To Western eyes, Japanese magazines and Photobooks are a pretty wild sight. I'll never forget Noriko Sakai's Photobook FIZZ, and the lines that appeared under one photograph: "She swirls in my mind like fizz in a glass." As a matter of fact, the entire FIZZ book became a major influence in the development of my Photoshop style. It's a triumph of design and one of the most visually stunning works of art you're likely to see. Surf the web and you'll see photos posted on many of the better Nori-P sites.

In Japanese "Idol" magazine / book design, there is much emphasis on sensationalism, vibrant colors and the liberal use of fractured English. For the "magazine page" above, I imagined that I had stepped back five years in time, was working for a magazine in Japan, and had the assignment of delivering a feature article on Seiko. I hope you like the results.

Mike DeAngelis, 6/5/00