Hello, this is sales department Ando.

There is a line of shops near the Marunouchi South Gate at Tokyo Station. "PRESS BUTTER SAND" is a butter sandwich specialty store operated by BAKE Co., Ltd. A fragrant scent keeps attracting tourists and people passing by (the author is one of them).

In the 8th "Adventures around Fonts", we visited the head office in Shirokanedai, Tokyo to talk with Mr. Yumiko Kakizaki, who is in charge of creatives at BAKE Co., Ltd. We asked Mr. Kakizaki, who was involved in the development of the "PRESS BUTTER SAND" brand, in detail about the brand concept, design intent, and future development based on sophisticated Packaging design.

Yumiko Kakizaki
After graduating from the Department of Visual Communication Design at Musashino Art University, after working at a design office, joined BAKE Inc. in 2016. Engaged in promotion of each brand, production of store graphics, etc., and launch of “PRESS BUTTER SAND” and “Chocolaphil”. Currently Director of Creative Department of BAKE Inc.

Tokyo Station as the "starting point" of the story

--Kakizaki, nice to meet you. Last week, I enjoyed your company's cheese tart and butter sandwich (laughs). I look forward to working with you today!

Kakizaki: Thank you (laughs). Thank you for your cooperation.

--Please tell us about the story when you joined the company in 2016. After joining the company, I heard that you were involved in the creation of the BAKE CHEESE TART symbol mark.

Kakizaki: Originally, it was only a character string (called BAKE CHEESE TART), but it became a story that a symbol mark was necessary when expanding overseas, so after joining BAKE, I focused on producing the symbol mark.

――What is the concept of this symbol mark?

Kakizaki: It's a skeleton. BAKE had a mind to scrape away various things and leave only good ones, so I created a new symbol mark in the image of the frame of the building.

BAKE CHEESE TART was a brand for the third year at that time, and many fans already attached it. Therefore, when making the symbol mark, we made the best use of the assets we had originally, and added alpha to it to create a design that would be naturally accepted.

Above all, organizing the concepts also provided a good opportunity to redefine the BAKE CHEESE TART brand concept "Authentic & Joy."

-PRESS BUTTER SAND Please tell us about the history of the start.

Persimmon: PRESS BUTTER SAND was an opportunity for BAKE to take the first challenge in the box confectionery Categories. In addition, when I started working on this project, it was almost decided to open the first store at Tokyo Station.

Get the best property at Tokyo Station and make the best souvenirs there! When. For BAKE, it was an opportunity for two new challenges, the boxed confectionery Categories and the opening of Tokyo Station.

――What is the appeal of the PRESS BUTTER SAND product itself?

Persimmon: It's where cookies, cream, and caramel are combined to maximize the deliciousness of butter. In light of the founder's thoughts, we decided to focus on butter and make it a sweet that allows you to concentrate on the taste of butter. Butter sandwich for lovers of butter. I think that is the greatest appeal of the product.

There are fans who want to eat only cookies, cream, caramel and their ingredients because they are so complete (laughs). I'm proud that the butter sandwich is delicious even if it is broken down.

――From here, we would like to ask about the Packaging design of PRESS BUTTER SAND. Was this design done by Mr. Kakizaki?

Kakizaki: Yes. BAKE's in-house creatives take the form of one brand or more, and be in charge of everything from the entrance to the exit. With regard PRESS BUTTER SAND, 2017 April brand from launch about two years Packaging, posters, flavor of the Packaging, such as over-the-counter of VMD (Visual Merchandising), was responsible in my alone.

――The Japanese logo of PRESS BUTTER SAND (“Press Butter Sand”) has a classical atmosphere.

Kakizaki: This logo is also related to Tokyo Station (the first store of PRESS BUTTER SAND). The station itself at Tokyo Station is a symbol of modernization in Japan and is full of wisdom of modern architecture. I really like the feeling that the technologies are concentrated and I can open a store there, so I strongly thought, "I want to design with a relationship with Tokyo Station."

I think that the letters reflect the atmosphere of the times, so I thought that the atmosphere would match the atmosphere of Tokyo Station, which reproduced the appearance at the time of construction, and I thought the Japanese logo would be based on the Tsukiji Gokana. I made it.

-I see, there was such a background! Also, Tsukushi A Old Mincho was added as one of the main fonts.

Kakizaki: From the perspective of readability, I thought it would be difficult to compose the Text in the same typeface as the logotype. It is not suitable for a wide variety of displays such as posters, leaflets and the Web. Then, it was Tsukushi A Old Mincho that surfaced.

--What is the charm of Tsukushi A Old Mincho, which Kakizaki thinks?

Kakizaki: The edges are tight, but the halai is long and beautiful. I like Tsukushi A Old Mincho because it has the classic elements and is modernized and modernized for easy reading. It was quiet, but I chose it without hesitation because it was readable.

