You created a cover for Shift this month – what kind of images ran through your heads when brainstorming, and tell us a bit about the process.

Shinzo: I initially felt a strong energy beaming out of “SHIFT” itself – as if it had something to say that had not yet been put into words. With covers, it’s common to create a typographical expression of the title. Yet typography wasn’t the answer this time. It’s hard to explain, but it just wasn’t. I wanted to face this project from a completely different angle, a different approach.

Yugo and I were directors for this project and Kazutoshi Shiraishi, a new member of bA, constructed the Flash work. (His work can be seen at “Flash Effect” By the way, that’s him barking at us in the back… He’s one of our young and wild ones, flying free as a lark. And our own sound director, Masaomi Kurihara, composed the music. He has been researching music for the Web at bA, and is one to watch for with upcoming broadband age.

Is there anyone who you’ve been heavily influenced by from the design world?

Yugo: Some people I’ve been influence by John Maeda: I first learned the meaning of “interactive” from his works. Dextro: Of all the people and things I’ve encountered on the Web, this is seriously funny. Seeing this was impetus for me to create something of my own on the web.

Shinzo: Someone I’ve been influenced by Alexey Brodovitch. But since my youth, people from all walks of life have influenced me. So it’s difficult to mention just one person. The important factor is whether or not I’ve been able to fully digest what I’ve learned.

Last question, how about a message to the readers, or any information about what is coming up.

Yugo: In the near feature, bA is going to be working on more large-scale sites. Regarding the launch of our own bA site, one of my hopes is to create a space that exhibits the kind of collaboration that goes on at bA. It’ll probably become something like a small showcase that displays the rather extreme aspects of our works. As for myself, I’d like to continue to work on projects in various fields. Recently I’ve been involved with Movement Exhibition in Sendai.

Shinzo: Well, I think we need to work on our own site for a change! But seriously, as I mentioned before, bA is currently working on building strategies and solutions, planning, developing, creating and managing projects, supporting businesses from a variety of angles. There are many companies with a similar profile, but the significant difference is the way our company is structured and is constantly evolving with fresh staff.
BA has also had numerous experiences with large projects and these projects keep coming. We’re looking forward to doing more works that allow our designers to really bring out their own style and color.
We welcome new ideas and talents and are offering opportunities to assistants as well as interns. If you think you’d like to make some noise at bA, join us!
Feel free to contact us to info@b-architects.com, and let’s talk face2face.

Business Architects Inc.
Address: Gobancho YS Bldg. 12-3 Gobancho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo
Tel: +81 (0)3 3512 2541
info@b-architects.com
https://www.b-architects.com