What I learned from breakdancing.
I realized once again that there are similarities with design

Hello. This is Uemori from the design department.
I have been dancing street dance, specifically the genre known as "breakdance," for the past 12 years.
I started working as a designer three years ago, and my life has shifted from centering on dance to design, but I sometimes think that design is similar to dance.
This time, I would like to talk about the commonalities between dance and design that I have noticed while working.

1. Make dance and design clear

It is important that the design is clear in conveying information.
Being clear means being easy to understand.

for example,

When I dance, whether it's clear or not is important to me.
When expressing myself through dance, I use techniques similar to those used in design, such as varying the speed of my movements to add contrast, and slowing down complex movements to make them appear slower.

In particular, my dance emphasizes originality, using movements that no one else does.
However, when something is new, the viewer is unfamiliar with the movements, making it difficult to understand what is so great about it.

Therefore, we will base the composition on standard movements that many people are familiar with, and add some original movements.
Rather than trying to make every movement original, by mixing familiar movements with unfamiliar ones you can highlight the original parts you want to show the most.

It may be similar to the captions on television that clearly tell people, "This is the funny part."
It's good to be nerdy and understandable to those who understand, but it's also important to be conscious of making it easy to understand so as not to become self-satisfied. I think this can be said about design in general.

2. Improving basic skills leads to expansion

Design is so complex that there are academic fields for each element, such as shape, color, lettering, and layout, and I believe that knowledge and techniques are the foundation of design.

In my work, I create designs for a wide range of industries and styles, but it is only through my basic skills that I can guarantee consistent quality in any design.
I realized this because fundamentals are important in dance as well.

Trends come and go in the dance world a lot, but in reality, a trend is just a slight return to a style that was popular in the past or a slight customization of something new.

In other words, the fundamental parts of the dance remain unchanged, but the adjustments are made by breaking down or adding to the foundations.
For a dancer, the fundamentals are important as they allow them to adapt to the times.* Without a fundamentals, they will not be able to adjust to the times and may end up being a one-hit wonder.
(*How much you incorporate trends as a form of self-expression is another matter.)

Could the foundation be compared to "clay"?
Clay can be used to make many different shapes, but if the quality of the clay itself is not good, it will crack, not stick together, and you won't be able to make the shape you want.
Improving the quality of the clay itself and making the clay larger makes a huge difference in the range of things that can be created.

There was a time when I neglected the basics and tried to get people to see the unique flavor as a "flavor," but it didn't grow from there, and people got tired of that flavor. However, if you have the basics, you can intentionally bring out the flavor. All you have to do is destroy the basics.

The process of adjusting to trends by breaking down or adding to the foundation, and creating a dance style, is similar to design, which creates the taste of various projects based on the foundation. The range of adjustments made by breaking down or adding to the foundation may be the range of design tastes.

Also, if we think of basics as fundamentals and application as adjustment, then improving basic skills can be said to improve design skills. These days, I want to learn more about the two-dimensional composition, color theory, typography, and drawing that I learned as a student.

3. Survive by adapting

A designer's work is always subject to constraints, such as strict deadlines and budgets.
But even in such situations we have to produce results.
I was dissatisfied at first, but when I see people who are achieving results, whether as designers or dancers, I realize that it's a matter of "the ability to adapt to situations."

Breakdancing involves a lot of movements, such as putting your hands on the floor and rolling around, but depending on the venue of the competition, the floor may be narrow, slippery, sticky, or have some kind of metal part sticking out (laughs).
When an artist shoots a music video, the place they're asked to dance in is often uneven concrete.

It is rare to find an environment where you can utilize 100% of your abilities.
However, rather than lamenting it, being able to adapt to the harsh environment gave me a better chance of beating dancers who could not.

This is what it means to "survive." That's what I think.

4. Break it down and reassemble it

It's easy to think that you wouldn't be able to do difficult-looking visual production, complex programming, or directing a large-scale project.
But then I remember dancing and I think, no, no, I have second thoughts.

Breakdancing also involves flashy spins, jumps and bouncing moves, and at first it can seem impossible.
However, when I analyze the movements and break them down, I realize that there are some things I can do now.
For example, if we analyze the action of "brushing teeth"

If you break down the action into small steps like this, you will definitely be able to do it.

You can't do number 2 yet, but as you continue doing number 1, your body and mind will get used to it, you'll be ready for number 2, and before you know it, you'll be able to do number 2 easily. Then, move on to number 3...
The example of brushing your teeth is overly simplistic, as it's a phrase I often used when teaching young dancers, but I think the same thing can be said about the work of a designer.

"One big thing" is "a collection of small things."
By noticing the connections between those small things and reassembling them one by one, something bigger can be created.

What I learned by pursuing dance

Today I have mentioned the similarities between dance and design, but I believe that the things you learn from continuing to do one thing for a long time can also be applied to other things.

It's fun to try a little bit of many things and find common ground, but by continuing to do one thing for a long time, you can probably find deeper, unshakable principles.

It may be an old saying, but my long experience of dancing has made me realize the importance of this.

Rather than the results of the competition or the recognition I received as a dancer, I realized that I gained a lot from the process of getting there.
I was able to realize this because I continued to try and fail until I reached my goal; I don't think I would have gained much if I had just continued doing it aimlessly.
In the future, I would like to continue to set clear goals for myself as I pursue my designs, and enjoy the trial and error process along the way.