Ex-formation

For Kenya Hara, design begins with the comprehension of the unknown. The explosion of knowledge available to us today can be dangerous for a designer’s creativity. The concept of exformation, to which a chapter was already devoted in Designing Design, continues to preoccupy the Japanese designer. In contrast to information, exformation describes how little we really know and thus becomes the starting point for any type of design. Hara states: “What moves people’s hearts, in every case, is the unknown. Things that people already know don’t excite them.”

Based on a range of projects stemming from Kenya Hara’s teaching at the Musashino Art University, the book describes what exformation can look like in design practice and how this concept alters our classic understanding of information design. Following the path embarked on in Designing Design and its successor, White, Ex-formation continues to explore the void, absence and indeterminacy in contemporary design.

Each year, roughly a dozen students come together at the prestigious Musashino Art University, joining Hara in an attempt to make things unknown. Ex-formation presents their collective efforts, resulting in a book of incredibly beautiful, humorous and thought-provoking design and writing.

About the Author:

Kenya Hara (*1958) is considered the most influential designer of present-day Japan. After graduating in design from the Musashino Art University of Kodaira in 1983, he worked as a curator and graphic designer before taking on the role of art director at Muji in 2002. Hara is president of the Nippon Design Center Inc., and head of the department of Science of Design at Musashino Art University. He has published widely on his design theory, including the books Designing Design (2007), White (2009), Designing Japan (2018), and 100 Whites (2019).