Ian Lynam Design is a Tokyo design studio operating at the intersection of graphic design, design education and design research. We specialize in identity, cultural research and typography. We make stuff for forward-thinking humans.

Plaid

We created a custom version of our popular typeface families Cern and Cern Display for financial technology company Plaid.

30-or-so-Minor-Objects-Ian-Lynam001

30 or so Minor Objects: Japanese Graphic Design History

A 130-page bilingual English/Japanese book on pre-WW2 design history.

tokyo fashion week by ian lynam design

Tokyo Fashion Week

We created the identity for Tokyo Fashion Week.

Select Clients

“Joyfully and skillfully straddling the line between creator and critic, theorist and practitioner, formalist and rebel, American and expatriate, serious analyst and humorous deconstructor, Ian Lynam always brings a wholly original perspective to his writing on design. The insights are always fresh, and the stakes are always extremely high.”

– W. David Marx

author of Ametora: How Japan Saved American Style

What We Do