be talks, screenings and discussions as well as the official “Max Hattler vs. Rober Seidel” DVD release announcement. The second half will be a club event featuring performances of the Minimal Tokyo resident team and guest DJs/VJs.

Bentographics is providing the cover graphic for the upcoming “Max Hattler vs. Robert Seidel” DVD as well as the event flyer and a live visual performance. View the flyer here: http://bentographics.com/portfolio/print/minimal-tokyo-vs-uplink/

The Minimal Tokyo collective including myself will play at Saloon@Unit (Tokyo) on 11th October 2008.

Minimal Tokyo 2nd Anniversary party with Daniel Steinberg (Stylerockets, Micro.fon, Front Room) from Berlin and Minimal Tokyo crew.

DANIEL STEINBERG is one of the most innovative producers that have recently emerged from Berlin’s electronic music scene. His unique twist of minimal house has caught worldwide attention with its characteristic beats, bleeps, bouncy bass lines and cut-up vocals sampled from scratchy old records. The resulting compositions are refreshing, ironic and fun, they’re played by the likes of Ricardo Villalobos, Richie Hawtin and Claude VonStroke. Daniel has released extensively on such excellent labels as Micro.fon, Grandpetrol, Front Room Recordings and Style Rockets, as well as Kiddaz.FM and Rompecabeza as his alter ego Harry Axt. This is the very first time Daniel Steinberg is performing in Japan and we are excited to have him with us at Minimal Tokyo.

”… it sucks the brain out of your head with its strange poetic drift … perfect combination of the label’s twisted sound and Berlin minimal mood …” from review of recent Daniel Steinberg’s release (FRM020) by De:bug magazine.

Daniel Steinberg

ベルリンから初来日する Daniel Steinberg (Stylerockets、Micro.fon、Front Room)をゲストDJに向かえ、Minimal Tokyo crewが記念すべき２周年パーティーを開催！

DANIEL STEINBERG はベルリンのカッティングエッジなエレクトロニック・ミュージックシーンにて最も革新的なプロデューサーの一人。その特徴的なビート、電子音、軽快なベースラインと２０世紀初頭にリリースされ古いたレコードからサンプリングされた音からなる、彼独自のミニマルハウスが世界的に注目を集めている。Ricardo Villalobos、Richie Hawtin、Claude VonStrokeといったアーティストが、斬新で皮肉的、でも非常に楽しい彼の楽曲をプレイしている。 Micro.fon、 Grandpetrol 、 Front Room Recordings、 Style Rockets などの著名なレーベルから幅広くリリースし、また彼の別名義である Harry Axt の下、 Kiddaz.FM、 Rompecabeza からも作品を発表している。今回、Minimal Tokyoにて彼の日本初のパフォーマンスが実現する。

「その奇妙でポエティックな音は頭から脳みそが吸い取られる感じだ・・・レーベル特有のひねくれ感とベルリンのミニマルムードとの完璧な融合。」 （Daniel Steinbergの近作「FRM020」に関するレビュー、「 De:bug magazine 」より）。

GUEST DJ
Daniel Steinberg (Stylerockets, Micro.fon, Front Room)

RESIDENT DJS
Tatsuya,
Ivan Kuzbass,
Shu Okuyama (Milnormodern, Minimood)
… also
Kaoru Masugi (Organza)

VISUALS
Spielfilm, Bento, MOA

FLYER DESIGN
Flyer artwork is by Berlin based graphics designer Paul Snowden

COLLABORATION
We collaborated with Someone’s Garden – best undeground art & design magazine in Tokyo.

—–

VENUE
Liquid Loft in Ebisu

DATE AND TIME
September 27, 2008
24:00 – 6:00AM

COVER CHARGE
¥3000
¥2500 with flyer
¥1000 after 5:00 am

• You have to be at least 20 years old and present a valid photo ID.

Bento Graphic designed the cover graphic for the upcoming Max Hattler vs. Robert Seidel DVD on the Tokyo based Uplink label. Max Hattler and Robert Seidel are both film-maker and media artists.

Also a DVD release party will be held at Super Deluxe on 1th of November 2008. You are warmly invited to join this event which will conincide with the 4th anniversary of the venue Super Deluxe.

Corporate identity and website re-design of TokyoApartment.com, the well-known apartment search portal for Tokyo. The site is run by Big Brother K.K. (partly owned by Gplus Media). The challenge of this project was to harmonise and merge 3 separate websites into one (TokyoApartment.com, JapanKeibai.com, Big-Brother.jp) and adding three more site sections (serviced apartments, property valuation and property management).

