This month's MVP is Reiko Takita.
Her work etiquette is uniquely her own.

Hello. I'm Onogi, the head of the design department.
This month's MVP was awarded to Reiko Takita. She is currently involved in the renewal of a certain major company, and is in charge of the overall direction of the production of a large number of images and parts. There were some problems at the beginning of the project, but we will introduce how she worked hard to get it running smoothly.

Skills cultivated through website operations for major fashion malls

She originally joined the company as a part-time operator for a major fashion building's website, where she created banners and advertising pages, and did other simple coding-level operations. This operational work was quite heavy, and she had to respond to requests from fashion building staff across the country every week, adjust schedules, manage the company internally, and somehow find time to work on it. It was especially tough during the big sales seasons, which took place two or three times a year, when it was obvious to those around her that she was stressed out.

I was probably involved in the operation for about three years, and we managed to complete it with almost no major accidents. I remember being impressed at the time that he had managed to overcome the difficulty of "continuing to exceed the benchmark quantitatively on a set schedule," something that would be difficult for most people, through hard work and natural temperament.

The moment the switch was flipped, without her realizing it

Recently, he was promoted from a part-time employee to a contract employee, as operations had settled down and he wanted to fully utilize his skills as a designer. Less than half a year later, he was given the task of renovating a certain major company.

To be honest, I was worried about leaving everything to her, so I thought that as the department head, I would manage it as the design director, she would be the main designer, and there would be a few other designers helping out. In fact, at the beginning of the project, there were a lot of things we didn't know, so I think we spoke up very little and took a passive stance.

If it continued like this, I thought, "In the end, my (Onogi's) tasks will increase, and that would be bad!" So I gave him some roundabout advice: "You can take a bit more initiative and treat it as if it's your own project." That was the right answer!

The following week, they started to arrive, and after reading through all of the huge amount of documents and very detailed schedules, they were able to come back with answers one after another, such as "Here are the rules for creating this banner," and "Working backwards, this category can be done later." I was really impressed by this, and since I had been working in operations for a long time, it was a moment when I really got the ability to grasp the whole picture that I had developed there.

Takita (right) is increasingly trying to learn new things and making comments that reflect his own thoughts.

Designer's Eye

As I mentioned at the beginning, the main task of this project is the production of a large amount of images. The amount of work would probably take six months to do alone, so we decided to work on it little by little every day with the help of seven designers in Tokyo and two people in the Kamiyama office.

Initially, I decided the direction of the illustrations and the production rules, but because there were many people involved, subtle variations and mistakes were bound to occur.

What I thought was great was his eye for balance and his attention to detail down to the last pixel. He checks every single character, and if he thinks the overall tone or balance is off even a little, he gives clear instructions. Even from my perspective as a manager, I felt that he was doing a good job of guaranteeing quality.

He actively takes on board the advice of other members of the design department and is trying to improve efficiency, and I think he has become much more conscious of the resolution of his eyes and speed as a designer.

Finally, to Mr. Takita.
I occasionally meet with the manager, and every time I do, I feel anxious about my future as a designer. However, Takita-san has his own strengths, so he doesn't need to be envious or admire the work of the designers around him, and I think he should just keep searching for what design is in his own way.

I think that winning the MVP award this time was a very Takita-like way of receiving the MVP award, and it was a great event. Also, sometimes the illustrations get really good, and with this incident, he is a character that I am often impressed by. I feel that he will become a very good designer, so please keep up the good work!

Congratulations to the MVPs!