The designer who created the Monosus shape,
Yu Onogi

A cafe on the second floor of Ginza Mitsukoshi.
This is where I first met Onogi.

I don't remember exactly what we talked about, but I think he showed me some of his portfolios and I asked him for about three jobs on the spot.

At that time, our company name was not yet "Monosus," and although we called ourselves a web production company, we did not have a single production team in-house (a bit of a bombshell statement).

I was in charge of sales, planning and direction.
In the tight situation of juggling over 10 projects at the same time, any setbacks in the design would be fatal.

"I want a designer who can get the OK from the client in one try."

Looking back, it was a pretty aggressive strategy, but with so many projects going on at the moment,
There's no room for discussion about workflow.

"You just have to bring in people who have the skills to get the job done."

At the time, I asked a designer friend of mine to design my website. He asked me to introduce him to the most amazing web designer around.
I asked.

And the person introduced to me was Ono.

Forced to wear two pairs of sandals

Onogi (right) participates in a project meeting at the company around 2009.

However, at that time, Ono was a designer working for another web production company.

So what I proposed was,
"After my current job is over,
Just create the design for the top page and one lower page.
We'll take care of expanding it into the next pages."
That was the method.

There are a lot of projects. He doesn't seem to be thinking about changing jobs, and my company is very suspicious, so I thought that the only way to get him to do multiple projects right away was to force him to do two jobs.

As expected, the project began to move forward smoothly.

"I guess I have no choice but to woo this guy."

I was convinced of this,
"When will your company come?"
He continued to use pick-up lines that had no logic whatsoever.

After all, it's a small web development company whose name you've never even heard of.
If you think about it logically, there's no benefit to changing jobs.

"When is it coming?"
That's all I have to say.

But after saying it for half a year, it really happened.

From here, Onogi and I will join forces
The website creation has begun.

From then on, I focused on getting him a job that he was satisfied with,
I was desperate to give direction that would satisfy me.

After about six months had passed, Onogi said to me, "Hayashi-san, you've started to be able to tell the difference between good and bad design lately."

he said.
This was the only time that I was truly happy to be praised by a subordinate.

Monosus has moved away from subcontract-based web production,
The reason we have become a company with over 70 members is
I think one of the main reasons for this is that an excellent designer like Onogi has continued to ensure the quality of the designs for nearly 10 years.

Be strict with yourself and kind to others.

Checking out a junior's design (back left).

What kind of designer is Onogi, and what kind of head of the design department is he?
I think there is something I can't say enough about,
I asked the people who work with me what they thought of "Designer Onogi."

They all unanimously said, "We never miss the client's goals and desires."
That is it.

"Onogi-san faces his customers squarely and honestly.
A designer who can accurately grasp what problems the customer is having and what they want to express, and incorporate that into their design.
We would never create anything that ignores this point.
Of course, I incorporate my own tastes, but they are like toppings, and I never miss the mark on what the customer is aiming for or what they want to do."

There are also words like these.

"He is the most stoic designer I have ever met.
When we went to lunch together, he would sometimes just stay quiet.
I wondered if I had done something wrong, and asked him, "What are you thinking about?" He replied, "Oh, sorry. I was thinking about the design."
He says,
I really only think about design all the time."

Onogi has a stoic and seemingly unapproachable demeanor, but the designers who have worked with him all say the following.

"Onogi-san is really kind."

"Even when I'm trying to do something,
I feel safe knowing that Onogi-san is behind me.
I was once in charge of creating a design to enter a competition.
The schedule is tight and it's unclear whether we will be able to meet the deadline.

When the time comes, Onogi-san always says, "I'll be with you until the end," and works together with me.
And it's not like they're helping someone else,
They will get involved as if it were their own problem.
But they respected my design principles.
They really do think about how they can make my job go well."

Another member said:

"He's the person who has helped me get to where I am as a designer.
I think that 60 to 70 percent of the reason I've been able to continue this job and stay at Monosus is thanks to Onogi-san."

The thing that impressed me most when I heard their stories was,
He spoke about Onogi with such genuine enjoyment.
And no one thinks too much about it. When they hear something, they speak fluently without pause.
It's amazing that you can answer immediately when asked, "What do you think of other people?"
I suddenly started talking to him and interviewed him.
He speaks as if the lines were prepared.

I'm sure you're very grateful on a regular basis,
That's because that thought has been repeated in his mind, put into words, many times.
As a designer, as a creator, as a person,
I felt that he respected and liked Onogi.

Onogi is strict with himself but kind to others.

To continue being a web designer.

The illustrations for the A4-sized Christmas and New Year greeting cards that we send to our customers every year are by Onoki. Many of them are masterpieces with a lot of detail. Last year, he created illustrations for the renewed Monosasu website. Sometimes he would stay up all night for several days until the card was completed.

Finally, I spoke to him personally.
It's been almost 10 years since you joined Monosus. How do you feel about working there now?

"I myself have become picky about my work.
Because I've come to discover the joy of being a designer, no matter what the job.

Of course, designers need their own individuality,
Rather, I began to think that my job was to "bring out" the best.

About the client's company and services
How will general users feel when they see it?
I think it's important to design with objectivity.

So, what kind of company is the client, what are they thinking,
We have to bring out what we want to do.

In the midst of all this, the client's staff were working with passion,
If the person is very smart, I can discover new things and feel like I'm growing together with them.
There's something more fun about it."

It's fun to discover "something" together with the client's representative while designing.

When he designs, he does not confront the client,
You're trying to get inside the other person's head.
Put yourself in the other person's shoes and think carefully about what they want to do and what they want to say.
So during that time he becomes silent.

But then he said something surprising at the end.
"I want to throw away all design for once and learn coding.
I think that if you go abroad, the field we do would be classified as graphic design.
I can do all the front-end work, including coding, and this is my first time as a web designer.
To reach that level, I think you have to abandon design for a moment and work as a coder."

Onogi is an extremely stoic person.

Her feelings towards Onogi that she cannot put into words.
Put it into words now.

Although Onogi's work is focused on the 2D world, he is also good at creating 3D shapes. Here is an origami craft that he "quickly made" for a child.

As I was writing the introduction to Onogi,
Sorting out my own feelings for him,
As I listened to the members of the design department's thoughts about him,
There were many times when it touched my heart.

Generally speaking, my relationship with him is that of a president and an employee.
When working on a project, there are planners and designers.

But maybe they're both wrong.

While searching for a suitable word, the word that suddenly came to mind was "comrades in arms."
That was the word.

To me, Onogi is a comrade in arms.

I don't know what I'm fighting against,
There is no doubt that they have fought together.

With almost no connections,
To be honest, I had a lot of trouble starting up my company, Monosus, even though I don't have any background in web development.

We did whatever work we could, and our skills were not good enough.

The history of Monosus' web production is as follows:
It is also the history of my and Onogi's growth.

I can say without a doubt that without Onogi, Monosus would not be what it is today.

I'm too embarrassed to say "thank you" to her face,
I've finally sorted out my feelings for him a little.

One thing I need to achieve in my life is
Onogi, who always talks about being a designer for life,
When I saw that with my own stoic eyes, I thought to myself, "I've become a first-class designer."
Our goal as planners is to work together to achieve this.

That's why I will never stop being a planner, no matter how big the organization gets.