Obituary: A Tribute to Kazumasa Nagai, Supreme Advisor

Kazumasa Nagai, graphic designer and Supreme Advisor to Nippon Design Center, passed away on February 23, 2026, due to acute respiratory failure. He was 96 years old. We share this news with deepest respect and sorrow.

Born in Osaka City in 1929, Kazumasa Nagai was at the forefront of Japanese graphic design from its earliest postwar days. Through the years of reconstruction and rapid economic growth, he laid the foundation for Japan’s visual culture.
His work includes the symbol mark for the Sapporo Winter Olympics, corporate identity programs for JA, Tokyo Electric Power Company, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, and Asahi Breweries, as well as corporate advertising for Toyota Motor Corporation — all of which elevated the quality of communication between companies and society. His contributions extended beyond commerce, inspiring a cultural and ethical sensibility in public visual spaces, and his influence on the formation of postwar Japan’s cultural identity endures to this day.

His posters — merging abstract and figurative form with color that pulses with life — earned top honors at numerous international competitions and brought Japan’s visual culture to the world stage. His “LIFE” poster series, which he continued to create every year until shortly before his passing, captured the spirit of all living things. Steady and luminous as the North Star, it is a body of work that designers across generations have looked to with admiration. A founding member of Nippon Design Center, he served as its President, and went on to lead as President of the Japan Graphic Designers Association (JAGDA) and as Chairman of the Japan Design Committee, contributing significantly to the institutional development of the Japanese graphic design field.
His contributions were recognized with the Medal with Purple Ribbon and the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold and Silver Rays, among other distinctions.

His role as a guiding spirit of Japan’s visual culture cannot be overstated. We at Nippon Design Center are profoundly grateful for his decades of leadership and dedication, and we will carry his legacy with us always.

A private funeral was held on March 1 for immediate family.
A memorial gathering will be held at a later date. Details are yet to be determined and will be announced on our website and through press notices when available.

March 2, 2026 — Nippon Design Center, Inc.

Inquiries
Nippon Design Center, Inc. — Administration Department
Contact: Kocha, Kondo, Hanaue
Email: koho@ndc.co.jp
In accordance with the wishes of the deceased, we kindly ask that condolence telegrams, flowers, and offerings be respectfully declined.

Biography of Kazumasa Nagai
1929 — Age 0 — Born on April 20 in Osaka.
1951 — Age 22 — Left the Department of Sculpture, Tokyo University of the Arts. Joined Daiwa Spinning Co., Ltd., where he worked in graphic design.
1953 — Age 24 — Became a member of the Japan Advertising Artists Club (through 1970).
1960 — Age 31 — Participated in the founding of Nippon Design Center.
1970 — Age 41 — Served as an international juror for the third Warsaw International Poster Biennale.
1975 — Age 46 — Appointed President of Nippon Design Center (through 1986).
1990 — Age 61 — Solo exhibition held at the Museum of Modern Art, Toyama.
1994 — Age 65 — Appointed President of the Japan Graphic Designers Association (JAGDA) (through 1998).
1997 — Age 68 — Appointed Chairman of the Japan Design Committee.
2013 — Age 84 — “LIFE: Kazumasa Nagai Poster Exhibition” held at Ginza Graphic Gallery.
2014 — Age 85 — “Kazumasa Nagai Poster Life 1957–2014” held at the Museum of Modern Art, Toyama. / “LIFE: Kazumasa Nagai Poster Design Exhibition” held at Xi’an University of Architecture and Technology.
2017 — Age 88 — Kazumasa Nagai Poster Exhibition held at Himeji City Museum of Art.
2022 — Age 93 — “Kazumasa Nagai Poster Design: Living and Making” held at the Gunma Museum of Art, Tatebayashi.
2026 — Age 96 — Passed away on February 23 due to acute respiratory failure.

Supreme Advisor, Nippon Design Center / Former Special Advisor, Japan Graphic Designers Association (JAGDA) / Honorary Member, Japan Design Committee / Member, Tokyo Art Directors Club (ADC) / Member, Alliance Graphique Internationale (AGI).