――While I made the base of Japanese in Tsukiji Go-Kana and Tsukushi A Old Mincho, I can see many Western letters in the Packaging.

Kakizaki: It's a Japanese sweet, but I didn't want to shake it completely. With the theme of modernity and exoticism, we have adopted the image of the atmosphere of a souvenir shop in a foreign country and adopted Western characters.

Tokyo station itself is a place where industrial elements are symbolically displayed, so it is mass production but I want to design like an overseas industrial product that feels blurring or taste, the brand logotype is Futura, the side of the Packaging The numbers are Baskerville (metal type).

Originally, I was thinking about building a Packaging with parentheses only in Western languages (laughs), but reconsidering that if you are aiming for a souvenir that represents Japan, you should also include Japanese sentences. I thought about the design based on the Japanese logo.

--The contrast between the gray color that covers the entire Packaging and the orange color on the sticker is also very unique.

Kakizaki: The core of the motif around this design is "iron." As a premise, it is also the "iron" of the railway, and seeing how the PRESS BUTTER SAND is being prototyped one by one, he said, "It's a cookie baked with "iron"." Inspired by that, the design has an industrial feel.

On the other hand, a vivid orange is added to remind you when the iron melts. The iron plate has a static image (gray), and the molten iron has a dynamic image (orange), and I want to make a contrast in color.

--When you heard the episode of PRESS BUTTER SAND's Packaging design, I felt that "Tokyo Station" was at every base point.

Kakizaki: The place where the brand starts is very important, and I think that the symbolic place determines the brand image. Considering now, it's not a story that you can get a lot of vacant properties at Tokyo Station, and it was very big that you were able to hold down Tokyo Station as the starting point of the story.

"I really respect the Type Designers"

- Now, I think that if you can hear the history of the past's Kaki﨑the "point of contact with the character."

Persimmon Iwasaki: In terms of the contact point between the characters, most stores located in the edit the original cassette tape along with her sister, in making their own albums, very fancy the title part of the artist and song it is that I was writing Te. Or represented by a handwriting appropriate to the tune of taste, it had been or write outside of the play list also elaborate character (laughs).

After, it was selling Inreta (instant lettering) in the neighborhood of the stationery shop. And amazing Hama at that time, enjoyed by Dari formed a character in my own to buy at 100 yen.

- funny (laughs). Will design at school life was in the center of life?

Persimmon Iwasaki: Yes. Junior high school, attended the attached school of high school and Joshibi University of Art and Design. And friends are too good at oil painting and plaster drawing around, it did not at all able to have confidence in the fine system (laughs). However, I and the simple picture of organized state to have noticed and liked in the original rules, others and be good at talking to produce the output, at the time of high school, hesitation not Display went on.

I'd also been able to go to college even above it (Joshibi), I was enrolled at Musashino Art University and I wanted to also look at the outside world.

――Are there any designers who Kakizaki was influenced by, or who you adore?

Kakizaki: It's not because your company is a font maker, but I really respect the Type Designers. It is designed to have tens of thousands of characters that are extremely valuable, and we have the feeling that we usually use it.

My personal hero is Akira Kobayashi (*). Seeing that Japanese people who grew up in Japan had revised the Western fonts such as Optima and Frutiger, I was impressed that even Japanese people could design Western fonts that way.

I like Tadao Ando. He said, "99% of the time I'm doing creative activities, it's hard. I'm doing it just for a moment of joy, and then it's hard again." I warn myself that I think that is the case with such a big man (laughs). After quitting a career as a professional boxer, you can learn about architecture by yourself, or you can go on a journey of overseas wandering for several years and gain further learning.

Also, my father's influence is great. His father was in charge of drawing drawings of plumbing equipment. There was a drawing stand in my parents' house, lots of lottling (German drafting and writing instrument brands) tools in my house, and blue-green drawings were rounded up in a corner of the house, and it was so cool. .. I often played with my father on N gauge railroad models and plastic models.

* Akira Kobayashi, 1960-
After graduating from the Department of Visual Communication Design, Musashino Art University, joined Shaken Co., Ltd. and was involved in the development of Japanese typefaces. After retiring from Shaken Co., Ltd., he studied calligraphy at the London College of Printing and worked as a freelance Type Designers. In 2001, became the typeface director of Linotype (now Monotype). So far, he has been in charge of rewriting Western fonts such as Optima and Frutiger, and developing more than 50 font families including DIN Next, Akko Pro and Neue Frutiger. Recently, he oversaw the development of Monotype's first original Japanese typeface, "Tazugane".

――It's really nice that your father is in that lineup too! Please tell us how Kakizaki-san, who has been greatly influenced by all three of you, has the attitude and grace of being a designer.

