Wim Westerveld

This book spans two centuries of relations between Berlin and Tokyo. It was a challenge to create a balanced design incorporating two character sets: the Japanese script (consisting of Kanji, Hiragana, and Katakana characters) and the Latin alphabet. We were able to find a harmonious and flexible solution, thanks in part to advice from Shigeru Watano, a designer in Amsterdam who provided instructions on Japanese typesetting. It was virtually impossible to achieve optical synergy or an identical grayscale for the German and Japanese texts. We deliberately treated them in different ways to achieve good readability within each respective language zone. We also incorporated a large flight column between the two language zones to provide space for vertical Japanese titles and small images. The purpose of this layout principle was to create a flexible design in which one language is not subordinate to the other, and in which the images interact with both columns.