table of contents
SESSION 1 | Rebranding of the Thai League and the J.League
Rebuilding the Thai League over 10 years
The first to speak was Sampata Jedi (hereinafter referred to as JD) from Farmgroup, a design consultancy in Thailand. He started the conversation by saying, "Let's take a trip back 10 years in Doraemon's time machine," and the discussion began in 2016, the year Farmgroup partnered with the Football Association of Thailand (FA Thailand).
The first issue JD raised was the lack of a well-established identity. He explained that the reason the motif changes every few years is because the logo was designed to match the sponsors of that year.
The first agreement between Farmgroup and FA Thailand was that they would continue to use the name "Thai League" even if the sponsor changed. They started by fixing the name before even touching the design.
The Elephant and the Nine Jewels
Farmgroup's next task was to re-examine what constitutes "Thainess." Their candidates were Ratchaphruek (golden shower), Thai elephants, and Sala Thai (Thai gazebo).
JD : "As you might guess, the animal that seems best suited for sports is the elephant."
Elephants have been depicted on the national flag since the time of Siam, and they were used as war elephants on the battlefield. "Chang Suk" (War Elephant) is still used as a nickname for the Thai national team.
Farmgroup studied the proportions and posture of war elephants and created numerous sketches combining them with the initial letter "T". They later realized that the elephants were missing tusks. Adding the tusks not only increased the elephant's resemblance but also strengthened the letter "T".
The colors were taken from "Navaratna" (nine gemstones), which hold special meaning for the Thai people. After making them vibrant enough to be suitable for a sporting setting, JD revealed another intention. He thought that since gemstones have a hierarchy of hardness, the Mohs hardness scale, which lists them from diamond to moonstone in order of hardness, could be used directly for dividing the competition into divisions.
Pass it on to the person who will use it.
The projects were implemented in a wide range of areas. These included custom fonts for each team, referee shirts, balls, merchandise, and outdoor advertising. Among these, JD recalled that the live broadcast graphics were "a learning curve for the team." There were a huge number of items to work with, and everything needed to be clearly specified so that the alumni teams at the broadcast sites could use them directly.
In 2021, Farmgroup partnered with FA Thailand again to refresh their visuals. While they arrived at the idea of "exploding energy," the initial design had too many elements and was difficult for each team to use. They decided to keep the image of explosion but simplify it by stripping away the unnecessary elements.
JD said , "I was truly fortunate to have the opportunity to become the face of the Thai League and to have another chance to refresh myself."
With that, JD concluded the session. It's a continuous process that doesn't end with creation. Perhaps what those 10 years have meant is not so much the difficulty of creating something, but the difficulty of creating something that will continue to be used.
Why did they choose black and white for such a passionate sport?
Next to speak was Motosuke Fukuda from Takram NY. Following JD's presentation, Mr. Fukuda began by saying:
Fukuda: "I felt like we were talking about things that were very similar. Branding for a soccer league is like national branding, and it's about how to express the values and beliefs of that country. I found a lot to relate to."
The J.League started in 1993 with 10 clubs. Currently, it has 60 clubs, a sixfold increase in 30 years. And in August 2026, it will undergo a major structural reform to align with the European schedule. In line with this timing, as the league aims to become the best in Asia and the world, Takram has been working on a rebranding project for several years.
The new brand's design concept is "Common Ground." The idea is that the league is a vessel, a foundation that allows the individuality of clubs and players to shine.
One of the most noticeable changes is the logo. Previously, the three divisions were color-coded red, green, and blue, and these colors represented the league. Starting this season, however, they will be in monochrome white and black.
Fukuda: "Football is a passion, a passionate sport. Every league and every club expresses that passion through colors. So why did the J.League choose black and white?"
Beauty lies in the relationships between things.
Before starting the design process, Takram held a workshop. More than 100 J.League staff members participated, and after hours of discussion, they were able to articulate five key characteristics of the J.League. One of these was "fighting with values unique to Japan."
Like Thailand, the Japanese football league has grown stronger by following European trends and systems. However, Fukuda says he doesn't believe that simply remaining a follower will lead to becoming the best in the world.
Fukuda: "We need to re-examine our own values and our strengths. That applies both on the pitch and in terms of design."
That's when Fukuda and his colleagues arrived at the Japanese aesthetic of shadows. Fukuda quoted a passage from Jun'ichirō Tanizaki's "In Praise of Shadows."
Beauty lies not in the object itself, but in the interplay of light and shadow, the interplay of light and shadow, created by the interaction of objects.
Instead of shining a strong light on objects, this approach finds beauty in the interplay of light and shadow. It's the idea that beauty lies not in the individual, but in the relationships between things.
Fukuda: "The same is true for the J.League. The relationship between the league and the clubs, the relationship between the clubs and the fans, and the relationships between the players themselves—these relationships are what make the J.League so valuable, and that became clear during the workshop."
When the league is in the shadows, the 60 colors become the light. The choice of black and white was derived from this idea.
However, there is one thing that Takram kept: the red in their symbol. This is because it is a color that the J.League has cherished since its inception, and it is also the color of the Japanese flag. It was a bold decision to make everything else monochrome. I think the decision of what to cut and what to keep was made based on the phrase, "We will compete with values unique to Japan."
There is intention behind the design.
Towards the end of the session, Mr. Fukuda touched upon the conference's theme, "Good Design is Good Business," and suggested that there might be another layer to it before reaching that goal.
