Center on Japanese Economy and Business

“Thank you so much for trying to incorporate the Japanese language! We're never going to speak of that effort again.”

Columbia Business School's Center on Japanese Economy and Business (CJEB) is a hub of research and programming centered around the world's third largest economy by GDP. CJEB is the school's first and only center whose focus is dedicated to a single country of study outside the United States. To commemorate 30 years since its founding, CJEB commissioned a mark to celebrate.

Coincidentally, I grew up watching anime and playing video games designed and developed by Japanese studios, so I was excited at the prospect of making a logo for the center.

Although my knowledge of Japanese is so below elementary it's subterranean, I was aware of East Asian seals, and wanted to make a mark that was encircled by a shape of some kind.

Riffing off the geometry of the school's brand type family, I arrived at this solution.