Through the incorporation of these formerly separate sites, all offered services are benefiting from the combined traffic of the new site.

Bento Graphics provided identity design, logo & icon design, information architecture and thorough prototyping with wireframe graphics, final graphic design, standards compliant-semantically marked up XHTML templates and CSS styling. Additionally set-up and implementation of a bilingual J/E Wordpress site for the “Property Management” and Big Brother K.K. section of the site. Extensive consulting and final CSS & XHTML fixes for the whole site. Programming: GPlus Media.

The visual concept of the site plays with a uniform house logo, which is altered from section to section of the site. For each section an additional item is added to the house icon, therefore the main logo is always recognisable yet in an altered state. Also a unique colour palette was chosen. Accordingly the colour of links and headlines changes from section to section.

Please take a look here: www.tokyoapartment.com

A project description was added to the portfolio section, here:

http://bentographics.com/portfolio/web/tokyo-apartment

A new website for British product designer Marianne Bailey. Marianne Bailey has been working for design studio’s such as Factorydesign (London) and currently works for the Yamaha Product Design Laboratory in Japan. One reason to launch her personal website was the ‘au Design project and Yamaha’ exhibition at the KDDI Design Center in Tokyo in July/August 2008. There she exhibited some of her latest cutting-edge musical mobile phone concepts, developed for au/KDDI by Yamaha.

The concept of the website is based on a play of questions and answers. Also a line is guiding the visitor throughout the site and stopping at each of her projects. A little bit like a visual work resume in a horizontal fashion. Her design solutions always start from a question which carries social relevance.

The site navigation works by playfully sliding from one project page to the next. A sub menu offers to ’slide’ to certain sections of the site, such as works for certain employers, her biography or contact page. The site features also Flash video sections for certain projects, Javascript slide-shows and project descriptions. Some time was spend into with finding a suitable visual style for her site, eventually lots of white-space and line-drawings which hint spacial design were used. Site concept and drawings: Marianne Bailey and Atsushi Imai.

The site required extensive Javascript implementation and programming with the Jquery framework. Also video editing and set up of Flash video on the project pages, as well as standards compliant-semantic XHTML and CSS styling.

Marianne Bailey used to work at Factorydesign (London) and currently works for the Yamaha Product design laboratory in Japan. Her work is on display from 25th July 2008 - 31th August 2008 at the “au design project & Yamaha” exhibition at the KDDI Design Center in Tokyo.

Read more about this project in my portfolio section:
http://bentographics.com/portfolio/web/marianne-bailey/

June 13th, 2008, Friday
11:00 pm - 5:00 am

Cover Charge:
¥4000, ¥3500 with flyer / WOMB members,
¥3000 Clubberia members

More info: www.minimaltokyo.com

The Minimal Tokyo crew will team up with Organza for a minimal
techno night at legendary Tokyo club Womb. On the main floor,
Organza resident DJs Pi-Ge and Taro Sugawara will be joined by
Spanish Techno virtuosi Alex Under and Tadeo, accompanied
by visuals from Minimal Tokyo resident VJ Spielfilm.

Minimal Tokyo will take over the 1st floor lounge, where resident
DJs Tatsuya, Ivan Kuzbass, Shu Okuyama (Milnormodern, Minimood)
and GLMN(c) will join forces Valentino de Bronff (Minimood) to play
cutting edge minimal techno, deep and tech house.

Minimal Tokyoがあの Womb のミニマル・テクノナイトでDJします！
メインフロアーでは、OrganzaレジデントDJ、 Pi-Ge と Taro Sugawara が
スペインからのゲスト Alex Under と Tadeo 共にスピン、そしてMinimal
TokyoのレジデントVJ、SpielfilmもVJします！ そして、一階はMinimal
TokyoレジデントDJs (Tatsuya、Ivan Kuzbass、Shu Okuyama 、
GLMN、そして MinimoodからValentino de Bronff ）によオーガナイズ。
オールナイトでカッティングエッジなミニマルテクノ、ディープハウス、
テックハウスをプレイします。

I will be performing live visuals back to back with Max Hattler and Robert Seidel on their Japan tour in Roots (club), Kobe on Friday 23th May 2006. Details: ¥2500 w1d + free buffet. Cafe Spark, 1F 3-2-1 Nunobiki-cho Chuo-ku, Kobe, Hyogo.