Honors and Decorations
・Minister of Education’s Art Encouragement Prize [poster series for the Museum of Modern Art, Toyama]
・Design Meritorious Service Award, Ministry of International Trade and Industry (1995)
・Medal with Purple Ribbon
・Order of the Rising Sun, Gold and Silver Rays (4th Class)

Selected Design Awards
・Symbol mark for the Sapporo Winter Olympics — selected through invitation competition
・Gold Prize, First Warsaw International Poster Biennale [Asahi Steiny poster]
・Japan Advertising Artists Club Member’s Prize [Life Science Library Series: Growth poster]
・Grand Prix, Asahi Advertising Award [Asahi Beer newspaper advertisement]
・Tokyo National Museum of Modern Art Prize, Sixth Tokyo International Print Biennale [White Relief Print, Work C]
・Bronze Prize, Fourth Brno International Graphic Design Biennale [SD poster]
・Symbol mark for the Okinawa International Ocean Exposition — selected through invitation competition
・Special Prize, Fourth Warsaw International Poster Biennale [NO MORE WAR poster]
・Special Prize, Seventh Warsaw International Poster Biennale [Adonis poster]
・Yamana Prize, First Japan Advertising Award
・Grand Prix, First Moscow International Poster Triennale [I’M HERE poster series]
・First Prize, Second Mexico International Poster Biennale [KAZUMASA NAGAI EXHIBITION, Japan Design Committee poster]
・Tokyo ADC Members’ Grand Prize [I’M HERE poster series]
・Second Prize, Eleventh World Humor and Satire Biennale, Bulgaria [I’M HERE, JAGDA poster]
・Mainichi Art Prize
・Grand Prize, Fourth Block Exhibition, Second International Graphic Art and Poster Triennale, Ukraine [Save me, Please. I’m here.]
・Academy of Fine Arts Honorary Prize, Fourteenth Warsaw International Poster Biennale [Save me, Please. I’m here., JAGDA poster series]
・Grand Prix, Zagreb International Poster Exhibition, Republic of Croatia [LIFE TO SHARE 1994 poster series]
・Golden Bee Award, Golden Bee 3 International Graphic Design Biennale, Moscow [save nature, LIFE 1994]
・Grand Prix, Helsinki International Poster Biennale, Finland [save nature, KAZUMASA NAGAI DESIGN LIFE poster]
・Grand Prix, Asia Pacific Poster Exhibition 1997, Hong Kong [versary of SHARAKU poster]
・Golden Bee Award, Golden Bee 4 International Graphic Design Biennale, Moscow [SAVE 1997: Red Series]
・Grand Prix, Zagreb International Poster Exhibition, Croatia [SAVE 1997: Red Series]
・Second Yusaku Kamekura Award [Life 1999: Egg Series]
・Grand Prix, Fourth Block, Fourth International Graphic Art and Poster Triennale, Ukraine [Life 1999: Egg Series]
・Gold Award, HKDA Design 2000 Show, Hong Kong [COEXIST Series]
・Inducted into the Tokyo ADC Hall of Fame
・Gold Award, Asia Graphic Awards 2001, Hong Kong [LIFE: Egg Series]
・Sixteenth Katsu Katsumi Award
・Tokyo ADC Members’ Award [LIFE: Flowers and Animals]
・Special Environment Prize, Fifteenth Lahti International Poster Biennale [LIFE 2004: Flowers and Animals]
・Golden Bee Award, Golden Bee 7 International Graphic Biennale, Moscow [SAVE 1998: Yellow Series]
・Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Prize, National Calendar Exhibition [Morisawa Calendar]
・Jury Special Prize, Twelfth World Poster Triennale Toyama, Museum of Modern Art, Toyama
・Jozef Miroszczak Honorary Award, Twenty-Seventh Warsaw International Poster Biennale

Selected Works: Symbol Marks

Clockwise from left: Official Mark, Sapporo Winter Olympics (1971) / Asahi Breweries, Ltd. (1986) / Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (2005) / Japan Agricultural Cooperatives (1991)

Asahi Steiny (1965)

JAPAN (1988)

LIFE (2002)

I’M HERE (1992)