Pop culture has impacted the lives of many people, surrounding individuals with a storm of ideas, natural influence, a wave of cultural aesthetics. Tokyo Pop Lab draws inspiration from this natural phenomenon, encasing itself with branding that expresses its many global influences through an interactive design aesthetic.
Tokyo Pop Lab explores the influence of international cultures adapted by Japan alongside the world's fascination of Japanese culture. The strategy required the development of a physical space that explored different facets of culture for visitors seeking education on the relationship Japan with the outside world. This includes color-coded sections of the facility designated to focus on individual topics of discussion.
Music, fine art, food, history, pop culture, and film are some of the conversations held across multiple stations. To provide an in-depth experience, each station is categorized by a designated color per visit to allow visitors to fully understand the proposed subject matter at hand. The overall flow of the space leads visitors on a specialized, educational and interactive journey, ending with the incentive to revisit the space once again using another color.
From a visual branding perspective, the branded materials start with Japan's red sun morphing into an abstracted paint blob. Conceptually, the paint symbolizes the first step towards painting onto a blank canvas. That blank canvas is your customized journey through the space, and each visitor has control over how their experience evolves over the time visited. Each photograph represents a captured moment in time, referencing the timeless feeling of newsprint with a stippled, textural treatment.
The overall structure of the facility represents a storm cloud in motion. With its whimsical binding nature, the design symbolizes the flooding of culture within the space itself. Interior panels in the building's atrium references rain, representing the organic fluidity of outside culture and the effect it has brought into Japan. Once the tour is complete, visitors have the option to visit the cafe. Its open natural walls cladded with cedar and cypress provide a hospitable enclave, symbolically representing the calm after the storm.