Press Release
Kadowakamatsu Corporate Website by Tomohiro Kaji Is Granted the Silver A' Design Award in Website and Web Design
Tomohiro Kaji of Tomodachi Ltd honored for website and web design by the international grand jury of the 2025 - 2026 A' Design Award & Competition
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
COMO, Italy, April 22, 2026 /DesignNewswire/ A' Design Award & Competition has confirmed the Silver A' Design Award in the Website and Web Design category for Kadowakamatsu Corporate Website by Tomohiro Kaji of Tomodachi Ltd, designed for Kadowakamatsu Inc. The result belongs to the 2025 - 2026 A' Design Award & Competition and was decided through blind peer review by an international grand jury panel of established academics, design professionals and press members, who evaluated anonymized entries against predetermined criteria.
About the Silver A' Design Award
The Silver A' Design Award celebrates top-tier designs that embody excellence and innovation. This award acknowledges creations that are not only aesthetically pleasing but also highly functional, reflecting the designer's deep understanding and skill. Silver A' Design Award recipients are recognized for their contribution to raising industry standards and advancing the practice of design. Their work often incorporates original innovations and elicits a strong emotional response, making a notable impact on the improvement of everyday life.
More About Kadowakamatsu Corporate Website
The Kadowakamatsu Corporate Website redefines real estate communication by positioning property as cultural infrastructure. Integrating regional context, custom typography, and a restrained grid system, the design transforms a corporate website into a narrative platform. It articulates urban value beyond pricing models through a spatial and editorial user experience, enabling multidirectional navigation and layered engagement with text, image, and projects, reframing how urban value is perceived.
About Tomohiro Kaji
Tomohiro Kaji is a former creative director for UNIQLO Co., Ltd. He graduated from Academy of Art University, San Francisco and joined UNIQLO Co., Ltd. in 2008 as the first graphic designer in its communications field. He’s built and managed an in-house creative team contributing global branding projects including HEATTECH and Ultra Light Down product branding, product marketing and digital integraded campaigns. He founded TOMODACHI Ltd. (https://tomodachiltd.com) in 2019, an independent creative agency to create art + strategy for branding, and became its representative director.
About Tomodachi Ltd
Art+Strategic creative agency from Kamakura, Japan.
Award Record
Tomohiro Kaji of Tomodachi Ltd is a winner of 4 A' Design Awards, including this recognition. The awards span the editions from 2023 - 2024 to 2025 - 2026 of the A' Design Award & Competition.
About the A' Website and Web Design Awards
The A' Web Design Award is an international web design competition recognizing good web designs by leading web designers, coders and developers worldwide. The competition is organized within the A' Design Award & Competition and is open to web designers, user interface designers, user experience designers and graphic designers from all countries. Entries typically include web design, portfolios, e-commerce sites, blogs, news websites and social media platforms. Awarded web designs are published at https://dezigners.org/design-category/web
About A' Design Award & Competition
A' Design Award & Competition is an international, juried design accolade organized annually since 2008. The competition is open to entries from all countries. The A' Design Award has a philanthropic mission to advance society through good design by recognizing and promoting superior products, projects and services that benefit society, and by creating a global awareness and appreciation for good design practices and principles. Entries are peer reviewed and anonymously evaluated by an international grand jury panel of established academics, design professionals and press members against predetermined criteria such as functionality, ergonomics, engineering, presentation, innovation, usability, sustainability and technology, with score normalization applied to remove biases. Awards are conferred at Platinum, Gold, Silver, Bronze and Iron levels. The A' Design Prize granted to eligible laureates includes the award trophy, the certificate of design excellence, the hardcover yearbook, a lifetime license to use the A' Design Award winner logo, exhibition of awarded works, an invitation to the gala night and award ceremony in Italy, inclusion in the World Design Rankings and Designer Rankings, and public relations and publicity services. Registration, the upload of a work and the preliminary score are free of charge, and Professional and Digital Edition laureates are not contractually obliged to pay further fees to claim the A' Design Prize. Further information is available at https://competition.adesignaward.com
Press Resources
- Winner Page: https://dezigners.org/181494
- A' Design Award Page: https://competition.adesignaward.com/181494
- Media Showcase: https://www.designnewsroom.com/!181494
- Laureate Profile: https://dezigners.org/d/349316
