In Search of a Job to Mesmerize People: Interview with Nachi Kio [1 of 2]

A graphic designer who is mainly responsible for the design of magazines and publications has a very important role of effectively communicating the information or message to the readers and viewers using words and pictures (graphics). Sometimes, this occupation can mesmerize people, and can even give people an artistic impression.

Nachi Kio, the representative of Komeworks, is a person who actively participates in the world of “moe contents” as an art director and graphic designer. He started to widen the range of his works with Hidamari Sketch, the first separate volume manga by author Ume Aoki, for which he designed its binding and logo. As one of the results of this, he published the light novel Imouto wa Boku ni Te o Dasu na! and is also challenging himself as an author.

We interviewed Kio about why he started designing, his college years, his years as a working adult when he immersed himself in designing, and about the activities he has been involved in after becoming an independent freelancer.

TOM: Have you liked drawing ever since childhood?
Kio: My grandfather loved computers, and he owned a machine called “Apple II,” which hadn’t really appeared on the market at that time. We had it in our house, and although I was a preschooler, I loved that Apple II, and I would always touch it and play around with it. My family thought, “Well, if you like it so much,” and they bought an MSX 1 computer for me when I was in elementary school. I liked to pull lines on the screen with the “Line” command of Basic and play games on that MSX.

TOM: I heard that the first time you became conscious about designing was after your infant years and middle school, when you loved computers, that in your second year of high school, you took poster designs and other various designs as samples, and copied them. What exactly were you doing back then?
Kio: At that time, I often created invitation posters for extracurricular clubs. I wasn’t thinking about making them on a computer or DTP; I created designs on paper with pen. I read numerous books, studied lettering 2, and appreciated various posters. Looking at the works of great art directors such as Kaoru Kasai and Takayuki Soeda deeply moved me, a high schooler in the countryside.

TOM: A high school student who studied lettering! Were you aware about the “viewer of the work” from high school?
Kio: Yes. I was often thinking about things like, “What do other people think when they look at the poster I designed?” or, “What can people take in?” When there was a work that moved me, I would try to think about a reason in my own special way as to what made it so amazing. I might have been more conscious about the way the viewers perceive or feel about a work rather than making them.

Then, I learned that in the world there exists the job of graphic design, and suddenly my interest in design spontaneously became stronger, so I aimed for arts college.

TOM: After advancing to arts college, did you major in graphic design?
Kio: Well, about that (laughs). At that time, there was no Mac, so it was an era when you had to draw the color scheme and other things by hand. However, I completely lacked the foundation for that, and when I consulted my arts teacher about it, I was told that unless I went to an arts prep school and learned rough sketching for a year, it would be impossible. But, I wanted to go to college sooner and do various things. So I thought, “Are there no universities I could enroll in without taking the sketching exam?” and started searching, and that is when I learned about the existence of the Visual Concept Planning Department of Osaka University of Arts. This department only required a storyboard and scenario exam. I thought, “Well, in that case, something good might come of it,” so I took the exam and passed.

TOM: So in your college years, you learned design together with movies?
Kio: In my college years, I focused on making videos. Osaka University of Arts especially respected film production. When I was in college, a live-action movie director from Toei was enrolled as a professor. He psyched the students up with words like, “Just record a movie.” Under such circumstances, even though I wanted to learn CG and design, through my courses, I could only study films. Therefore, I would go ask the teachers of the design department or hang around at a senior’s place who owned a Mac, and he would let me use it. It’s not like I disliked studying about movies. Rather, it was interesting, and in terms of composition and “ways of showing things to people,” it was extremely useful. I was wondering what a movie supported by people was like, so I would watch the movies of Akira Kurosawa and Yasujiro Ozu, and learned about the ways of cutting a composition.

TOM: After graduating college, you finally decided to do a designing job.
Kio: Since I was a fresh graduate with no experience in design, I sent my portfolio to design offices that accepted the applications of inexperienced people as well. I sent all I had (laughs). There was a company that found me interesting and hired me, and so my life as a designer started.

The first company I entered was a company that directly received work from Hakuhodo 3. We did exchange with Japan’s major companies, such as Suntory and Toyota, and we were engaged in making designs for such clients in a group of two with the ad boss. I was 23 years old at that time. Really, I was spending all my days with design for the next year and a half without a rest. Regarding design skills, I gained quite a lot of knowledge (laughs). I learned what the ads we show people are like, and how to make people understand our message. I still use that knowledge to this day.

Also, what made it great is that I could learn in a structure of copywriter and art director – in other words, from the aspect of both copying and creating images. One of the important teachings I learned at this company is that you can’t ignore either the words or the image, otherwise you won’t be able to make anything good, and you won’t be able to touch people’s hearts with it.

TOM: And after that, when you became independent, you started moving on your own?
Kio: When I turned 25, I entered another advertising company, had subordinates, and after I learned enough about cost management and projects, I became independent. Even with that said, rather than locking myself up at home and operating alone, I went out and moved around all the time. I was agile by nature, so I would march into places, thinking, “Well then, I’ll go to a game development scene and work together with them.” Using my Macbook and pen tablet, I steadily completed the necessary designs in a fashion of flying somewhere and doing design, really. Like a traveling designer. It was pretty fun.

TOM: Even from the perspective of the clients requesting work, they must have been happy that you would go to their actual location and work with them, right?
Kio: When I became independent, I was told by the company president that whenever I get requested for work from a client to always think about what kind of people they are and why they are requesting the work. I thought that people in businesses that deal with moe content such as games would be able to accurately communicate this.

I thought that being next to the members who work together on development was a convenient way to chat with them while understanding their intentions. It’s good to go directly to where they are and work with them because there are no walls.

Thus, through this period of working directly with various game makers, I became a representative and established Komeworks. It was also around this time that I began my work as a scenario writer.

TOM: Was there anything about writing scenarios that confused you?
Kio: No, there wasn’t because I had experience writing scenarios without prior knowledge even on my entrance exam into college. I knew no fear (laughs). I understood that the PC gaming industry was in its infancy, so I often thought at times that my work would pass even if it was a bit overdone. I thought that I would first try it and if I couldn’t compete at all, then it would be okay to give up on it.

TOM: Out of your current design and scenario work, which is more fun?
Kio: I can’t compare them. Drawing designs and writing compositions are both fun. I am very blessed to be at the forefront of the industry, doing something that I enjoy. I think about that every day.

^1^ The common standard for 8-bit and 16-bit computers in 1983 conceived by Microsoft and ASCII (currently ASCII Media Works). It was designed to be a cheap personal computer that parents could buy for their children.
^2^ Choosing things like graphic size, typeface, and color to design.
^3^ One of Japan’s main advertising companies.

This is a Tokyo Otaku Mode original article.