New encounters unleash potential ── Using a diverse environment as a springboard for expanding globally

Akane Arimoto is a designer at the Osaka office. Since joining the company mid-career in 2019, she has been active in a wide range of fields, mainly in showrooms and displays. She continues to expand the possibilities of her career while utilizing her experience from her previous job, including actively participating in overseas projects. She talks about the joys of working as a designer at NOMURA

The key to a project is communication with clients and members

Arimoto is a member of the Creative Headquarters Second concept design Center. As of December 2023, he is a designer who is mainly in charge of corporate projects.

Arimoto: "80% of my responsibilities are with corporate projects such as showrooms and displays. Recently I've also been involved in commercial projects such as hot spring facilities."

In every project, the designer is involved from the early stages. Arimoto's role is to accompany the client to meetings and negotiate with them to give shape to their ideas.

Arimoto: "It's important to have concept design skills and keep up with the latest trends, but it's also important to understand and accurately grasp the customer's requests and thoughts. Communication is what determines the success or failure of a project. Above all else, we have placed emphasis on building relationships of trust with our customers.

If we can build a relationship of trust through communication, we can hear the customer's true feelings directly, which will help us determine the direction we should aim for and make more appropriate proposals.
I have always felt that this leads to work being carried out in a pleasant manner for both parties.

There are many cases where the client's image is still vague, or the direction is difficult to determine. In such cases, I try to take a logical approach rather than relying on intuition. With the help of planners, I try to reach a consensus by explaining things in a logical manner based on research results."

Meanwhile, Arimoto says that the best part of being a designer is being able to collaborate with professionals from a variety of fields.

Arimoto: "Our work is completed by bringing together the efforts of many experts. Even in large-scale projects where you wonder if they can really be done, the interesting thing is that members from various fields pool their wisdom and exert their strengths to make it a reality.

Also, the people who participate in each project are diverse. By interacting with people who have different ways of thinking, I feel like I am broadening my own perspective and growing."

An interest in space creation cultivated in childhood. Joined NOMURA in search of new career horizons

Influenced by his parents being design administration, Arimoto says he was interested in art and craftsmanship from an early age. By the time he was in high school, he had decided he wanted to work in space creation, so he went on to study spatial concept design at an art university.

Arimoto: "When I first entered university, plans were still drawn by hand, and I remember using a T-square to work on the drafting board. It wasn't until my second year that I started using architectural CAD." 

After graduating, Arimoto joined a display company. He was mainly in charge of showrooms and displays and learned the basics of being a designer, but he soon began to think about changing jobs. He looks back on this experience as follows:

Arimoto: "Because the company was small, each employee had to handle a huge amount of work, and the work was hard. In addition, many of the projects we were in charge of were similar. I gradually began to feel dissatisfied with the lack of opportunities to try new things.

I was looking for a new environment, so NOMURA, the largest company in the industry and with a wide range of business activities, was attractive to me. I was guided by a junior from my previous company who had moved to NOMURA earlier than me, so I applied for a job and have been working there ever since."

Since joining the company, Arimoto has been active in the same field as his previous job, but has also been proactively tackling areas he had no experience in. He has steadily broadened the scope of his career as a designer.

Arimoto: "I've mainly worked on corporate projects such as showrooms and displays, but I've also been in charge of restaurants and other commercial facilities. From my first year at the company, I was involved in overseas projects, something I had no experience with in my previous job, and from my fifth year onwards, I was involved in projects for hot spring facilities and the World Expo. I'm realising the career I envisioned before joining the company."

Successful experiences in overseas projects and hot spring facility projects. New challenges serve as a guidepost for growth

▲ "Spa World Hotel & Resort"

After joining the company in 2019, the first events that Arimoto was in charge of working with his superiors were the International Consumer Electronics Exhibition 2019 Balance of Being (hereinafter referred to as IFA) and the Consumer Electronics Show 2020 (hereinafter referred to as CES).

Arimoto: "IFA is the world's largest trade fair, held every September at Messe Berlin in Berlin, Germany. I was assigned to a project for Panasonic to introduce a wide range of products under the theme of 'A Better Life, A Better World', and was in charge of the spatial concept design of some of displays.

The following year, I participated in Panasonic's booth at CES, a global trade fair on a par with IFA, and was also in charge of displays space concept design. In both projects, I was involved in the process of incorporating Panasonic's main concept into the spatial concept design."

These were Arimoto's first overseas projects, and he looks back on them as having helped him grow significantly as a designer.

Arimoto: "When I first joined, there were times when I was confused by the differences in the way projects were carried out and the sense of speed, but for me, who had been working with the same clients for a long time in my previous job, being involved in new work with new people was a fresh experience in itself. Through repeated dialogue, and in the process of accepting each other's ways of thinking and being accepted by each other, I felt like my own values were being dramatically updated.

I also felt that it was more important to be assertive overseas than in Japan. I felt that it was best to immediately express my thoughts and feelings and make an effort to communicate them to the other person. I also tried to be conscious of making proposal materials simple and easy to understand for overseas clients. I learned new things about communication and I think it was a very valuable experience."

In addition, in 2023, he will be entrusted with concept design a hot spring facility, something he had no experience with.

Arimoto: "Together with the room chief, I was in charge of renovating the hot spring pool and common areas at Spa World Hotel & Resort. I was particularly particular about concept design of the outdoor pool. With the help of planners and salespeople who overlap with the target demographic in terms of gender and age, we came up with an infinity pool that takes advantage of the location's panoramic view of Tsutenkaku while also taking into account the perspective of the guests. I'm proud that we were able to realize an original concept design.

As we won one competition after another, the scale of the project became larger than initially expected, and we were also designing a hot spring facility, which was unfamiliar to us, so the project ran into difficulties. However, we were fortunate in that the concept design direction of the client and us matched, and we received cooperation from our in-house production and design teams, and we were able to complete the project without any problems.

At the opening ceremony, I represented the project members on stage and was given the role of explaining the renewal concept, which was a very memorable job."

Creativity born from teamwork. Bringing together the power of individuals to create the power of the organization

Arimoto will be in his fifth year at the company in 2023. He describes the appeal of the organizational culture at NOMURA that has supported his growth in these words:

Arimoto: "At our company, which mainly handles large-scale projects, multiple designers form teams to carry out the projects. It is a great joy for us as creators to be able to work together with a diverse team of individuals active in various fields, including those from our partner companies, to create something that could never be achieved by one person alone.

"Our company also offers an environment where anyone with the motivation can participate in any project they want, regardless of their length of employment. Every time I work on a new project, I meet new members and make new discoveries and learn new things, which is very appealing."

Arimoto is currently working on a project for the Osaka-Kansai Expo, a new challenge that has begun.

Arimoto: "Working with the World Expo has been my dream ever since I joined the company. My current goal is to lead the ongoing project to success.

At the same time, I am keenly aware of the importance of working on projects not only in Japan, but also overseas. My long-term goal is to overcome the English communication challenges I faced in both IFA and CES, and to play an active role on the global stage."

Aiming for greater heights as a designer, Arimoto continues to pursue new possibilities, seeking answers that only he and NOMURA can find.

*The contents are as of December 2023.