Muji

Muji is one of my favourite brands. It’s not that there’re any particular products of Muji that makes me love it, but the concept of the brand offering products with “the least quantity yet the best quality of design” that impresses me the most. The simple design and materials used of its products doesn’t just look great, but also carries the message of environmental protection.

I’ve read two books about this brand. One is “Brands A to Z: Muji” by Peng Yanjun and Chen Jiaojiao.

This book includes the history of the brand to date, and photos of its products as well as its ads and campaigns. Another is “The Design of Design” by Kenya Hara, who is the art director of Muji. This book is not entirely about the brand, but also about some of his works, which is a book that I highly recommend. But it’s not the books I am going to talk about here. It’s actually an award winning CD player designed by Naoto Fukasawa, which is one of the most famous products under the brand, that I want to talk about in this entry.

(image from http://www.read-my-mind.com/page11/page11.html)

It’s a wall-mounted CD player. The design relates to traditional fans, thus without even have to think about it, people will just pull the string below the CD player, and the CD will play. This design is, again, about instinct. Because of usual practice, people doesn’t have to spend time to find out how the CD player works. This design is so subtle that people may do so without realizing why they do so, which goes with the concept of Muji – “the least quantity yet the best quality of design”.