2015 DNP Foundation for Cultural Promotion Research Grants for Academic Studies Relating to Graphic Design and Graphic Art,Selected Research Topics
Screening Process and Results
In its second year, the DNP Foundation for Cultural Promotion research grants program attracted a total of 45 applications from all around the world.This number demonstrates that research scholars worldwide are steadily becoming aware of the program's existence—a development that pleases us greatly.
As last year, the grant winners for 2015 were decided in a two-part screening process: the first part consisting of evaluation of the application documents by a committee of six judges, and the second part a final evaluation session on September 30 attended by the complete judging panel. After lengthy discussions of the merits of the finalists, ultimately the judges selected a total of 13 research topics to receive grant awards. Twelve topics were chosen in Category A, which encompasses research on graphic design or graphic art in general, and one topic was selected in Category B, which calls for research relating to graphic designer Ikko Tanaka.
As might be expected, a large number of applications focused on topics relating to the history of graphic design or art history. However, highly appealing applications were also received on topics dealing with the social sciences or engineering―a trend that reaffirmed the social significance and potential of this program created to support academic research in graphic culture. In evaluating the submitted applications, the judges carefully considered their respective merits from a wide variety of perspectives including novelty, originality, social or scholastic significance, and appropriateness as a research project. They also sought to select winners presenting a well-balanced slate of topics from diverse fields. These criteria ultimately enabled the selection of a highly varied group of ambitious research topics all of outstanding quality.
We wish the newly selected grant winners the greatest success in carrying out their research, and we look forward to learning of their results.
Hiroshi Kashiwagi
Screening Committee Chairman
DNP Foundation for Cultural Promotion
Application Overview
Application Period: May 1 through July 10, 2015
Number of Applications
| Subtotal | Breakdown | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Domestic | Overseas | ||
| Category A | 43 | 39 | 4 |
| Category B | 2 | 2 | 0 |
| Total | 45 | 41 | 4 |
2015 Selected Research Topics
| Category | Research Topic | Applicant Affiliated Institution |
Grant Amount (JPY) |
|---|---|---|---|
A |
Visions of the postwar capital: "Tokyo" and graphic design in visual communication |
Kei OSAWA Associate Researcher, The University Museum, The University of Tokyo |
500,000 |
A |
Free Prints in Early Modern Japan: Collection Surveys and Case Studies |
Niels Van Steenpaal Associate Professor, Graduate School of Education, Kyoto University former Assistant Prof., Hakubi Center, Kyoto University |
500,000 |
A |
RANJI, The Roots of Japanese Commercial Graphic Design, and the Successors |
Ako YOSHINO Lecturer (part-time), School of Information Studies, Shizuoka Sangyo University |
500,000 |
A |
Color Barrier Free Displays in Disaster Situations |
Kensei TSUCHIDA Professor, The Faculty of Information Sciences and Arts, Toyo University |
500,000 |
A |
Eiko Ishioka: Legend of Timeless Design |
Koichi KAWAJIRI Visiting Professor, Tohoku University of Art And Design |
350,000 |
A |
Study of Vernacular Belief Practice with the Visualization of the Dead |
Takemi ODAJIMA Research Specialist, School of Arts and Letters, Tohoku University |
500,000 |
A |
The drawing textbooks made of woodcut as media in the Meiji era: A study on arts dissemination of Kyoto painting circles through school education |
Shimpei TAKEUCHI Associate Professor, Nara University of Education |
500,000 |
A |
Political Graphic Art in the Philippines during the Marcos Period |
Raiji KURODA Chief Curator, Fukuoka Asian Art Museum |
500,000 |
A |
A study on the British illustrated newspaper "The Graphic"
and the revival of Fancy Pictures in the 19th century |
Naoki SATO Associate Professor, Tokyo University of the Arts |
500,000 |
A |
How to make a living as a graphic designer? ―A comparative study between Japan and France on the role of copyright |
Makoto NAGATSUKA Professor, Hitotsubashi University |
500,000 |
A |
Representation of girls and its consumption in advertisements of modern Japan |
Shiori MAEKAWA Museum and Archives, Kyoto Institute of Technology |
500,000 |
A |
Language x Design x Community: Role of Design in Endangered Language Revitalization Study |
Masahiro YAMADA Researcher, Kinugasa Reserch Organization, Ritsumaikan University former Program Specific Assistant Prof., KUASU, C-PIER, Kyoto University |
400,000 |
B |
Expression in Paper Cutout of Ikko Tanaka Analyzed through
the DNP Foundation for Cultural Promotion's "Ikko Tanaka Archives" |
Satoshi FUKUYA Curator, Nara Prefectural Museum of Art |
500,000 |
2015 Continuation Grants (2014 Selected Research Topics)
| Category | Research Topic | Applicant Affiliated Institution |
Grant Amount (JPY)2014 Grant Amount |
|---|---|---|---|
A |
Posters in Modern Japan―Adaptation, Creation, and Development― |
Natsuko TAJIMA Curator, Ome Municipal Museum of Art |
500,000 500,000 |
A |
Onomatopoeia of East Asia that is analyzed from the point of view of typography ―A study on similarity and difference |
Kyongkyun KIM Professor, School of Visual Arts Dept. of Design, Korea National University of Arts |
400,000 500,000 |
A |
Fundamental Research on the History of Modern Pornography as Graphic Culture |
Gen ADACHI Independent Scholar |
300,000 300,000 |
A |
Reflections on the Concept of Standardization of Paper Formats (Weltformat) in the Modernist Movement in Graphic Design: On Another "Bridge (Die Brucke)" |
Fumiko GOTO Associate Professor, Faculty of Letters, Keio University |
500,000 500,000 |
A |
Dr. Frantz Stoedtner's Glass Slide as the Teaching Materials ―A Way of New Knowledge Acquisition during the Meiji and the Taisho Era |
Tsumiki WADA Invited Assistant Professor, Museum and Archives, Kyoto Institute of Technology |
100,000 250,000 |
A |
Developing an Environment to Realize the Creation and Proliferation of Diversified Graphic Design: A Social Science Perspective |
Ryu KOJIMA Associate Professor, Faculty of Law, Kyushu University |
300,000 300,000 |
B |
Ikko Tanaka's Design Activities in the 1950s: An Analysis of a Turning Point in Japanese Postwar Graphic Design |
Sae YAMAMOTO Independent Scholar |
250,000 200,000 |
B |
Metabolism in Visual Culture: The Collective of Kiyonori Kikutake and Ikko Tanaka in the 1960s |
Yasutaka TSUJI Research Fellow of Japan Society for the Promotion of Scienc |
400,000 500,000 |
B |
Ikko Tanaka's graphic design as a recipient of Japanese art traditions |
Rossella Menegazzo Associate Professor, University of Milan |
500,000 500,000 |
B |
Tanaka Ikko and Japanese Modern Typography |
Mariko TAKAGI Assistant Prpfessor, Academy of Visual Arts, Hong Kong Baptist University |
500,000 500,000 |
Yoshitoshi Kitajima, Chairman
DNP Foundation for Cultural Promotion