Ryuko Tsushin - David Carson of Japan?!
THE 90s
Before music, my main obsession was fashion, namely avant garde and punk inspired high fashion. As a teenager, I worked 3 different after school jobs (making coffee, baby sitting and tutoring) to save enough to afford the labels I loved. I had a notebook where I’d record my earnings alongside a “wants list”. I worked hard and saved hard. My dream was to become a fashion illustrator so I practiced drawing religiously too.
Pretentious punk teenager, early existential crisis
In retrospect, a 16 year old wearing head to toe Jean Paul Gautier and Comme des Garçons, sipping champagne at Zambesi parties must have come across as quite pretentious. But really I was just an obsessive weirdo doing my own thing without a care about how I was perceived. The appeal for me was genuinely the artistry and aesthetic of the garments. If anything, some of the vapid yet arrogant things about high fashion culture was why I moved away from it, and immersed myself in the music scene instead.
Around this time, my nana and aunt in Japan would regularly mail my favourite fashion magazines like Ginza and So-en to New Zealand. There was a huge stack of “Ryuko Tsushin” mags under the coffee table too - I think one of mum’s friends left them with us.
90S/EARLY 00S RYUKO TSUSHIN MAGAZINE + KAZUNARI HATTORI
“Ryuko” means “Trend” and “Tushin” means “Bulletin”. The final issue of Ryuko Tsushin fashion magazine was published in 2007
Looking back on these amazing fashion magazine covers, I think, “YES, that’s what the 1990s and early 2000s looked like”. A bit cyber punk, a bit grunge, somehow both minimalist and maximalist simultaneously.
There’s currently a bit of a resurgence in 90s style graphic design, and although some of these designs are super interesting in their own right, many are definitely more of a re-imagined version of the 90s/early 00s, rather than an accurate representation. That era wasn’t as chaotic and in your face for the sake of being chaotic as some of these interpretations would suggest. There was a harmony and subtlety in 90s design, even within the busier compositions. To me these Ryuko Tsushin cover designs sum up that vibe.
The Art Director for Ryuko Tsushin was award winning AD and GD, Kazunari Hattori. As a teen in the 80s, Kazunari dreamed of becoming an Illustrator, but upon learning about a job called “Graphic Designer” started following that path. He began his career in an agency before going freelance, and working on a wide range of iconic campaigns, including for Kewpie mayonnaise’ Kewpie Half.
Here are some more amazing Ryuko Tsushin covers.
Kazunari Hattori also created this wonderful series of cover designs for another monthly publication “Gekkan Hyakka”. Apparently it was an open brief and the only requirement was for each issue to be a duo tone print. So he spontaneously decided to use a cat designs on each issue, purely because he thought it’d be a friendly design that people would want to pick up. This is the perfect example of how successful instinctive and playful design decisions can be. I adore the drawing style too, you can definitely tell he enjoys both graphic design and illustration by the way he fuses the two together in perfect harmony.
About Natalie Ex Design Studio
Hello, my name is Nat. I’m a qualified and experienced Illustrator and Graphic Designer in Melbourne. I have a Bachelor of Visual Communication Design and over 18 years of industry experience in illustration, graphic design and digital marketing.
The trademark Natalie Ex aesthetic is a playful and polished clean line style, inspired by my half Japanese upbringing.