Nikon design is not just about product colors or shapes.
While totally committed to being creative, Nikon also stays connected to customers in order to provide the right solutions for any potential needs and challenges they may be facing. From user experience design of products and services to enhancement of brand value, we continue to expand the scope of our activities through designing with a "future-driven" mindset that envisions what the future should look like.
Creating new values for a new era, let us introduce the future of Nikon design.

Nikon design originated with the packaging of mechanical parts within metal and resin exteriors so that a product could be effectively handled by the user.Together with the development of functions, Nikon continues to take on many challenges to make its products easier and more convenient to use, so that anyone can take advantage of each product's full performance.

Improving the user experience, further enhancing Nikon's value as a company, and solving social issues through innovation, Nikon is now exploring fresh new possibilities in design.
We believe that designs that optimally connect people, products to services have unlimited possibilities and that there is a lot more we can achieve.

The real value of any product or service is created only when people who come into contact with it find enjoyment and happiness through it.

How can we successfully move people's hearts? The answer lies within people themselves.

To really know, it's actually not enough to just ask questions. We need to dig deeper. We can ask "Who will need it? Why will they need it? Is there a story behind this?", and then we have to try every possible way of revealing the unspoken words that lie deep within everyone's hearts.

For products, we create numerous prototypes just to change a single button, or the type of covering. If it's software, it progresses through many updates to pursue user-friendliness.

In this way, we are able to deepen our understanding of what is really wanted beyond "appearance" and "user-friendliness", to effectively unveil the actual value of a product or service.

Nikon design is a force that can strongly move the hearts of people.

From customers to employees, Nikon's value as a company is determined by how it is perceived by everyone involved.

By providing customers with the diverse experiences created by user-friendliness, reliability, and attractiveness of its products, Nikon is universally recognized as a brand that delivers unique values and is sought after by society.

However, there is no guarantee that this will remain the same forever. Time moves on and people's values change. For Nikon to continue to be sought after, the company itself needs to envision the future and present a roadmap to all the people involved, while taking concrete actions to achieve its aims.

To fully explain the purpose of Nikon's existence, its vision for the future, and its roadmap, which are intangible, the power of design is essential.

This can take place via an actual product, or in some cases graphics and movies, or even words and sounds. Tailored to each target audience and without being constrained by any one method, the company uses communication of all kinds that can best illustrate the identity of Nikon.

Nikon design shows who we aspire to be.

To solve the different issues faced by people and society, new creative approach is needed. Nikon has been developing optical and precision technologies over the years and many of these are coming to fruition. It is the role of design to connect these technologies to innovation.

In the past, it took a long time for technology to be recognized as value and then accepted by the world. That was because it was the norm to go through the long process of pursuing the perfection of a technology, then taking time to develop a product, and finally putting it out to the world to have its value determined.

However, the world is now changing at an accelerating rate, and social issues are rapidly evolving. If we go through the same long process as before, we might fail to make the best use of the technology we have developed.

To prevent this from happening, Nikon hopes to utilize the power of design.

We explore what lies deep in the hearts of our customers by utilizing different methods based on design thinking. Then to materialize our value, we repeatedly give shape to it and continue to refine its form and value by listening closely to the voices of our customers.

We believes that it is such an attitude that will bring forth innovation.

Nikon design is about changing society for the better.

As well as B2C products, such as digital cameras, Nikon is also focusing on the B2B business area, extending from hardware and software to services.
We believe that it's our constant challenge to enhance the experience of our users. Nikon's camera design, which we've been continuing to advance for a long time, has gained a lot of support by meeting the expectations of a wide range of people, including professionals. We are confident that with this know-how, we can contribute to both improving work efficiency, while assisting those on the front lines of making new discoveries in monozukuri (manufacturing) and research.

At the same time, we are taking the meaning of design in a broader sense and engaging in a variety of expressive activities to expand the scope of the value we provide. For example, we are sharing the vision for Nikon's future with different stakeholders both through words and visually, so that they can more fully relate to what we are doing. As designers, we are always thinking "Who is this for and what value has to be delivered?".
We're sure that this mindset and ability can be applied in a wide range of situations.

There is so much more to what design can do. For example, working with engineers and marketers on how to communicate and how to utilize underlying technology and business ideas, as well as accelerating considerations through various visualizations and prototyping. We strongly believe that this is also an important role of design.

The products developed by Nikon have been well received by customers around the world. If we utilize the design thinking methods of listening to the unspoken voices and solving the deepest issues of users, we can add even greater value to our products. And in turn, we believe that this value will help unleash the creativity within our customers and ultimately lead to resolving social issues.

Even though our challenge has just started, we already feel great positivity in our endeavors in which we take design in a broader sense. Please look forward to enjoying the future of Nikon design.

*Position and job description are as of the time of the interview, but have been partially revised.