James Bowskill is a British Art Director at A.C.O. Tokyo, where he develops brands on-line.

He also collects Japanese packaging, occasionally writes articles for Tokyo's web magazine PingMag, and is a member of London design team Superblue.

Tokyu Toyoko Limited Express Oct 24 2004

The Tokyu Toyoko line have just launched a very stylish new poster campaign promoting the line linking Shibuya with Yokohama. The posters tell passengers how close the two cities have become with this line, encouraging us to work and play freely between the two.

The "T <--> Y" logo (referring to Tokyo <--> Yokohama) gives it a great transportation feel, as if they just pulled it straight off a station timetable. That paired with the line's identifying red colouring and the strong layout really works. It is a little bit MUJI, but the copy is lighthearted (suggesting people might mistake the campaign for a new band's name).

The spreading of the design over several posters down the train is a nice touch too - I guess if you own them, you can afford to use a little extra space! The company's press release also mentions ads running on the in-train monitors and a limited edition Passnet.