The fundamentals of design according to Y's, the company behind Kemono Friends' design work

In this two-parts article, we covered what kind of approach it took for Kemono Friends' logo to be born, and how it matched the project's worldview. What's design according to Y's? What kind of education makes the creation of this kind of contents possible? Ryuhei Yoneda spoke to us about these topics and more.

In the second part, we talk about design teaching methods and about the young designers working for the company.

Part 1: As logical as possible. "Design" according to Y's the company behind Kemono Friends logo

■ Everyone can become a designer

-- In your company, how do you give indications to other designers?

Ryohei Yoneda: As a premise, I think anyone can become a designer. Even someone like me, who's not a genius, has no special knowledge and can't draw pictures, can become a designer and make a living out of it. That's why I feel that no one could explain better than me how to become a designer of any sort, and how to make enough money to live decently.

-- What are your teaching methods, concretely?

Yoneda: First of all, we hold design classes regularly inside the company. I care about a "thorough approach to design", and that's why I always teach what kind of approach I followed concretely to get to a certain design.

For example, there's something that is totally forbidden to say when it comes to design. Can you guess what it is?

-- Something like "I'll leave it to you"?

Yoneda: The answer is "just because".

"I designed the logo like this just because". "I chose this color just because". If someone mentions the words "just because" when presenting an idea to me, I have them start all over.

If they don't come up with a logical reason, how can I judge their work? And how can the client judge their work? An education about the basic points of design (margins, alignment, fonts, etc) and scolding on praising based on this policy creates productive designers who don't create things just because. The point is to waste less time!

Still, I don't want to be hated (laughs)

-- If you follow this approach, students will understand clearly why you're scolding them. Learners must think of it as a very welcome strategy!

Yoneda: Then you can understand at which stage you are and what you can and cannot do. Once you do, you'll be able to understand and act based on your own ideas. With this approach to teaching, students can learn what I learned in 10 years in just 3 years.

-- One third of the time! How amazing!

Yoneda: Right now we have two young designers at our company. One is in his third year, one is in her fourth. Both of them are now fully-fledged professionals. They can create their own designs themselves, and if there's something that they can't do, they can perfectly describe at what stage they're stuck. Once a designer reaches this stage, they can work on their own and gather experience by working on various titles.

■ Be invested in the contents to come up with an image

-- In the first part of the interview, you told us you always start your design process from keywords. How do you usually come up with such keywords?

Yoneda: I think it's important to be deeply invested in the contents in order to come up with good ideas.

For example, if we take Kemono Friends, you'll just need to take a look at Serval-chan's illustration to figure out it's an anthropomorphized version of a serval.

After that, by observing the character setting and its animation, you'll have to figure out what her personality is and what she likes. It serves as a base for the design.

Since Kemono Friends is such a colorful and lively title with many energetic characters, it goes without saying that using colors with a low luminance and a low saturation would not be a very good idea.

-- In other words, you have to project yourself onto Serval.

Although it's an iteration of the first part, the following concept is worthy of being repeated: the most important thing in design is whether the spectator can feel the same emotions and have the same impressions as the ones that were set at the beginning. The process of designing is a matter of being able to put the right emotions in the head of the viewer.

-- I think projecting yourself onto the contents you're working with is a pretty liberal approach.

Yoneda: When I started working with Kemono Friends, I didn't know much about the title so I had no other choice but thinking: "what if I was inside the title?".

One part of me wanted to bring the design into my own field and try to receive a positive response from users, but in the end, it's much better to work as if we were designers from the client's company. Using the charm of the title and our own design tricks to make the best work possible.

That's why even once we get our hands on the reference materials, we tend not to propose various designs to the client; instead, we think back to the client's words and find ways to implement those wishes and emotions and implement them. In other words, it's a matter of how much you can pull the ideas that the client or the person who is planning the project brought us.

-- I feel that the difference between design and art is whether you can separate your own taste and the demands of the client.

■ The joy of working with your favorite titles

-- I would like to ask a few questions to the young designers Yoneda talked about a few minutes ago.

Aoi Nakamura: Nice to meet you!

