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.

Words & Pictures: Michael Johnson in Tokyo Oct 12 2004

Continuing the round of UK design in Tokyo this week following Twinkle Twinkle, Hiromi, Kyoko and I headed to the opening night of Michael Johnson's "Words & Pictures" exhibition in Ginza's G8 gallery.

Kicking off with a talk by the man himself, Johnson led the audience through samples illustrating his incredibly simple approach to visual communication. From posters explaining the absurdities of English for the British Council to advertisements for events in the French Park de La Vilette, Johnson demonstrated his knack of conveying not only the message clearly, but with a great sense of humour.

And if that wasn't enough to inspire a frustrated designer on a wet Tuesday night, examples of branding for insurance company "More Th>N" and posters split in two promoting old and new Britain went to show how effective a simple idea can be.

An absolutely smashing exhibition by a hugely talented, and very friendly chap indeed. The show runs until the 29th October, and examples of work can be seen on the Johnson Banks site.