NHK’s “Niji-iro”

From discussions with the show’s producers, we understood the need to avoid letting Niji-iro become pegged as a story about the established LGBT movement. So we created a visual identity from illustrations by Yuie Shirai, remixed into a liberal take on the program’s title Niji-iro (“rainbow” in Japanese). We avoided the more common symbols of the LGBT rights movement to keep the show accessible to anyone with an open mind.

Spoiled by a wealth of videos, articles, personal journals and viewer feedback, we created a website that extends the visual story of the identity, while using generous text sizes and careful adherence to accessibility standards to ensure that the content could be enjoyed by the widest possible audience.

Years later, the show has become one of the most watched and talked about in NHK’s long history of education programming. The website now hosts several hundred stories and opinions from viewers, which were recently re-released as a best-selling book.