Shōwa modan: kanban dezain, 1920-30s : shō uindō, tennai naisō, disupurei nado, machikado aideashū! = Showa Modern : signs and store designs, 1920s-30s : window fronts, shop interiors, and displays from city streets

Abstract

"The signs, street and window displays, and other designs in these pages are from the 1920s and 1930s--a time of unprecedented change and westernization in Japanese cities that is known as the age of Showa Modern, after the name of the era in the Japanese calendar. In contrast to paper posters and flyers, which by the very nature of their material are designed to put out new information and images in brief, rapid succession, signs are built to stand before passersby for a long time, weathering wind and rain and often becoming one with the store itself. As advertisements signs are, of course, destined to be eventually taken down or replaced, but even so they are an integral part of the urban scene. Being a century old, the designs featured here have long lost their utility as advertising. But many seem new even now--proof that they have lost nothing of their striking presence. These works reflecting the quest of the pioneers of the Japanese design industry to move hearts and minds are full of inspiring hints for us today in the twenty-first century. Turn the pages to take in their varied and wonderful world."-- Provided by publisher.