Fukuda: "What I realized through this J.League branding project is that there is will, there is intention, before the design. We wanted to be a presence that would make the individuality of each of the 60 clubs shine. It was because of that intention that the design approach was born and the business grew."
"We want to aim to be the best in the world with the aesthetic sense and values that Japanese people possess. The same goes for the Thai league; the question is how to confront Thailand's strengths and values and express them," Fukuda said, concluding the session.
SESSION 2 | Expo Design System
The excitement doesn't end even after the show concludes.
Next to take the stage was creative director Kota Hikichi.
Hikichi: "Earlier we talked about the J.League and Thai football, but I'd like to talk about the World Expo, which is also a national project."
The Osaka-Kansai Expo was held from April 13 to October 13, 2025. Despite facing social headwinds during its preparations, it ultimately attracted approximately 29 million visitors and was a great success. Mr. Hikichi served as the creative director for the design system that created the overall branding for the expo.
The story begins with an episode from after the exhibition closed. In January of this year, design exhibitions were held in three cities: Tokyo, Kyoto, and Osaka. At the Osaka venue, there was a three-hour queue, and it was even nicknamed the "Awaza Pavilion."
Hikichi-san: "Usually, the excitement dies down once the World Expo is over, but the fact that it's still continuing is quite unique, I think."
Whose life is referred to as "life shining brightly"?
The theme of the World Expo was "Designing a Future Society Where Life Shines." It was almost the first time in history that the word "design" had been used as the main theme of a World Expo.
Hikichi: "When design is presented as a major theme to society, it puts a lot of pressure on a designer, but I felt from the beginning that we had to make it a success."
The question that Hikichi then posed was, whose life is the "life" in "Life Shines"?
Hikichi arrived at a relationship between three things: humans, nature, and systems (technology and social systems). He says that design is about connecting things that have been considered separately—economics, culture, and environment.
And since it was a national project, they began to think about what Japan is. The idea that Hikichi drew upon was the concept of eight million gods. It is the idea that life resides in mountains, rivers, pebbles, and even a single leaf.
Hikichi: "Doraemon has a life. So robots do, and perhaps even things like AI, as we call it today, have a life. What will a future be like where AI, biotechnology, and these new forms of life coexist?"
The phrase Mr. Hikichi presented was "Futures for All Lives." Not a single future, but a plural future.
Not the rulebook, but the platform
The logo for the World Expo was selected through a public competition. This design system employs a method that is usually considered taboo: extracting the logo from that selection.
The initial design policy we adopted was "open design as a platform that encourages participation and co-creation."
Hikichi: "Rather than creating a design system that simply enforces guidelines, let's create a space where people want to participate and create together. Let's create a platform, not a rulebook."
Specifically, the design allows for complete customization of the eyes, while the rest of the design—color, shape, and pattern—can be freely altered. Mr. Hikichi referred to these eyes as "cells." It's a system that combines consistency and diversity.
The result was the spread of derivative works on the internet. They were depicted in the form of cats, anthropomorphized, as food, and as steamed buns. They began to be called "Komyaku" because they resembled Myakumyaku's child.
Many people brought their handmade komyaku (a type of paper craft) to the exhibition. And apparently, they all brought them saying they were "offerings."
Hikichi-san: "I felt that this phrase expresses the fact that Myaku Myaku is not just seen as a character, but as a living being with a life of its own."
Creating commons between the state and citizens
Hikichi also handled the venue design. Named "EXPO WORLDs," and with the tagline "Worlds and the world created by worlds," it was a massive project involving over 100 artists and creators.
Scattered throughout the venue are Myaku statues, Co-Myaku signs guiding children, and "Co-MYAKU'25," where artists create Myaku-themed artwork. Not only are there visuals, but a soundscape has also been produced, with the entire venue envisioned as a single ecosystem, and seven artists creating sounds for each area, such as festivals, forests, towns, skies, and water. Only the BPM is consistent, but every other sound is different. The design is diverse yet harmonious.
In conclusion, Hikichi presented a contrast with conventional design systems. Conventional systems control consistency with guidelines and are implemented top-down from the center. This time, while maintaining that consistency, they combined it with a decentralized, bottom-up mechanism that fosters diversity and connects people as long as there is a central protocol.
Finally, Mr. Hikichi presented a hypothesis about what the World Expo left behind.
Hikichi: "We created a commons where everyone can participate, between the national, or state, and the citizens. I think the emergence of this commons created a sense of excitement."
Hikichi explained that creating consistency through a top-down approach and fostering diversity through a bottom-up approach could be applied not only to design, but also to future social development, education, and urban planning.
The closing slide displayed this sentence:
"Think like a gardener, not an architect."
Instead of creating something elaborate, the focus should be on creating the conditions for it to flourish. That might be the reason why derivative works continue to be produced.
Final thoughts
Although the three presentations were independent of each other, the conversations naturally connected. Following up on JD's presentation, Fukuda began by saying, "I've heard something very similar," and Hikichi, building on the other two, introduced the World Expo as a "similar national project."
What I found interesting was that the two Japanese speakers arrived at similar conclusions. Mr. Fukuda called the league the "soil" that allows the main players to shine. Mr. Hikichi's closing slide read, "Think like a gardener." I think both of them were talking about how what they create is not a finished product, but a place where something can grow.
It was a valuable opportunity for us to hear these stories from people across national borders.
