Restraint. Quiet. Simple. The subtle. It seems sadly enough, that the extremes and the heavys have moved into the neighborhood. Taken over. And put up shop. Perhaps, moving in is less accurate. The heavys it seems, have always been here. And this is why MUJI and Kenya Hara have perhaps constructed a unique brand experience that in this day and age, the world could use a scoop of. Perhaps two.

Hara writes that MUJI aspires to give customers the kind of satisfaction that comes out of “this will do” and not out of “this is what I want”. He writes that we have constructed a society heavy in consumption, desire and want. This in turn, has lead to an ever growing state thorough in waste, environmental issues, and the quick life cycle of everything we as consumers plow our way through. The accelerated life and death of all that we consume. In advocating for a culture of “this will do”, Hara is examining the phenomenon of products that can grow with a consumer. Products that are ageless, hypeless and as stated before, understated. Restraint. The word pops up again. For he posits that in simplicity, MUJI hopes to facilitate the varying needs of the 18 year old college entrant to the 65 year old grandmother. Appetite versus acceptance. If the great white shark is our current yardstick, it may be nice if something finally “will do”.

So this has been the challenge of MUJI. Not only have they ventured into the processes of keeping things simple. But they aspire to keep things simple, yet rare. “Simple, yet satiable”. And as an overarching concept and methodology, they have done that. MUJI continues to use as a basis for all of their products, very humble production means. Non-bleached paper stocks have taken a few perhaps unnecessary steps out of the process. More environmentally safe and slightly more cost effective, the simplicity which lies in its stripped down construction is something to note as well. For there lies something intriguing in its beige existence. Something enhanced in its bared down simplicity. Something that perhaps say, “this will do”.

In the design and communication challenges Hara and MUJI face, there lies a very similar approach in the understated and the simple. The process remains the same. How does one capture a certain level of complexity in something very simple? How does one keep things, “simple, yet satiable”? Hara describes the process in graphic communication as that which further extends this notion of simplicity and consumer engagement. He describes a process in which a dialog and an active presence of a consumer can peacefully coexist. He describes an open system where an audience can take messaging and invest some of themselves into it as well. As opposed to that which is one sided, an open ended system leaves room for a conversation. A discussion. An exchange.

It seems that as the heavys have moved into the neighborhood, they too have brought in their communication systems. The typical advertising axiom seems to derive much pleasure in hitting an audience over the head with message. A one sided dialog leaving very little room for one to formulate some thoughts of his or her own. In the communication efforts of MUJI and Hara, advertising, packaging and design as an open vessel facilitate a mutual exchange of information. Graphic designer, Dan Friedman was fascinated by this exchange as well. He cites the existence of a lack of investment these days in terms of audience. A willingness to end the communication from sender to receiver. He expresses the need for discovering some level of balance. A middle ground. A place where perhaps we can say, “this will do.”