The archive · Design & Visual · Marketing decision · 2022–2023
The Derby's anniversary poster reads as a different hairstyle in each orientation
For a Tokyo salon's 10th anniversary, an abstract floral poster hides '10' and the D/d initials and reads as a different hairstyle when turned.
The Derby · himaraya design
What it had to solve
The Derby, a hair salon in Yoyogi, Tokyo, wanted a poster for its 10th anniversary. Rather than leading with a literal anniversary number, the design needed to say something about a salon that welcomes a wide range of customers.
How it works
The Derby, a hair salon in Yoyogi, Tokyo, was marking its 10th anniversary with a poster inspired by flowers. The composition is deliberately abstract, built from subtle motifs rather than a literal '10 years' headline, so the celebration has to be discovered inside the visual.
The image does double duty. Viewed one way it resembles a man's styled hair; turned, it reads as a long-haired woman — a quiet way of saying the salon serves a diverse clientele. Hidden within the floral shapes are the anniversary's '1' and '0' and the salon's initials, 'D' and 'd', and fluorescent pink ink was used in printing to add festive brightness.
Within a year the poster was selected for the Graphic Design in Japan 2023 annual and took a category prize at the Niigata ADC Design Awards 2023. It was also filed in the D&AD awards archive under graphic design, where it stands as a documented example of an identity piece doing its storytelling inside the artwork.
Why it lands
- A reversible image states that the salon serves everyone without a single word of positioning.
- Hiding the '10' and the salon's initials turns the anniversary into a discovery rather than a shouted headline.
- Starting from flowers gives the salon an elegant visual that still performs as a hair reference.
- Working across two orientations doubles the poster's usefulness in a window or on a wall for one print run.
- The fluorescent pink lets the celebratory read land at a distance instead of only up close.
What it did
The poster was filed in the D&AD awards archive under graphic design, selected for the Graphic Design in Japan 2023 annual, and took a category prize at the Niigata ADC Design Awards 2023.
What you can take
One image that changes meaning when turned carries two statements for the price of one: the poster demonstrates the salon's range instead of claiming it, and hides the anniversary in plain sight.
Since then
The poster became the documented face of the salon's 10th anniversary and, within the same year, entered three design records: the D&AD awards archive, the Graphic Design in Japan 2023 selection, and the Niigata ADC Design Awards 2023 category prizes. Its defining move — encoding the occasion and the salon's character inside one reversible flower — is what the archive entries record about the work.
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