The Museum’s symbol and logo, which represent the “Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum brand,” were born in November of the Museum’s 84th year, 2011.
They were designed by the internationally-active designer Tokujin Yoshioka.
“Clear meaning anyone can understand”
“A symbolic image”
“A fusion of history with the future”
“An image of Japan”
Based on the above design goals, Yoshioka created a logo that expresses the weight and dignity of the Museum’s some 100-year history and which simultaneously communicates lightness and future potential. This logo he created in two versions.
The two versions—a colored cube representing Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum itself and a transparent linear cube representing the Museum’s activities—are used in different contexts. The symbol and logo are uniformly employed in Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum’s public relations activities, and they also receive play in the Museum’s diverse offerings.
The Symbol’s Design Concept
The symbol’s cubic motif evokes the present museum building designed in 1975 by Kunio Maekawa. It is designed as an icon symbolizing “the source of creativity.” As for the symbol’s color, a brown hue close to the red of the building’s exterior has been fused with a red suggestive of Japanese harmony to create a new Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum color.
A cube symbolizing the art museum itself and a transparent linear cube. It is a design composed of two versions, fusing past and future, that anyone will identify with Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum. （Tokujin Yoshioka, designer）
(The Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum logo)
※The Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum logo is a registered trademark of the Tokyo Metropolitan Foundation for History and Culture.
TOKUJIN YOSHIOKA Designer / Artist
Born in 1967. Designed under KURAMATA Shiro and ISSEY Miyake. In 2000, established his own studio, TOKUJIN YOSHIKA INC. Active in the fields of design, architecture, and contemporary art. His representative works include the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Torch, the glass bench “Water Block” on permanent display at the Musée d'Orsay, the natural crystal chair “VENUS”, the crystal prism architecture “Rainbow Church,” and the glass teahouse “KOU-AN”. His works are in the permanent collections of world-renowned museums, including the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), the Musée National d'Art Moderne (the Centre Pompidou), and the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A). He has won numerous international awards and has been named one of the “100 Most Respected Japanese in the World” by Newsweek magazine in the United States.
Column: How the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum symbol was born
Column: How the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum symbol was born
○A design, forever loved, that speaks to people the world over
Tokyo-based designer Tokujin Yoshioka is engaged in creating new designs all around the world. His designs, which are close in character to art, are displayed in the permanent collections of the world’s foremost museums, and he has received numerous awards as one of the world’s most active designers.
Yoshioka currently has several projects underway. His 1:10 scale model “KOU-AN Glass Tea House” 2011 is on display at the Venice Biennale. Meanwhile, at Bellerive Museum in Zurich, he is undertaking the art direction for the “Cartier Time Art” traveling international exhibition, and at the Musée d’Orsay in Paris, which has just undergone refurbishment, his “Water Block” benches are displayed in the Impressionists Gallery.
Amid such activity, Tokujin Yoshioka set out to design a symbol and logo for Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum, a museum which had never possessed a symbol or logo, or even an image color, since its opening 85 years before. Under these conditions, Yoshioka sought to realize “a design, forever loved, that speaks to people the world over.”
○For the long-awaited grand reopening—a design fusing history with the future
As his design goals, Yoshioka chose “Clear meaning anyone can understand,” “A symbolic image,” “A fusion of history with the future,” “Association with the building,” “Loved by people the world over,” “An image of Japan,” and “Accessible to adults and children alike.”
The newly created symbol features two types—a hard version (museum building) and a soft version (museum activities). These are combined with logo type in 30 different patterns. The strong cube design, with its sense of weight and dignity, symbolizes the Museum’s 85 years of history. Meanwhile, the transparent linear design expresses the Museum’s openness and unlimited potential, and reflects the excitement of its long-awaited grand reopening.
What the ever-serene Yoshioka was focused on, through all the presentations and meetings, was Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum 100 years from now. Then came the moment of birth for a symbol and logotype that spoke—“This is Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum”—with a vitality that would never fade, far into the future.
