1. Simone Legno
Levy H.
Per. 4
12/3

2. Simone Legno
born June 16, 1977
Italian artist best known for the creation of the tokidoki brand
designs are influenced by his interest in Japan and its culture, as well as street art and graffiti.

3. Background & Origins
He dropped out of Political Science, and then studied at the European Institute of Design in Rome. Legno built tokidoki as a personal website, not a company website, around Later, he was approached due to his interesting design approach.
Legno's portfolio website was listed as one of the top ten websites of the week by The Independent in 2003.
This caught the attention of Hard Candy co-founder Pooneh Mohajer and her husband Ivan Arnold. The two contacted him and after meeting, they formed the tokidoki business venture.

4. What’s “TokiDoki”?
When Legno was in school, he wanted his own website and was into Japanese art and culture. He would go to Japanese cultural institutes and all of his art works were inspired by books from Lonely Planet, prints, Japanese art books and posters, everything was about Japan. So he wanted a Japanese word and really liked the word "tokidoki", which means "sometimes“ in Japanese language.

5. Why Tokidoki?
Legno chose “tokidoki” because, as he stated in an interview with Katie Maltby: "everyone waits for moments that change one's destiny…by chance or by meeting a new person…tokidoki is the hope, the hidden energy that everyone has inside, giving us the strength to face a new day and dream about something positive [and] that something magical will happen to us". By this explanation, tokidoki fulfills its purpose by hosting sweet and inspiring characters filled with energy, mystery, hope, and humor.

6. How He Do His Artwork
It starts as a simple illustration or sketch and then he scans it. If he's too lazy to scan it, he takes a photo with his laptop camera. Sometimes he just shoots it with his phone and sends it to his . His works are then computer generated. His other works are created with acrylic or pencil and canvas.

10. Reflection Webpage: http://www.tokidoki.it/
I really like his art style. He put many simple characters with varying soft colors in one artwork that it feels complex enough for my eye, yet doesn’t feel too “crowded” because of the soft colors. The name of his brand is also smart, considering how the word “tokidoki” is easily recognized (for me). After researching about Simone Legno, I started to really like Japanese culture and modern art has always been so inspiring and eccentric (such as the fashion in Shibuya city)
Webpage: