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Fracture: Japanese Graphic Design 1875–1975 is a profusely illustrated, dynamically designed, and easy-to-read survey of the history of Japanese graphic design. Designer, educator, critic, and historian Ian Lynam explores graphic design in Japan from its foundations in the graphic arts to the immediate pre-digital design era. Fracture is grounded by a number of essays that help readers understand the tremendous cultural shifts that have happened in Japan since it re-opened to the West, exploring modernity, imperialism, gender, commercialism, sexuality, and aesthetics.
“Ian Lynam’s scholarly and authoritative introduction to Japanese graphic design history also serves as an indispensable reference library of Japanese design masterpieces that continue to offer incredible inspiration and delight.”
– W. David Marx, author of Ametora and Status and Culture
“Ian Lynam has done a major service to every Western, non-Japanese reading graphic designer who has professed a love of Japanese design, but really did not know why. Lynam’s clear and direct text assembles a history that simply has not been available in English up to this point: he provides the historical context for close to a hundred entries on individual designers and traces the lineages of historical, typographic, and vernacular influence that enable us to look at this work with new eyes. The illustrations are generous and imaginatively chosen, and only make me wish that this book had many more pages. Ian Lynam’s Fracture is a new standard for graphic design history scholarship, and best of all, he provides a roadmap for future scholar/designers to dig even deeper into the construction of a non-Western ‘canon.’”
– Lorraine Wild, AIGA Medalist, author of Edward Fella: Letters on America
“Fracture: Japanese Graphic Design History 1875–1975 is a groundbreaking exploration of Japanese graphic design history. This work bridges gaps between global and Japanese design history, presenting Japanese graphic design in a way that demystifies its exoticism, helping readers gain a nuanced understanding of its development and influence on the broader design landscape..”
– Lars Harmsen, founder/editor of Slanted
“In the west, many Japanese contributions to graphic design have been observed intuitively but not critically understood. This book thoroughly unpacks Japanese graphic design history using a vast range of awe-inspiring and beautiful work to be appreciated and celebrated by an individual capable of straddling both cultural worlds.”
– Louise Sandhaus, AIGA Medalist, author of Earthquakes, Mudslides, Fires & Riots California and Graphic Design, 1936-1986 and A Colorful Life: Gere Kavanaugh, Designer
“This ambitious book explores the history of words and images in Japan and reveals the origins of Japanese graphic culture. The book covers a wide range of fields, including typography, illustration, art, ornamentation, book design, and advertising… but most of the images in the book are deeply rooted in the daily lives of Japanese people. Lynam has depicted the genealogy of Japanese graphic design history by placing many little-known designs alongside those that are well-known and then carefully crafted the history of Japanese graphic design from behind the scenes. Their work was often not based on lofty aesthetics or theory, but were responses to the times, society, and economic conditions in which they live(d). Taking into account the fact that design is a form of visual expression closely related to economics and society, the diverse images in this book are truly a document of Japanese graphic design history.”
– Madoka Nishi, editor-in-chief of Idea アイデア magazine
“Eschewing the shortsighted practical nature of much graphic design-oriented writing, Lynam focuses on demythologizing contemporary graphic design – opening up a new horizon of discourse both East and West.”
– Kiyonori Muroga, author of Helmut Schmid Typography and Graphic Waves
