JItoZU

JItoZU (字と図) is a design office in Towada, Aomori, run by copywriter and editor Chieko Yoshida and graphic designer and art director Susumu Yoshida. The pair moved there and build their work around the region’s climate and culture, producing logo marks, packaging, posters, book and editorial design, signage and art direction for clients across Aomori.

The studio describes its role as solving clients’ vague, unresolved problems through design, and works as editors as much as designers: research, interviews, writing and editing run alongside the visual work, so identity and language develop together.

Output ranges from food, drink and local product packaging to posters and flyers for cultural and tourism projects, with commissions from Tokyo, Akita and as far as Ishigaki. Recognition includes the iF Design Award and the Good Design Award.