The Gold Award at the International Design Awards: An interview with the designer, whom, as part of a team, led the corporate brand to world-class quality

The IAUD International Design Awards are sponsored by the International Association for Universal Design (IAUD). The award is presented to organizations and individuals who have made outstanding activities and proposals toward the realization of a society that is comfortable and accessible for as many people as possible.

On March 1, 2023, the winners of the IAUD International Design Award 2022 were announced, and Fujitsu’s Corporate Visual Identity (hereafter referred to as “VI”) received the Gold Award in the Communication Design category.

VI refers to visually expressed elements such as logos, fonts, colors, and designs of a company or brand, and plays an important role in enhancing the image of a company or brand.

Fujitsu formulated a business brand Fujitsu Uvance in 2021. Under this brand, the company is promoting business focused on solving social issues to realize a sustainable world. When Fujitsu Uvance was established, the VI was also updated to reflect the company’s commitment to diversity, with designs focused on countries, regions, societies, industries, cultures, and races. Accessibility is also taken into consideration from the viewpoints of persons with disabilities, such as the visually impaired, hearing impaired, and dyslexic.

For example, color is an important element related to individuality and cultural background. We believe that being able to freely choose colors is one form of diversity, so we have increased the number of different color variations in our new VI, including blue, emerald green, yellow, and orange. The VI on the business card is also available in five different colors. In addition, the font and image selection criteria have been renewed to provide something that is easy to use and understandable for everyone, while maintaining the Fujitsu style. We believe that this award is a recognition of the company’s shift in corporate direction and mission toward the realization of social sustainability and diversity.

Yoshiki Matsuda represented and gave a presentation at the IAUD International Design Award ceremony. As a hearing-impaired person, he communicated the importance of diversity to the world. We interviewed Matsuda and asked why Fujitsu’s VI was highly evaluated and his own thoughts on the VI.

Matsuda: While I am happy, of course, this is not the end of my work, so I felt like “never whistle till you are out of the woods.” This improvement in accessibility is not the accumulation of the last couple of years, but the accumulation of entire Fujitsu history. I would like to continue to improve accessibility and evolve Fujitsu.

Matsuda: I can speak, but some sounds are unclear in pronunciation because I am hearing impaired by nature. For this reason, we rehearsed many times. I gave my presentation with the feeling that I was explaining the project not only to the committee and stakeholders but also to all Fujitsu employees. I believe this was one of the reasons for the high evaluation. We increased the number of color variations compared to the previous VI. On the other hand, there is a risk that some color combinations may be difficult to see or identify, but not all employees know the best combination of colors. I believe that these issues highlighted by the VI renewal and how to deal with them were particularly well received by the committee.

Matsuda: We consider this proof that we are recognized as a company committed to improving accessibility.

Fujitsu’s Purpose is “Make the world more sustainable by building trust in society through innovation.” When earning society’s trust and promoting sustainability, it is very important to take accessibility into consideration. However, it is very difficult to consider accessibility in everything. Accessibility is not mandatory in Japan, but in many other countries it is strictly regulated by law. There are many different solutions depending on cultural differences and individual situations. Sometimes it is technically difficult to achieve when there is only one solution. Ideally, we would like to create a design that is easy to understand for all people around the world, but such a design is very difficult to realize.

Despite this background, we have worked hard to overcome these difficulties and improve accessibility, and I believe that receiving the award from the IAUD committee is a sign of their expectation of our ability to put this into practice. It is meaningful to respond sincerely to their expectations.

Matsuda: The project consists of a diverse team from Germany, England, Portugal, and Japan, and is an effort to challenge accessibility of the highest quality. We hold regular meetings called Accessibility Evolution to discuss accessibility. We believe this concept of evolution is very important.

One thing we often talk about within our team is the fact that accessibility is not just for people with disabilities. For example, we often have the desire to know certain information in audio-only or text-only formats in our daily lives. It is not limited to those with disabilities, but it can also be considered a disability if we cannot choose the information we need in different environments. Solving such situation is one of our definition of evolutions. We believe that by providing a variety of options to receive information in the best format for each person, we can resolve issues from different perspectives, such as national and cultural differences.

Matsuda: I am hearing-impaired. Growing up in a time when smart phones were not yet available, it was difficult for me to receive information in various situations as much as those whom were not hearing impaired did. For example, there were no subtitles on TV back then, and I remember standing for hours in school assemblies not understanding what the principal was saying. That was normal at the time, and I thought it would be the same situation when I grew up.

However, now there are many more ways to convey information, such as sign language, subtitles, and voice recognition, and more people understand us. There were many things I gave up on back then, but more and more things are becoming possible in this way. Although I have a physical disability, these technological innovations have created a situation where society does not have to worry about barriers to access. This can be said an evolution.

My personal Purpose is to change impossibility into possibility. This award is the result of technology and social understanding finally catching up with the needs of people who had given up due to disabilities or environmental conditions. It is truly an evolution that has made possible what was once thought to be impossible.

Our mission is to change the impossible things into the possible things and to tell people who have given up on them. We will continue to evolve with even more speed to respond to the diversity of users and the ever-changing environment. I am excited to see what it will look like as we move forward in the future. I hope that the readers of this article will encourage us to evolve even more, and I look forward to your continued support.

Fujitsu’s efforts to improve accessibility do not end here, but begin here. We will continue to promote accessibility improvements in the areas of business, marketing, and work environment throughout the company.