Kyowa Kirin is a pharmaceutical company specializing in developing medicines, treatments, and therapies in the fields of nephrology, oncology, immunology and allergy, and the central nervous system. Our branding and wayfinding design for their North American headquarters—a 68,000 square foot facility in Princeton, NJ—highlights their Japanese origins and their patient-centric approach.

We wanted to express the client’s dedication to therapeutic healing by creating galleries of framed patient testimonials and dimensional lettering communicating the brand’s core values.

We looked to shibori, a Japanese tie-dye technique, to emphasize Kyowa Kirin’s genesis. The organic patterns made using the shibori technique resemble the company’s archive of microscopic cellular photography. We blended the two visuals to create artful surface graphics that intuitively connect to Kyowa Kirin’s brand.

The wayfinding design uses quadrants, shapes, and color codes to help employees and visitors navigate the office's two floors. We used distinct, plasma-inspired shapes to denote the function of each space. The brand colors—Passionate Orange, Purple, Pink, Blue, and Lime—are used to identify different neighborhoods or zones. Room names correspond to the color of the neighborhood (e.g., the Tidal or River rooms are in the Blue quadrant).