Interview with: Kumiko Taura

Kumiko Taura is originally from Japan but she is a Mason Gross student at the university of Rutgers. She first transfered over 2 years ago after studyingadvertisement and now seeks a career in Graphic design.

John Casale: So what got you into graphic design?

Kumiko Taura: Well when I was in Japan I studied advertisement and thought of making my own designs that some companies may have.

John: Out of all the schools in America what made you pick Mason Gross at Rutgers University?

Kumiko: I was looking at some schools and Rutgers came across and it seemed like the had a great graphic design department.

John:What made you decide to come to America to study?

Kumiko:When I was a high school student, I joined a study abroad program and stayed in Sacramento, CA for one month. After that, I felt that I would like to study English more. That is the reason to come to U.S.

John:What did America offer that Japan did not?

Kumiko: I never attend Art school in Japan, so I do not know what a difference between American and Japanese Art School is.

John: So when making your projects who or what inspires you and for what reasons?

Kumiko: When I work on my projects, I used to try illustrating the meaning of the projects,
But now I am willing to add own interpretation to it, which is like something extra my point of view on the projects. I also would like to gain my knowledge and skills in order to improve my intuition. I learn it at Visual thinking 2 class. We never know where and how we can get our inspirations, so it could be anything for me to be inspired.

John: Does the cultural differences between Japan and America affect your own ideas for what your audience would be more attracted to since now you are in America?

Kumiko: I never think about putting Japanese culture’ essence into my projects, but it may be somehow reflected on my projects.

John: Does the America culture diffe

r from your own work in graphic design? What would you say is different or similar?

Kumiko: Not only Japan, but also many other countries tend to be more Americanize in many way, so I assume that there are not much different on culture. However, I feel that more people like cute characters, such as Hello kitty etc. even mature people in Japan compare to America. In the U.S., only those characters are only for kids.

John: Why does the character (duck) influence you in making a kids book?

Kumiko: That is my favorite project, and I just want to explore my imagination to create the story of using the character ducky.

John: How did you come up with the design of the duck?

Kumiko: I researched characters on other similar products, and then I thought the ducky would work well on my product concept, which is the product “ducky soap” is for kids and people have sensitive skin to help soothe their sensitive skin and promote sleep. The soap itself is ducky shape and float on the water.

John: Do you have an idea for what the kid's book is going to be about?

Kumiko: The main character is going to be a sleepy ducky, but I am not sure about the story, yet.

John: What do you plan on doing for your thesis?

Kumiko: On my concentration Design 3 class, I will learn type in motion, web, and interactive designs. So I would like to use those skills on my thesis project pieces.

John: For your twitter project that you showed me, what made you pick this specific artist to do your project on?

Kumiko: When I looked for the person for my project, I found an article about him. On the article, he said that his twitter broaden the possibility through networking.

John: How did you come up with the design layout and what is the meaning of that?

Kumiko: The artist wants audience to involve his projects, so there is no meaning on each sheet. I want to set up the meaning once compiling each sheet. So I would like to create the meaning after.