Jiro Fujita (Art Director / Graphic Designer) Interview Part 1

Interview with Jiro Fujita, the Designer Behind Nujabes’ Artwork — with MION

Chapter 1 —

Drawing Sound: Encounters with Dan K and Calm

— What was your first job creating graphics related to music

Fujita: It all started when Taro Sasaoka from “kool jazz productions,” a senior who helped me a lot back in Osaka, asked me to design a flyer. Honestly, it was just because I happened to own a Mac. That was the only reason I got the opportunity.

— Had you studied design at that point

Fujita: Not really, I was almost completely self-taught. After I moved to Tokyo, Taro Sasaoka launched a label called “RAFT MUSIC,” and I was asked to design the cover of their first CD, “RAFT MUSIC 01.” I didn’t have any knowledge of printing then, so the colors came out much lighter than I had envisioned, and that made me realize how crucial printing knowledge and experience are.

— There’s a big difference between what you see on screen and the actual printed result, isn’t there

Fujita: Exactly. That project was two-color printing, and I didn’t really understand how it worked at the time. But when I saw that CD lined up at Bonjour Records in Daikanyama, I was honestly overjoyed.

— How did your collaboration with Dan K begin?

Fujita: That was around 1998. I was working at a CG production studio, and a part-timer named Sakai, who later joined Toyo Kasei, started a label there and asked me to design a record sleeve for an artist named Dan K.
I feel like my whole life has been a series of these lucky “connections.”

— So you didn’t know Dan K beforehand?

Fujita: Not at all. But I said, “Sure, I’ll do it!” That was my first record sleeve. I made it on a tiny Mac at home (laughs).

— The photo direction was quite distinctive.

Fujita: Yes, I asked a photographer friend to shoot a woman through a shower. I wanted to create a slightly melancholic atmosphere—like a medical or painkiller package vibe. Since I was also doing CG back then, I thought it might be interesting to mix photography with CG.

— Did that jacket also have the same color issues?

Fujita: That one was printed in one color, and I later learned that even with single-color printing, you can get much deeper colors by giving more contrast to the data.

— And your encounter with Calm came after Dan K?

Fujita: Yes. That Osaka label was planning their third release with Calm, and they told me, “Jiro, go meet him.” I met Calm at a small café in Shibuya, and he said, “I want you to paint something.”

— And that’s how that jacket came to be.

Fujita: Yes. The title was Shadow of the Earth. Calm described it as “like watching African landscapes on television from the comfort of an air-conditioned room,” and when I listened to the demo, that description was spot on. The more I listened, the more images emerged—the smell, the temperature, the scenery—and I just visualized that.

— And he approved it on the first try?

Fujita: Yes, which is rare. Calm is very particular, and it’s almost unheard of for him to approve something on the first try. That piece became a major turning point for me.

— Did that lead to more requests?

Fujita: Yes, from that point on, I started receiving more work for record and CD sleeves.

— How did your style develop over time?

Fujita: Honestly, I don’t consciously think, “this is my style.” I approach each job as problem-solving—thinking about why the client came to me, and choosing the right expression from my toolbox.

— Is there something consistent in your work?

Fujita: My approach is more about “response” than “self-expression.” I try to understand what the client wants to convey and translate that in my own way. Maybe something “Fujita-like” naturally comes through, but I don’t aim for that.

— Your father was also a painter, right?

Fujita: Yes. He used to travel to southern islands like Borneo and Sumatra, live with local people, and paint. He’d come back, hold a solo exhibition, then go off again. He even tried living in a headhunting tribe’s village and was once featured in a weekly magazine as part of an “eccentric family relocation” (laughs).

— That sounds like a movie.
Fujita: It does (laughs).

— Did your father influence your sense of color?

Fujita: Yes. I tend to use a lot of grayish mid-tones, probably influenced by him. He used to say, “Don’t use black paint as black—make black by mixing other colors.”

— So you didn’t learn techniques from him, but rather grew up surrounded by art.

Fujita: Exactly. His studio was near our house, filled with mongoose and cobra taxidermy, baskets for shrunken heads—like something out of Crazy Journey. Having that around me as a kid probably shaped the roots of my expression today.