Postwar Japanese Poster vs Hatsusaburō Panoramic Map

戦後日本のポスターデザイン / 初三郎式鳥瞰図

Postwar Japanese Poster comes from Regional Graphics and Hatsusaburō Panoramic Map from Diagrammatic Expression. Both are read here as style. They are reached for with some of the same intent, which is where they get confused.

Postwar Japanese Poster

Postwar Japanese Poster — 亀倉雄策 東京オリンピック公式ポスター第1号 1961（笹川スポーツ財団より引用）Postwar Japanese Poster — 亀倉雄策 東京オリンピック1964 ポスター（DNPニュースリリースより引用）Postwar Japanese Poster — 東京オリンピック1964 公式ポスター（展示風景） — Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 2.0

Photography, flat color, calligraphy and traditional motifs, recomposed differently by each designer.

Hatsusaburō Panoramic Map

Hatsusaburō Panoramic Map — 吉田初三郎『伊勢名所図会』 — Wikimedia Commons / Public domainHatsusaburō Panoramic Map — 『青梅鉄道沿線名所図会』（CC0）Hatsusaburō Panoramic Map — 台湾博覧会鳥瞰図 1935 — Wikimedia Commons / Public domain

The tourist bird's-eye map style perfected by Hatsusaburō Yoshida: extravagantly curved horizons, exaggerated landmarks and a view that pulls distant cities into one sheet, turning Taishō and Shōwa era travel into pictorial maps.

Postwar Japanese PosterHatsusaburō Panoramic Map
Era1950s–1990s1913–1950s
FamilyRegional GraphicsDiagrammatic Expression
KindStyleStyle
CuesBold flatness / Photography and calligraphy / Personal symbols / Precise constructionCurving horizons / Exaggerated landmarks / Extreme wide-angle views / Painterly color
Best used forAnnouncing an exhibition or a cultural program with one image and little copy · Setting mixed Japanese and Latin text precisely so it reads as high gradeConveying a destination's whole layout and access in one enjoyable sheet · Placing distant landmarks on one view by ignoring real distance
TypeTighten Japanese text into a block and divide roles between calligraphy and typeVertical brush lettering for place names, larger for the famous ones
CompositionRun a central axis, fix the margins, then cut down to a few elementsCurve the horizon strongly and stretch the featured area toward the viewer
MaterialFlat printed color, photographic tone, the white of the paper, few inks laid heavilyPale watercolor ground with shrine vermilion and mountain green printed over
CautionPlacing traditional motifs is only borrowing. Do not flatten the work into one Japanese look, and check how construction differs by designer, decade and advertised subject.Pushing curve and exaggeration until the order of the route breaks gives a map that is fun to look at and useless on the ground.

Put these two together

Regional Graphics ／ Diagrammatic Expression

IndexStyle