Idea No.405 (April 2024 issue)

The more you look at it, the more interesting it becomes, a special issue that collects cross-sectional expressions of East and West, past and present.

[Special feature]
Graphics looking into the world - cross-sectional diagrams, floor plans, exploded diagrams - perspectives that depict the invisible Planning and composition: Idea Editorial Department Design: LABORATORIES (Kensaku Kato, Sae Kamata)

A city that cannot be seen with the human eye, such as structural drawings and floor plans depicting the skeletons of buildings, cross-sectional diagrams of subways and sewers that crawl underground in huge cities, and bird's-eye views of production lines inside closed factories. Visual expressions depicting the inside of buildings and structures have a mysterious charm that stirs the imagination of the viewer. The illustrations that appear in picture books, such as exploded diagrams of vehicles and machines, human anatomy diagrams, and illustrations depicting the contents of vegetables and plants, fascinate many children, and the bird's-eye views of cities and floor plans of houses remain in the memories of adults. It is also a visual device that stimulates imagination.

The act of ``seeing/drawing things that cannot be seen'' can be said to be one of the fundamental desires of humans, but since the modern era when printing technology has developed, it has become more common to see anatomical diagrams in illustrated books, newspapers, and magazines, especially in Europe and the United States. Illustrations using cross-sectional views and exploded views have become popular as illustrations. On the other hand, such expressions have a common perspective with ``infographics'' and ``data visualization,'' which have been attracting attention in the graphic field in recent years, and can be seen as an expression that connects both illustration and design. Therefore, in this special issue, we decided to explore the possibilities of visual expression (graphics) that transcend boundaries.

The eight authors featured from all over the world are active as illustrators, while others have different backgrounds, such as architects and game graphics artists. However, both of them focus on depicting the ``inside of things'' and continue to create works that capture the attention of many people by using expressions such as cross-sectional views and floor plans. In addition, in the contributions and small features in the second half of the special feature, we will introduce the work of artists who are fascinated by drawing the invisible, such as spatial expression in picture books and illustrations in the fields of maps and architecture. I hope that many readers will encounter new discoveries and excitement through their perspectives.

Edited by: Idea Editorial Department List price (tax included): 3,630 yen Release date: March 8, 2024
JAN：4910014290440

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Idea No.405 (April 2024 issue) | Seibundo Shinkosha Co., Ltd. (seibundo-shinkosha.net)