A new 8-page pamphlet and business cards for the Tokyo Craniosacral Clinic run by Lionel Gougne. Lionel Gougne offers Craniosacral Threapie, lymph drainage, Osteopathy and others. This projects included illustration, layout and pre-press, also the design of a geographical location map.

Business Cards

Gozi Ochonogor is a wellknown Nigerian fashion designer based in Tokyo. “She started designing her own clothes while still studying, selling them at west London’s Portobello Market and acquiring several retail customers in Paris and Japan.”

Her new website is divided into the GOZI and the UMI-1 label, which are basically separate websites. The GOZI label is on stand by, whereas the UMI-1 label is actively developed right now.
On her UMI-1 (you.me.one) label Gozi collaborates with a Japanese artist for each collection. This fact was taken into consideration when designing her site. On the collection pages a hidden layer with information about the collaboration artist can be revealed. Hence the look of each added collection page will change through the imagery of the collaboration artist. The collection pages also feature a Flash based gallery with a zooming function. The collections can be viewed in a fullscreen mode too (when choosing from the right-mouse click popdown-menu) and navigated with they keyboard (arrow and blank keys).

The project included all design, HTML/CSS, costumization of the Flash based collection gallery, Javascript coding (using the Jquery Javascript framework) and sIFR for Flash headline replacements.

Please be invited to the next Minimal Tokyo party on 10th May 2008 at Liquidroom - Loft

Live music set by SALMON (Karmarouge Noir / Raum…musik / WC Recordings) meets live visuals by MAX HATTLER (UK) and ROBERT SEIDEL (Germany).
Guest DJ: YOSHIKI (op.disk, Torema Recordings);
Minimal Tokyo resident DJs Tatsuya, Ivan Kuzbass, GLMN© and Shu Okuyama will play minimal techno, tech house and electro. Visuals are by Bento and MOA.

Starts 24:00 until 6:00 am; entrance is ¥2000 with flier and ¥2500 without flyer. For ¥1500 discount list, mail me

Please take look at her new homepage here: www.gozi.co.uk

Re-branding and web design for this London (UK) based web business. HereComesTheBoss.com is aimed at graduates and it`s tag-line reads “Finding your way into work - The graduate mentor for the world of work. Get career advice, watch company videos, and connect with employers. Giving you the best chance to find your dream job”. This site offers a video resume function for graduates as well as companies wanting to present their profile in a video format.

This project included extensive planing of information architecture and menu structure through wireframe graphics. The re-branding work started with a mood board and completed with a final corporate identity and the site design. A basic set of HTML/CSS templates were coded as well. Full site implementation by Adept Scientific.

Much time was put into the design of numerous black-humor fuelled custom icons, which are believed to go well with the young target group of university graduates. The re-branding of Herecomestheboss.com is meant to position this site as the top graduate video profiling site and at the same time standing out from the competition with it`s quirky appearance and the energetic and funny mascot Hanson.

A similar design was applied to the Here Comes The Boss user channel on Youtube: www.youtube.com/user/herecomesthebosscom a Bebo page http://www.bebo.com/herecomestheboss and a Facebook page.

Below are most of the custom icons which were created for Here Comes The Boss:

An English/Japanese bilingual website based on the Wordpres CMS. My tasks were graphic design, web design and Wordpress implementation.

Zap Associates is an group of entrepreneurs from various fields of expertise based in Tokyo.

Flyer design for the Japan Tour 2008 of Max Hattler & Robert Seidel, both award winning filmmakers, Vjs and animators. Starting with a mostly English event listing this page was later altered to appeal to the Japanese target group. The events listing was partly translated & sprincled with Japanese words in order to seduce the Japanese eye into the content.

The Japan Tour is still upcoming/active. To read more please visit this page:
www.bentographics.com/blog/hattler-seidel-japan-tour-2008/

My dear good friend Max Hattler and his sidekick Robert Seidel, both award-winning film makers, animators and VJs launching a Japan tour from 21. April - 28. May 2008. They will be roaming the streets of Tokyo till 10th of May, with several scheduled VJ-events, screenings and talks. After the 10th May they will continue their tour in the Kansai area (Osaka, Kobe etc). I will partly join them on their tour and perform live-visuals back to back with them at Roots Club / Café Spark in Kobe on the 23th May 2008.