- Further Information from the Laureate: https://tomodachiltd.com/
Media Contact
Giulia Ferrari, Press Office
Designers.Org
Via Leone Leoni 32, 22100 Como, Italy
press@designers.org
+39 031 4491953
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Fact Sheet
The Work
- Project
- Kadowakamatsu Corporate Website
- Function
- Corporate Website
- Category
- Website and Web Design
- Discipline
- Communication Design
- Industry
- Software and Branding & Advertising
- Colors
- Misty Rose, Rosy Brown, Silver, Thistle and Dim Gray
- Images
- 5
- Client
- Kadowakamatsu Inc
The Recognition
- Laureate
- Tomohiro Kaji
- Country
- Japan
- Brand
- Tomodachi Ltd
- Recognition
- Silver A' Design Award
- Edition
- 2025 - 2026
- Design ID
- #181494
Credits
- Team
- Tomohiro Kaji, Yusuke Matsuda and Tomoya Akai
- Image Credits
- Illustrator: Chalkboy, Chunco HARAWATA, Photographer: Taisuke Yokoyama
Design Details
- Unique Properties
- The design challenges conventional real estate communication by replacing property-based value with cultural narratives. It fuses philosophy, typography, and regional context into a unified narrative system. A custom typeface, editorial composition combining Japanese and Latin scripts, and a restrained grid structure support multidirectional interaction. Unlike conventional corporate websites, the platform operates as a cultural and editorial system rather than a product-oriented interface. This approach redefines the role of corporate websites from informational platforms to cultural frameworks. It positions the website as an act of authorship rather than representation.
- Inspiration
- The project originated from a critical observation that contemporary real estate practices define urban value primarily through pricing, often neglecting cultural identity. This condition has contributed to the gradual homogenization of regional cities. Shonan, once a culturally distinctive area, is increasingly shaped by suburban expansion and economic standardization. In response, Kadowakamatsu explores an alternative perspective by positioning real estate as a cultural construct. This project questions whether cities should be valued by price or by culture. It asserts that cultural context, not pricing, should define the identity of a city.
- Research
- Type of Research: Qualitative design research. Research Objectives: To redefine real estate communication through cultural positioning. Methodology: Contextual analysis of the Shonan region and the real estate industry. Data Collection and Tools: Field observation, stakeholder interviews, archival research, typographic prototyping. Participants: Company stakeholders and regional collaborators. Results: Established a clear narrative framework and ideological positioning. Insights and Impacts: Demonstrated a critical alternative to price-based urban valuation. Effect: Strengthened brand coherence and contributed to cultural discourse in real estate communication.
- Challenge
- The primary challenge was translating an abstract corporate philosophy into a coherent digital experience. Internally, it required defining the cultural role of a real estate company. Externally, it involved balancing editorial expression with usability and technical constraints. Developing a custom typeface aligned across Japanese and Latin scripts while maintaining conceptual consistency was particularly complex.
- Realization and Technology
- The project was developed through a narrative-based branding methodology integrating historical research of Fujisawa City, archival study of Kadowakamatsu, and interviews with local stakeholders. These insights informed the narrative structure. A custom typeface was designed from conceptual sketches to digital font production. The website was built using responsive front-end technologies, modular grid systems, and motion design enabling multidirectional interaction.
- Operation and Interaction
- Users navigate both vertically and horizontally, creating a spatial browsing experience rather than a linear sequence. The structure begins with a conceptual introduction, followed by projects, philosophy, and organizational information. Typography establishes hierarchy, while spacing introduces rhythm and pause. The interaction encourages interpretation rather than consumption. The experience prioritizes perception over efficiency.
- Project Duration and Location
- The project started in November 2023 in Kamakura, Japan, and was completed in September 2025. Research, concept development, typeface design, and digital production were conducted in the Kamakura and Shonan regions.
- Specifications
- Responsive web platform optimized for desktop and mobile devices. Custom JavaScript-based typographic motion was implemented for the introduction sequence. A modular grid system based on proportional ratios structures the layout. A custom Latin WOFF font was developed for web use. Vertical and horizontal navigation systems are integrated. The platform operates on cloud-based infrastructure optimized for high-resolution imagery and stable performance.
- Keywords
- Real Estate Branding, Cultural Infrastructure, Corporate Website, Custom Typeface, Editorial Typography, Urban Philosophy, Narrative Design, Interaction Design, Shonan, Digital Architecture
