Design Magazine AXIS

Design Magazine AXIS was first published in 1981, the same time as the opening of AXIS Design Center. Its contents have been distinguished from general magazines with unique special features, bilingual texts, and high-quality layouts. The reliability, network, and planning/editing abilities that have been fostered since its first publication are highly favored by the creative community mainly of designers involved in service and product development, as well as highly influential opinion leaders.

Design Magazine AXIS

Web Magazine AXIS

Web Magazine AXIS is a media platform operated by the editorial department of Design Magazine AXIS. As a form of media to stimulate readers’ creativity, it provides information that encourages readers to become familiar with and casually experience design both from Japan and abroad in everyday life, beyond the borders of the existing design field.

Web magazine AXIS

AXIS Forum is a talk event where people who have featured on Design Magazine AXIS, as well as leading designers, architects and creators from Japan and abroad, and those who are engaged in creative activities in fields other than design, talk about their own projects and concepts. The events are also streamed online, linking various national and international venues, and archived videos are available after the event.

AXIS Forum
動画配信

Utilizing our knowledge of editing, we provide various support for companies.
For more information, please see Examples of Collaboration.

Visit the Examples of Collaboration page

AXIS edits and publishes design books that explore design in depth by theme, to introduce discovered ideas, methods, and knowledge to society. Our wide variety of design publications include books that explore the works and thoughts of artists such as Issey Miyake and Achille Castiglioni, the design history of companies producing cutting-edge designs such as Apple and Sony, design collections that influenced the generation, as well as architecture and the IT industry.

Utilizing our knowledge of editing, we provide various support for companies.
For more information, please see Examples of Collaboration.

  • THE COVER STORIES — Interviews with 115 designers

    THE COVER STORIES
    — Interviews with 115 designers

    Author: AXIS editorial department

    This compilation book includes 20 years of cover stories featuring leading designers, from Ettore Sottsass in Vol. 70 of 1997 to Gen Terao in Vol. 186 of 2017. It introduces the unique stories of 115 designers, who have created “current” design by believing in its possibilities.

    Format
    Approximate A4 format deluxe edition, 480 pages, color
    Price
    11,000 yen
    Date of publication
    2018
  • Fujitsu Design Book 1 and 2

    Fujitsu Design Book 1 and 2

    Author: Fujitsu Design Book editorial committee

    Understanding people, society, and technology, creating a future vision based on human experience and behavioral principles, developing a mechanism to realize the vision, and designing necessary services, objects, and spaces in a comprehensive manner—the design philosophy of Fujitsu Design was developed to put these into practice. This book introduces its full picture.

    Format
    25.8 x 18.5 x 1 cm, 121 pages
    Date of publication
    2017
  • Design Shinan—No one knows what the future holds

    Design Shinan—No one knows what the future holds

    Author: Eiji Hayashi

    Eiji Hayashi, a former chief editor of Design Magazine AXIS and an expert in the design world, describes an axis of design in this book based on examples and from diverse perspectives, like a “shinan” compass used in ancient China.

    Format
    21 x 10 cm, 212 pages, color and black & white, 5 book set
    Date of publication
    2014
  • Achille Castiglioni—Design as a Pursuit of Freedom

    Achille Castiglioni—Design as a Pursuit of Freedom

    Author: Yosuke Taki

    This book is a compilation of “From the Legacy of the Castiglioni Brothers,” a serial article in Design Magazine AXIS from August 2004 to February 2006, with substantial revisions. It also includes a foreword and commentary by Gianfranco Cavaglià, an architect who worked with Castiglioni for 30 years.

    Format
    A5 format, 304 pages, color and partially black & white
    Date of publication
    2007

AXIS Books

  • Views from the Garden

    Views from the Garden

    Author: Kobun Ito

    The author explains a new way of interpreting and viewing gardens. This book is a compilation of “Views from the Garden,” a serialized article in Design Magazine AXIS from February 2001 to February 2005.

    Format
    Approximate A5 format, 192 pages, black & white and partially color
    Date of publication
    2006
  • at the Heart of Life

    at the Heart of Life

    Editor: AXIS editorial department

    The kitchen as a place for communication is the center of our future lives. This book joyfully examines new relationships between lifestyle and kitchen, exploring the homes of famous designers and other unique properties from Japan and abroad.

    Format
    Approximate A4 format edition, 128 pages, color
    Date of publication
    2005
  • Panasonic/National

    Panasonic/National

    Editor: AXIS editorial department

    The meaning and form of design as creation of new values are examined in this book through Panasonic/National products. It also introduces the company’s design vision for the 21st century, along with concept models.

    Format
    Approximate A4 format edition, 240 pages, full color
    Date of publication
    2000
  • 100 DESIGNS, 100 YEARS: Innovative Designs of the 20th Century

    100 DESIGNS, 100 YEARS: Innovative Designs of the 20th Century

    Authors: Mel Byars, Arlette Barré-Despond

    Design has been evolving and enriching our lives. This book introduces the best designs of the 100 years from 1900 to 1999, along with the social backgrounds.