On 23th April will be the in-official tour launch party in club Le Baron (Tokyo) with live visuals by Max Hattler, Rober Seidel as well as moi and others. This event is guest only. Below are a few other events they are participating in Tokyo:

• Thu 24 April // Presentation at Pecha Kucha Night, SuperDeluxe // Tokyo
• Wed 7 May, 19h // Screening + talk at Uplink Factory // Tokyo
• Thu 8 May, 19h // Screening + talk at Uplink Factory // Tokyo
• Sat 10 May // AV live set with Salmon (JP) at Minimal Tokyo, Liquid Rooms // Tokyo

Please download and spread their official press release (PDF) here:
PRESS-RELEASE_Hattler-Seidel_Japan-Tour-2008.pdf

Download the official tour flyer here:
maxhattler_robertseidel_japantour2008.pdf

A new homepage for the YMS Language School. This project included all graphic design, HTML/CSS, Wordpress CMS templates and implementation. This is for you, if you like vanilla coloured backgrounds and huge fonts!

A new web site and visual identity for photographer and writer Andy. J. Tylor. The site is based on Wordpress CMS, therefore the client is able to update the site by himself. Features of the site are a gallery area and a hidden download area. In the hidden download area the client can post i.e. images secured by a password, which he can send to a publisher for download.
Below is a draft of the branding process.

By the way:
I slightly changed the layout of this site to make more room for the actual content. Site-headers are a thing of the past All headlines on this site now use sIFR in order to make this site more accessible. sIFR allows the usage of other fonts apart from the operating system fonts. I might use this technology more often for other upcoming websites too. Also, I placed a QR-code on my contact page, which is hugely popular in Japan and can be found on nearly every product or flyer. QR-codes can be scanned i.e. by mobile phones to access data about products or services including address details. Finally, from now you should be able to access this site via your mobile phone too.

Business cards for WA-Associates, a Tokyo start-up company. Sarah Watterson runs her own spa consultancy, which i.e. helps large hotel chains with the setup and running of spa facilities.

www.ikonmedia.info

Live VJ-set for the yearly Metropolis Glitterball party. The party was held on 14th February 2008 in Club Alife in Roppongi (Tokyo). Some of the live-visuals were exclusively composed for the main sponsor of this party - Coca Cola.

Metropolis is “Japan’s No 1 English magazine”.

Above is a sample video of the vj live set.

Her new homepage went online today.
Design & coding by Bento Graphics.

www.parissahaghirian.com

Parissa Haghirian is an Austrian professor with a lecturship at Sophia University in Tokyo. She currently teaches international management and is actively building her personal brand image as a lecturer, author and coach.

The first part was to create a distinctive visual identity for her as a striving author, lecturer and coach. Some of the keywords for the visual identity were: International (management), Asia<->Europe, writing and letters (also Asian alphabets), feminine, friendly but well-organised, serious but not boring.

In the second part, I applied the final identity design to her new website. This English-German bilingual website is run on the Wordpress CMS/blog platform and can conveniently be updated by the client. It features a start page which reflects the recent activities and postings of the site. All areas of the site display distinctive icons and decorative graphic elements appear in random order. RSS feeds are customised and the user can subscribe to separate feeds for the English and German entries of the site.

The set-up of the site included HTML & CSS coding as well as basic PHP customisations and Wordpress template design.

A Japanese language section will be integrated in the future.

Details: www.metropolis.co.jp/glitterball

SARAH GOLDFARB from France (Treibstoff / Dumb Unit / Roman, Photo);
Minimal Tokyo resident DJs: Tatsuya, Kuzbass, GLMN© and Shu Okuyama will play minimal techno, tech house and electro.
Visuals by: Bento, Shantell Martin, MOA and Trembl.

Starts 11:45 pm until 6:00 am;
entrance is Y2000 with flier and Y2500 without flier.

For reduced entrance fee you can also send me an email.
Hope to see you there!

http://bentographics.com/portfolio.php

An entry on RecuiterDB should feature their expertise, geographical area of operation, languages spoken and searched for, job listings for each recruiter, contact information and also photo contents. The RecruiterDB interface was planned to support English, Japanese and Chinese. The project was commissioned by Catus Japan, a Tokyo based consulting and recruitment firm.

I was responsible for corporate identity development, information architecture, wireframe design, final graphic design, web design, standard-compliant XHMTL/CSS templates. The layout of the site is based on a 7 column design grid. The strictly minimal design of the site uses a lot of white space and refined typography for good legibility and intuitive navigation. CMS integration was done by a third party.

