What I Do
Logos, title lettering, posters, packaging, websites. Based by Lake Biwa in Shiga, Japan, Takahiro Kinoshita thinks it through, makes it, and follows the numbers after it goes out — on his own. A single piece is welcome.
— Behind the small request
Most inquiries start with something small: one banner, one page, a touch-up to a logo. But as we talk, “what I really want is this” and “I’ve always wanted to do that” come up from underneath.
“We want a new look for our website.”
Really: fewer customers were coming from search, and no one knew why.
“We want to redo our logo.”
Really: every product looked different, so people couldn’t tell they came from the same company.
“We don’t have enough design hands.”
Really: there were people to make things, but no one looking at the whole and making the calls.
So first, we put into words together the “this is what I want” behind the request.
A small request is fine. So is just a conversation.
— Results
120% up
Booking rate
Dotonbori Yataimura Matsuri — after the site renewal
approx.2.4×
Inquiries
Lifestyle brand — after the site renewal
200/month
Inquiries
Specialist trading company — a site designed and run in-house for 8 years
— How We Start
First, let me make just one piece.
I don’t change everything at once. One title, one page, one label. Put out something small, and check first whether it works.
— Build big from the start, and there is no going back if it doesn’t work.
After it goes out, we look at the numbers together.
Launch is not the end. I watch only three things: inquiries, bookings, and what gets read. Watch more than that and you can’t act.
Then expand from what worked.
What worked is carried into the logo, packaging, website and signage. Only then does it become a full set.
— Do it in reverse and you get an impressive world that moves nothing.
Starting small is not about money.
It is fine if it ends with one piece. Decide whether to continue after you have seen it work.
But starting small is not about being cheap. It is about commitment.
Even one piece, once it is out in the world, carries your name.
So even for one piece, I take responsibility to the end.
When the contact and the maker are the same person, there is no one else to blame.
— Why Kinoshita Studio
Some talk strategy but never pick up the tools. Others simply make what they are told.
That is usually the choice you are given. I stand between the two. I take what I think through all the way to making it with my own hands.
Simply writing “I can do this” is not much use to you.
So below, I also write what each one does for your work.
I draw letters. Instead of picking an off-the-shelf typeface, I draw your logo, title or product name letter by letter.
→ So even a name no typeface covers can be made. Few people can do this, even inside design firms.
From UX design down to a single stroke of a letter. Interviews, planning, design, coding and forms — I take them on as one continuous job.
→ So the idea is not diluted in a game of telephone. The person in the meeting is the person who makes it.
* For larger projects, I work with trusted partners. Even then, I remain your point of contact and own the overall design.
After launch, I watch the numbers. For Dotonbori Yataimura Matsuri, I also designed and built the booking form, and after the site renewal the booking rate rose 120%.
→ So delivery is not the end. We check together whether it worked or not.
On weekdays, I work inside a company. Every day I handle rigorous B2B information design: recruitment sites, business overviews, internal systems.
→ So I can lay out documents where the text cannot be cut. I am strong on work where “the content is the product” — plans, reports, company brochures.
I make music. I release music on overseas labels (99LETTERS).
→ So I am quick to judge pauses and space. I can design experiences that include motion, sound and timing.
About 20 years in the field. Working across print, web, UI and video.
→ So the same person can carry both print-ready files and things that run in a browser through to the end.
— Does this sound familiar?
Who this suits
Gaps you may be feeling
— Difference
Typical design firm
Starts with how it looks
UX design firm
Starts with the user
Kinoshita Studio
We design not only visuals,
but the quality of experience.
— For those who want more detail
Thinking, method, and what the deliverables look like. Open each one to read.
“How We Start” is how the work actually runs. This is for those who want to read it as a method.
— Process
01 — Experience Research
Observe.
Observing and analyzing experience
Identify the gap between the experience a brand wants to deliver and the one customers actually feel. Through user research, field observation and brand analysis, make visible the problems no one had seen.
— Output
Experience Research Report
Gap mapping
Insight extraction
02 — Experience Strategy
Translate.
Designing the brand experience
Experience design that closes the gaps found in research. Bring together the brand concept, personas and customer journey, and put into words and structure the feeling that should be delivered.
— Output
Brand Experience Map
Persona / Journey
Experience Strategy
03 — Experience Design
Implement.
Implementing the experience
Turn the strategy into real UX and design. At every touchpoint — web, UI, visuals, content — shape things to deliver the experience the brand intends, and keep checking that the designed experience actually arrives.
— Output
UX / UI Design
Web / Visual Design
Design System
+ Sound, space, time, tone
* All of these are illustrations. Actual deliverables are made to fit the project after you commission it.
— Deliverables
When you commission a project, these are what you have in hand.
* This is an illustrative sample. Actual deliverables are designed and made to fit each project once it is commissioned.
* This is an illustrative sample. Actual deliverables are designed and made to fit each project once it is commissioned.
A loop of observe → design → implement → verify. A diagram of the thinking.
— Experience Translator Framework
Kinoshita Studio’s method: a looping process that translates experience, from observation through design, implementation and verification.
— Going deeper into the quality of experience
Designing the Quality of ExperienceYour problem does not need to be sorted out yet. We can start from a vague feeling that “something isn’t quite working.” Together, we will find out what the gap really is.