Rikiya Ohsawa: Nice to meet you.

-- How long have you been working for this company? And which titles have you worked for so far?

Nakamura: This is my 4th year. Recently I've been in charge of the art direction of Angel's 3 Piece!. I created the package design and the logo. In addition, I was in charge of Cheer Boys!!'s logo, packaging, poster design, website and comic cover and of the art direction of Ryle & Louis and Kyouto Irodori Gangster. At the beginning, Yoneda was in charge of the logo design of Cheer Boys!!, but I worked on the packaging and the comic myself.

Ohsawa: This is my 3rd year. I've been working on the My Girlfriend is Shobitch website, and from now on I'm gonna be in charge of the advertisement and packaging. Talking about comics, I'm in charge of the binding of Girlish Number Shura and Idol Incidents.

-- Do you have anything you always keep in mind about designing?

Nakamura: since we mainly work with design for the entertainment world, we often deal with advertising titles that already have fans. That's why I always try to keep the fans' wishes and desires in mind in order to create the best designs possible. I try to put myself in the users' shoes.

Ohsawa: we always have a target, and I very much agree with Nakamura. Thankfully I'm often part of the target, so I can usually design things that go well together with my tastes.

-- I see! Basically, you base your designs on what kind of atmosphere you are imagining.

Ohsawa: when it comes to the titles that have been mentioned in this interview, absolutely. Of course, there are also titles where I don't fit the target. In that case, I put myself in the users' shoes and try to understand what they want.

-- Did you study design before entering this company?

Nakamura: I did, but I knew almost nothing about design (laughs). I went to a vocational school where they taught us the basics, but it was after joining this company that I learned how to think logically and studied the most even thanks to my work.

Ohsawa: I studied design at a vocational school, but they never taught us the proper way to think when designing something. We learned how to use tools such as Illustrator and Photoshop. That's why I hardly knew about design at the time I joined this company.

-- In other words, you both went from beginners to auto-sufficient professionals in less than five years.

Ohsawa: comparing my current skills to the ones I had at the beginning, I have to say I grew up quite a lot.

-- What do you focus on when designing? Also, what did you enjoy the most about the titles you dealt with so far?

Nakamura: in my case, I draw a few sketches before starting to work on the proper illustration. Since Cheer Boys!! is made of just two volumes, I enjoyed matching the two covers.

As for the package design, I also propose a hand-drawn rough illustration of composition as a proposal to the client. When the "charm of character" I thought reaches the fans, I'm happy to have conveyed the right image. I especially love to see how my works are rated on social media.

Ohsawa: I like to stick to fine details. For example, I like adding elements that will make the fans be surprised and think things like "hey, isn't this that one thing which appeared at that one time!?"

Ohsawa: for example, on the My Girlfriend is Shobitch website, there are some small details that come from the original. They're hard to notice, but fans who have enjoyed the original work will. If I can put a smile on their faces, then I'm gonna be happy.

-- We talked about the importance of keywords. What would the keywords be for Angel's 3Piece!?

Nakamura: If we talk about packaging, the keyword selection is a bit different from the one you operate with a logo, so I will talk about the packaging. Once we decided which illustration to use for the packaging, we assumed that a fancy and pretty glittery illustration will come up.

So "abstract" keywords such as "fluffy" and "sparkling" are put out, and the concept was devised so that the cuteness of elementary school students depicted by the teacher there would stand out.

-- I heard that the images such as such sparkling and fluffy are expressed as visuals using this special processing.

Nakamura: it's a special process to make a surface holographic. The back cover of the packaging is almost white, but I tried this process where I can express fluffiness while keeping a glittering effect.

-- What are your ambitions and ultimate goals?

Nakamura: realistically speaking, I'd love to win against my boss in an in-company design competition (laughs). I've never won against him, so I need to do my best in order to win within the next year.

Ohsawa: I entered the company one year after Nakamura, so I haven't been working on many titles yet. I'd like to become the art director for a large number of works, and work with the logo design in order to develop a particular title's worldview as I did with Angel's 3Piece!

-- Thank you for this thorough interview!