Kakizaki: I think that things are made up of "relationships", so it is important to carefully investigate the design target and its surroundings. For example, I love to dig deep into a site and find "Here and here are connected" without thinking about whether or not it reflects in the design. About 90% of the knowledge is not used at all (laughs).

Above all, I think design is a “trigger” that brings out things that exist in people's memories and original experiences. Through the exhaustive research, I try to design only to extract only what is really necessary for a brand, product, or service.

――Is Mr. Kakizaki the type that makes sense in design?

Kakizaki: There are both times when you need to work on things and when you feel like moving forward. Basically, I think I often think from the image of color. However, I try to assemble the story so that I can explain it to others at any time.

In my previous job, I had many opportunities to take charge of Packaging design and branding of general consumer goods, and corporate identity of a company, and my clients were really diverse. Originally, the company started from industrial design, and logical thinking was thoroughly trained here.

In spite of consumer goods, I was constantly asked to explain the design and colors, and I was always asked "Why is this typeface?" Somehow it can't be said naturally. With just one typeface selection, the tone of the message that the product or brand wants to change also changes. In my previous job, I was particularly aware of the task of incorporating my emotional parts into the design.

――Mr. Kakizaki, could you tell us about the best hit work in your previous job?

Kakizaki: This is a canned mackerel design called "La Cantine" (Maruha Nichiro). At that time, Maruha Nichiro was also aiming for new targets and new sales channels. I was working with a major Advertisement agency, but the members I was working with were near the age of me. In the same generation with each other, life Styles went to face squarely to the transformation of.

Regarding the design of canned food, I repeated the process of digging in myself and arranging external factors and digging in. Lastly, I was convinced that when I put out what I feel as it is, it fits with the times, and when it fits with the life of the target, I can go to the next stage. "La Cantine" was the turning point of my career, receiving the Japan Packaging Design Award (2015).

――I personally feel that it was inevitable for Mr. Kakizaki to be involved in PRESS BUTTER SAND, while listening to his history and various experiences with BAKE.

Kakizaki: You can say that you've packed your favorite things into PRESS BUTTER SAND (laughs). Earlier, when someone from another department suddenly asked me, "What kind of design is Mr. Kakizaki's favorite design?" and when I was wondering what it was, the team designer asked "Here (PRESS BUTTER SAND) is full of what Kaki-san likes, isn't he? (laughs)

――Please tell us about your future outlook on PRESS BUTTER SAND, which is filled with Kakizaki's thoughts.

Kakizaki: We launched "Butter Sand
" at the opening of Kyoto Station last year, and "Butter Sand
" at the opening of Hakata Station last year. With regard to PRESS BUTTER SAND, I have a desire to create a flavor unique to that land. I want people from that area to be happy, and when people from other areas came in contact with that information, they said, "Kyoto has Uji Matcha, it's good!" and finally "To eat Uji Matcha." Let's go to Kyoto!"

Exactly as I do, when I travel, I want to enjoy the local food, and usually buy souvenirs. I always think that it is a culture unique to Japan, and I want to make the No. 1 souvenir selected in that area. I would be more happy if I could play a part in boosting the local area. ​
――Mr. Kakizaki, do you like traveling?
​​
Kakizaki:
I love traveling. When I travel, I like to have something I can bring home with me.

Last year, I went to Azerbaijan. The "Haydar Aliyev Center" designed by Zaha Hadid, 1950-2016, a museum built for the third President of Azerbaijan, Heydar Aliyev, 1923-2003. I flew to Azerbaijan, but it was a real shock.

There are good and bad methods by which powerful people make huge investments to build buildings, but I think that both the technology and the design of the architecture have been raised as a result. Personally, I even had the admiration that I could build such a wonderful building (laughs). Next time, I want to go to neighboring Georgia! ​

After Recording After the interview ...

"We also want to make owned media like'THE BAKE MAGAZINE'."

When I was drinking coffee with Mamezo at a cafe near my office last April, I was suddenly thrown a word like this. Mamezo-san was completely fascinated by those who are serious about their creativity under the name of "changing the confectionery industry."

As a result of his enthusiasm and the cooperation of the author, "Fontworks Magazine" was launched in April last year. While updating to "Blog" in January this year, I was able to visit a company that can be said to be the "origin" at the last interview of this year, and both Mamezo and the author were impressed.

I couldn't help but be excited about Mr. Kakizaki's font bias, which I interviewed this time. While listening to Mr. Kakizaki's story, such as selecting fonts based on his own taste of "I like overseas industrial products" and taking a lot of letters in the city when traveling, I smell the same. Needless to say, I felt it (laughs).

Like Azerbaijan mentioned above, like the latest Netherlands, the inspiration gained through his hobby of traveling is the driving force of his creation. I personally enjoy the further evolution of the "works" that Mr. Kakizaki deals with!

Date of coverage: February 21, 2020
Photo = Mamezo