Ōchi Hiroshi

Ōchi was born in Okayama Prefecture in 1908. He graduated in electrical engineering from Nagaoka High School of Technology in 1929. He then studied design at the Tokyo School of Fine Arts (now Tokyo University of the Arts), graduating in 1938.

His career started in the advertising departments of Ajinomoto and Riken Electric. Soon, he was drafted into the army in 1941 and sent to Java, Bali, and Malaya as part of the press corps.

Following the war, Ōchi worked for Dentsu in Tokyo, a leading advertising agency that still exists today, before opening his eponymous design studio in 1949. The iconic Apollo head emblem he created the following year for Idemitsu Kosan is one of his lasting masterpieces still in use today.

In 1951, Ōchi was one of forty-eight founding members of JAAC (Japan Advertising Artists Club), also known as Nissenbi (Nihon Senden Bijutsu-kai), alongside Kōno Takashi, Hara Hiromu, Yamana Ayao, Kamekura Ysaku, and Katsumi Masaru.

In 1953, Idea Magazine published its inaugural issue, with Ōchi contributing as art director. He continued in that role until he passed away two decades later.

In 1954 Ōchi held a solo graphic exhibition in New York, which attracted much attention. In the same year, he became the first president of the Japanese chapter of AGI (Alliance Graphique Internationale), a global graphic design association.

He taught at the Tokyo University of Education, Kanazawa College of Art, and Jissen Women’s University, contributing to design education and mentoring graphic design students in Japan.

Ōchi wrote no less than 33 books on design, including “Basis of Design,” “Color Planning for Design,” and “Poster Design.”

Ōchi Hiroshi died on July 18, 1974, aged 65.