Mystical Yokai: Kowai x Kawaii
Experience Design
Wayfinding
Art Direction
Environmental Graphics
2023
IDA International Design Awards
The first Kyoto edition establishes a nationwide blueprint for local tourism, peeling back the contemporary urban grid to reveal millenniums of hidden mysticism.
Yokai are supernatural creatures and spirits from Japanese folklore—from mischievous ghosts to animal-like shapeshifters. Deeply embedded in Shinto traditions, they remain an uncanny worldview that continues to be reimagined through contemporary manga and anime.
The zine maps out five historical sites across Kyoto, locating the specific temples and shrines where the featured Yokai folklore originated. Each entry includes curated narratives designed to be read on-site, providing travelers with immediate cultural context within the zine as they navigate the physical landscape.
The visual system centers on the "Kowai x Kawaii" (scary yet cute) aesthetic, a defining characteristic of Japanese character design. Vibrant Risograph textures reframe traditional ukiyo-e influences, bridging the layered analog processes of both techniques to transform dense archives into a tactile, eerie, and accessible experience.
The system adopts the vernacular of life-sized wooden ema—atypical site markers found at the entrances of certain shrines and temples in Japan. Functioning as the primary physical touchpoints for user orientation, these artifacts anchor the project's identity within the built environment. This spatial layer ensures system-wide continuity, transforming the contemporary urban grid into an interactive, navigable archive.