Daimaru Matsuzakaya｜Hyakuyozu Special Site

“Hyakuyozu” is a moving pattern in which five sheets of paper overlap and, with the slightest movement, generate patterns endlessly. We began by considering how to convey that structural fascination on a website. We planned a structure that moves back and forth between the “principle” that serves as Hyakuyozu's material and the “figurative images” that emerge from the overlapping of paper. Without being bound by words, we built an experience that lets people feel Hyakuyozu intuitively. So that, even within a screen you cannot physically touch, you could sense the overlapping of paper, the slippage, and the faint resistance, we thoroughly pursued the physical properties of paper. Furthermore, by incorporating a structure in which random changes occur each time you visit or the page loops, we embodied Hyakuyozu's infinity. We obsessed over every detail — texture, sheer quantity, and more — so that the website could offer an experience beyond even touching real paper.

Pursuing how to make paper feel real on a website, we developed a production tool dedicated to Hyakuyozu. It lets you freely specify the size and color of the paper and the shape and size of the holes, layer and lay them out, and finely set paper-like movement and change as animation. We built a production flow in which the generation of “figurative” patterns, the camera work, and the animation are set within the tool, and the results are reflected on the website in real time. Using this tool, we worked closely with the designers of the Misawa Laboratory who created Hyakuyozu, repeating adjustment and verification and raising the precision of the patterns themselves.

As part of the Hyakuyozu promotion, we produced TV commercials, TVer commercials, in-store signage, station signage, and more. We worked so that the Hyakuyozu-ness and the paper texture pursued on the website could be conveyed to the fullest in video as well. To confirm how it would look best at actual projection sizes, we carried out verification using a projector. We repeated adjustments to pattern size, text size, and so on, so that the video at each size could accurately convey the intended impression.