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The 640-page strong “Nakajo” covers almost the entire lifework of legendary Japanese graphic designer Masayoshi Nakajo (1933–2021) from the 1960s to his final works in 2021. Through his brilliant design work for influential companies and magazines, products, brands and public institutions, Nakajo has left his mark on the visual identity of Japan. Throughout his long career, Nakajo kept innovating and introducing new ideas. While “Nakajo” also pays attention to the milestones of Nakajo’s work (including the logo for the SPIRAL building in Tokyo’s Omotesando district or the new logo for the Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo), it is the sheer wealth and variety of imaginative design works over 50 years that will keep readers coming back to the book.

The book was produced over a period of eight years by Kaoru Kasai and Kazunari Hattori (who was appointed by Nakajo himself to design the book). The book includes an overview of Nakajo’s career as well as essays by graphic designer Yoshio Hayakawa, art director Gan Hosoya, and a text by Nakajo himself, written in 1998 (all texts included in Japanese and in English translation).