    Format
    19 x 19 cm, 216 pages, color
    Date of publication
    2000
  • Digital Dreams (Japanese edition)

    Digital Dreams (Japanese edition)

    Author: Paul Kunkel

    This book focuses on the previously unrevealed Sony Design Center, and keenly examines its design strategy, revealing the company's vision for the 21st century.

    Format
    Approximate A4 format edition, 208 pages, color
    Date of publication
    1999
  • ISSEY MIYAKE MAKING THINGS (Japanese edition)

    ISSEY MIYAKE MAKING THINGS (Japanese edition)

    Editor: Cartier Foundation for Contemporary Art

    This book is a visual introduction of Issey Miyake’s works, founded on his unique concept of “a Piece of Cloth.” It sheds light on the originality of his works, which continue to propose more flexible and lighter forms of clothing.

    Format
    Approximate A4 format edition, 176 pages, color
    Date of publication
    1999
  • iMac Design:the birth of the new

    iMac Design: the Birth of the New

    Authors: Kazutoshi Otani and Noriko Takiguchi

    This book covers topics from iMac development to the possibilities of new computers. It also includes CAD data, rough sketches, and personal items that provided inspiration.

    Format
    21 x 21 cm, 60 pages, color
    Date of publication
    1999
  • super team POLYGON PICTURES

    super team POLYGON PICTURES

    Editor: Hiroko Doi

    A biography of Toshifumi Kawahara, a leading figure in the CG industry and a world-renowned producer.

    Format
    Approximate A4 format edition, 93 pages, color
    Date of publication
    1998
  • Apple Design (Japanese edition)

    Apple Design (Japanese edition)

    Author: Paul Kunkel

    Apple is popular for its unique designs. Focusing on the Apple Industrial Design Group, this book introduces behind-the-scenes stories of the development and mockups since Apple was established.

    Format
    Approximate A4 format edition, 288 pages, color
    Date of publication
    1998

AXIS Font

AXIS Font

The font was exclusively developed for Design Magazine AXIS, based on the idea that “a font represents the voice of a magazine.” The purpose of this neat and stylish font is to express the uniqueness of AXIS and to create a sense of unity in the bilingual magazine. With a wide selection of weights, the font is now popular among many users and used in a wide range of fields, including corporate product packagings, exhibitions, and videos.

Characteristics

  • Sans-serif

    Has high visibility with emphasis on the stability of layout.
    Modern and simple.

  • A sense of unity when mixing Japanese and Latin texts

    Committed to providing compatibility of the Japanese typeface and Latin typeface designs.

  • Clear and smart expression

    The character surface ratio is set to create an “airy” look taking advantage of the white background, to give a “clean” impression.

  • Beautiful bilingual text

    Beautiful in horizontal layouts. High quality of the Latin typeface design alone.

Good Design Award

2003年
AXIS Font (Basic)
2008年
AXIS Font (Condensed, Compressed)
2010年
AXIS Font Latin (Basic, Condensed, Compressed)
AXIS Gallery

AXIS Gallery opened in 1981, together with the opening of AXIS Design Center, as a place for disseminating diverse designs. Through exhibitions unique to AXIS under innovative themes, it widely introduces outstanding designs and philosophies to society. At the same time, it can be used as a multi-purpose rental-space that can be used for various events, such as graduation exhibitions of design universities, exhibitions of corporate design departments, and various presentations and workshops.

Previous AXIS Special Exhibitions and Cooperative Exhibitions

Since its opening in 1981, AXIS Gallery has hosted themed exhibitions filled with proposals, including exhibitions that were ahead of their time and exhibitions of works never released to the world before.

Previous AXIS Special Exhibitions and Cooperative Exhibitions過去のAXIS企画・協力展

Exhibition : Ettore Sottsass/ Richard Saul Wurman/Lavable Continuous Design
Super Normal/ Exit to Safety-What Design Can Do/ Promise for the Future

AXIS Design Center

AXIS Design Center

AXIS building was opened on September, 1981 in Iigura-Katamachi, Roppongi, Tokyo. It was part of the first design project led by the private sector and is popularly known as the “AXIS building.” It is also the center of AXIS Inc. which started various activities through Design Magazine AXIS and AXIS Gallery as a “medium to promote design and lifestyles,” and inside the building, directly managed stores such as Living Motif and Le Garage and stores with design mindsets come together. We celebrated our 40th anniversary in 2021, and with the knowledge we have accumulated over many years, we continue to question how design can be significant for society.

AXIS Design Center
Shops and Showrooms

  • AXIS Gallery
  • AURAS
  • Audo Copenhagen
  • courage de vivre
  • JIDA Design Museum
  • Taka Ishii Gallery Photography / Film
  • TOM'S GARDEN
  • Japanese cuisine Hishinuma
  • NUNO
  • Bang & Olufsen Roppongi
  • BIBLIOPHILE
  • Brasserie Va-tout
  • YOSHIKIN
  • LapiArts
  • LIVING MOTIF
  • LE GARAGE
AXIS Design Center