Behind the Design of Monosasu New Year's Cards 2018
~A little faster, the ruler's fall ball~

"Will anyone make New Year's cards this year?"

At the end of November, at a design department meeting, as autumn was drawing to a close, the department manager, Onogi, who has been making Monosus' New Year's cards for the past 10 years, said this. (Well, it's the end of the year and I'm busy, but it seems like I'll learn a lot.) I thought to myself, and replied, "I'm interested."

Ono: "Oh, well, I'd appreciate it," and so I, Kawarazaki from the Design Department, was put in charge of the 2018 New Year's cards (not knowing that I would later experience the pain of childbirth).
Some of you may have already received yours, but in this article we'll take a look at what goes on behind the scenes in New Year's card designs!

Past New Year's Cards

As I mentioned at the beginning, the New Year's cards have been created by Onoki from the design department. He usually uses illustrations as the main element, but he draws them in a different style every year, and even though he is my boss, I am amazed at the quality and variety of his drawings.

A selection of New Year's cards that Ono has produced in the past.

Drawing illustrations is something I am (self-proclaimed) good at, but when I looked at past New Year's cards again, I realized that there was no way I could create one that was mainly illustrations on the same level...I felt a bit of pressure and my stomach hurt, so I decided to start by coming up with concept ideas with various members of the team.

The theme this time is "Monosasu Site" and "Otoshidama"

When deciding on the concept, we consulted with powerful members such as Manabe, head of the production department and manager of the Food Hub Project, Onoki, who designed our New Year's cards until last year, and Nakaniwa, editor of the Monosasu website.

As we discussed this, I received the advice, "You want to make the most of the Monosasu site. The articles cover events that symbolize Monosasu in 2017."
A lot happened at Monosasu in 2017. We launched the full flextime system and buddy lunches, published a book on coding factory, and more.
We also thought it would be a good opportunity to say hello to those who have always helped us and let them know about Monosasu, so we linked the Monosasu site to our New Year's cards.

However, this alone is a bit weak as a concept... Amidst all of this, some people commented, "Bread was hot this year."
In the spring of 2017, Monosus opened a bakery called "Kamapan & Store" as part of the Food Hub Project in Kamiyama Town, Tokushima Prefecture. Kamapan is delivered to the Yoyogi office every Thursday.

Every Thursday, members purchase the Kamapan that arrives at the Yoyogi office.

We want everyone who has always been kind to us to enjoy our bread, which is very popular every week and loved by Monosasu employees. With this in mind, we decided to incorporate the concept of "New Year's present" into our bread, thinking, "We want to give everyone a slice of bread as a New Year's present from Monosasu and have them enjoy it."
In the past, New Year's cards were printed on A4 to B5 size cardboard, but this time we had a lot of elements we wanted to include, such as site articles and information about the bread, so we folded them into A3 size and created one that people could unfold and look at.

Printed on A3 size paper with cross-folding.

Selected articles that represent the year 2017

This time, in order to include articles from the Monosasu site in New Year's cards, the Monosasu site editorial department has selected one article per month.
The selection points were events that symbolized Monosus this year and articles that were a buzz among Monosus members. Here is an example of an article that was published.

March: From obligations and rights to freedom and responsibility Why Monosus introduced Full Flex
An article about the introduction of the flextime system, which has revolutionized the way people work at Monosus.

July: Searching for the deliciousness beyond the spiciness - The road to Mouko Tanmen Nakamoto
An article in which evangelist Yamanaka talks passionately about the super spicy ramen Mongol Tanmen Nakamoto, which sparked a bit of a movement within the company.

October: Buddy lunches have begun.
An article about the Buddy Lunch System, which revolutionized Monosus' lunch system.

December: Can you be free even as an adult? A trip to Tokushima to share the physical sensation of "freedom"
An article looking back on the training and party that was held in Tokushima Prefecture for all employees.

A QR code has been added to each article so that users can quickly jump to the Monosasu site.

When selecting articles, I looked back at the articles from 2017, and I was reminded that this was a year in which there were more unprecedented reforms to the way Monosas worked than in previous years.

Cover design to encourage people to open and look at the book

This time, the folded items will be delivered in a clear envelope, so it was absolutely essential that the cover be designed in a way that would allow the customer to take it out and open it.
Then Manabe had the idea: "If we made the cover itself into a lucky envelope, people would want to open it, as it would give them something as a New Year's gift."
It certainly seemed like they would take it out and look at it when they received it. So, I started making the product with the theme of "pochibukuro".
Also, I wanted to place something symbolic on the cover, so I drew and placed a beckoning dog.

By the way, the reason we chose a beckoning dog as a motif is not only because this year is the Year of the Dog, but also because the beckoning dog symbolizes "prosperity," so we chose a beckoning dog with the meaning of "wishing prosperity for the companies of everyone who helps us out on a daily basis."
There is also a theory that the origin of the Pochibukuro comes from the dog's name "Pochi" (there are various theories), and in the backstory it is named "Pochi".

The cover of this New Year's card. The font is based on Yu Gothic, and was traced with a pen tablet to create a handwritten look.
Every year, we have them arrive at the end of December so that we can deliver them earlier than other companies' New Year's cards, which is why we chose the title "A Slightly Early Ruler's Drop."

Learn about the essence of Monosasu from its cover design.

One thing I struggled with until the very end was the tone of the cover.
During production, we came up with several cover designs, like the ones below, but none of them were convincing enough, and one of the members commented that "they don't really have the same quality as the original."

A part of the rough cover design that was not used this time.

The day before submission, the design of almost everything except the cover was finalized, but we still couldn't come up with a good idea for the cover.

A truly remarkable thing... a truly remarkable thing...

Whenever I'm feeling stuck, my manager, Onogi, gives me some advice: "The current 'Monosasuru-ness' doesn't feel like a web production company, in a good way. It feels more analog than digital, but at the same time, it doesn't feel too forced."

Just when I was reaching a deadlock, Onogi gave me some advice.

Although it was only vague advice, this advice made me realize that the reason the previous rejected ideas had not been able to express the "ruler-like quality" was because I had unconsciously fallen back on my own "own favorite taste," and that this was not how I had expressed the "ruler-like quality" so well.
After that, I look on sites like Pinterest to find the perfect image, searching for something that has a ruler-like feel.

I'm going to use a tone that matches the handwritten feel, a style that I don't usually design in (what feels right for me is the style found in lifestyle magazines like " Ukatama " and " Tennen Seikatsu ") as a reference, and brush up the illustrations to make them more "Monosasu-like."
Together with Onogi, we worked out the finer details, such as the angle of the beckoning arm and the natural positioning of the hand resting on the gold coin, to create a cute and charming dog.

The evolution of the dog. I gave it a gold coin to express the festiveness of the New Year, and adjusted the angle of its paws while brushing it up. After it was completed, this dog (Pochi) took a lot of work, but I grew to love it like a pet.

After going through all those birth pains right before the deadline, I finally managed to submit the manuscript.
All the employees manually placed the printed New Year's cards into clear envelopes (nearly 2,000 cards were placed in them!).

This is how the ``Drop Ball'' was created, a little earlier than the ruler.
We explored many different directions before completing the project, but we are proud to say that we have ultimately created a great New Year's card.
We hope that those who receive their New Year's cards will unfold and feel the Monosasu year that has come before, and if possible, send us your thoughts about them.

We look forward to your continued support in 2018.