Unfortunately the project was put on hold for the time being.

Below are drafts of the corporate identity development, in process:

Images of the final XHTML/CSS templates:

Parissa Haghirian is an Austrian professor with a lecturship at Sophia University in Tokyo.
She currently teaches international management and is actively building her personal brand image as a lecturer, author and coach.

www.parissahaghirian.com

There is still more in store for early 2008, two more websites will be launched,
one BIG, one small.

Production of a Japanese language pamphlet for Bresse Bleu Japan a high-end cheese brand by Bongrain from France. I was responsible for design concept, layout, typography and final draft as well as taking care of pre-press preparations.

…the largest and the most important design festival in Japan…

in Unit Daikanyama. Design Tide is a once a year Tokyo-wide design event, with several main exhibitions and many supporting galleries and design events. Design Tide will be from 31th October - 4th November 2007.

You are cordially invited to join & enjoy our event at Unit Daikanyama
on 2th November 2007, from 11pm to 6am.

For discounted tickets mail me (2000¥ instead of 3500¥)!

A fully featured CMS based portfolio website for the wellknown designer of information graphics and 3d illustration - Eliot Bergman. The site serves to show-case his professional work portfolio.

The web-site involved also the development of a style-guide, consisting of logo and a selection of colours and fonts. Please note the image below, which shows work in progress on the actual style-guide.

The web-site is based on Wordpress and offeres a thumbnail and a slideshow view of each gallery. The Flash driven slideshow feeds from the same source of images as the original artwork and is very convenient for updates. Thumbnails are dynamically generated from the same art-work. The slideshow-view is enhanced by music through a Flash based MP3 player.

The web-site also has a blogging section and contact as well as about pages. The front page of the site displays a custom intro animation.

The new project will soon be listed with a full description and images

http://www.ebergman.com

B.T.

Layout of the Yearbook 2007 for the British School in Tokyo.

This more than 140 page strong yearbook contains i.e. introduction of the school staff, a vast photo-collection of the last years school events such as sports, school-trips and activities. The book also includes many collages which were assembled by the students.

The layout was rendered in Adobe Indesign CS2. The printing process was simplified by using the PDF format.

Adaption of a Flash template. My task was to customize a ready-made Flash template for Shine Advertising. The customization-process involved Flash animation, image processing, video editing and minor Actionscript changes, as well as HTML/CSS.

Design and implementation of a Wordpress based HTML/CSS website for the Norwegian writer L.G.Kavli. The website pretends to be a local news-paper for a small town in the middle of the United States. All news are ficious and written by L.G.Kavli. The website serves as his personal showcase.

The website is based on a customized Wordpress (blog-software) which enables the writer to update the website easily by himself.

The design is based on a five column grid which mimicks the layout of a news-paper in printed matter. The stock-market chart updates dynamically via a RSS feed and the weather information displays the the climate in central area of the USA.

Design and implementation of a Wordpress based website for the well known wrist-watch and apparel brand Fossil. This is the official Fossil Japan HTML/CSS website. It displays Fossil news, company information, downloads, an extensive shop listing as well as the complete ladies and men’s collection of Fossil watches.

The website is based on a customised Wordpress (CMS/Blog) install which enables the client to update the website easily by himself. The Fossil watch collection area can be sorted and viewed by individual watch collections.

The Fossil design is slightly vintage inspired and follows the official brand identity. The Fossil style guide was used throughout the design development process.

The design of the website has changed.

This video is an rough edit of a live video performance for the German National Tourist Office. It was performed before a press conference in the Dainippon Hall (Tokyo). The music is mixed by Ryo Bordini Chikushi.

The fifth flyer for the Minimal Tokyo team. This flyer was designed with a “Hanami”-theme in the back of my head. April, the month of this party, is usually cherry blossom time (or also called “Hanami”) in Japan. That is when the whole country is squatting in the parks to marvel at the beauty of the puffy white/pink clouds in the trees. Also extensive picnic parties are held, often with home-made snacks like Bento-Boxes or Onigiri. In the rush to the parks, often people only use those cheap, blue plastic sheets. All these details were used to create this flyer-design.

My task was to mainly create all the maps in this Tokyo Guide Pamphlet, also all layout work. The Washoi Magazine contains 7 highly detailed maps of the main Tokyo sightseeing areas.