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A wide poster for the “Asfalt” street sports and culture festival, divided into colourful vertical panels. The panels feature action shots of skaters and BMX riders alongside lists of sports and the dates “20–22 Sept ’24”.

At Toykyo every project is an invitation to play

The Ghent-based creative agency have a passion for striking visuals and branding that “knows no bounds”.

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Date
1 July 2024

In the vibrant world of Belgian design agency Toykyo, optimism, playfulness and originality are at the forefront of any identity project. With a multidisciplinary team led by art directors Joeri Steegen and Esther Noben, Toykyo likes to blur the lines between graphic design, illustration, and animation – working across creative fields and in the inbetween. “Our team’s passions and influences are wide and eclectic, ranging from various subcultures to cartoons, contemporary art and much more”, says Joeri. “We feel blessed to have a diverse list of clients that allows us to explore these individual interests”.

The agency has been showing off their talents for bold image making across all aspects of their practice since 2006. Some standout projects include its stunning brand identity for Asfalt street sports festival, with dynamic typography and colour-blocked basketball courts, and the teams superbly executed (and fitting) take over for the letter T for 36 days of type last year.

Across all of their identity work for music festivals, restaurants, cultural institutions and brands, Toykyo’s mission as a team is to “evolve, transform, transcend, and most importantly, play!”, says Joeri. What’s most important to the crew is that they have a hell of a time creating all of their inventive, colourful projects; “We firmly believe that design should be enjoyable and that our work is most impactful when we have fun creating it,” Joeri ends.

A row of green and white posters for a music event reads “HEAR” and “SUN 14 AUG”. They are pasted onto a concrete wall below a large mural of a forest. A silver car is parked in front of the wall, partially obscuring the posters.
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Toykyo: Hear, Hear! (Copyright © Toykyo, 2022)

A green and white event poster reads “HEAR HEAR” and “SUN 14 AUG 2022” in bold type. The line-up includes artists such as “The Avalanches”, “Liam Gallagher” and “Pixies”.
Above

Toykyo: Hear, Hear! (Copyright © Toykyo, 2022)

A black and white photo of Meskerem Mees holding an acoustic guitar and standing before a microphone. A white banner at the top reads “MESKEREM MEES”, while a footer reads “HEAR! HEAR!” and “SUN 14 AUG”.
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Toykyo: Hear, Hear! (Copyright © Toykyo, 2022)

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Toykyo: Hear, Hear! (Copyright © Toykyo, 2022)

A graphic poster on a bright pink background features the text “SUN 14 AUG 2022” in bold, cream-coloured letters. A loose, black ink scribble is layered over the date, and the location “KIEWIT, HASSELT, BE” is written at the bottom.
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Toykyo: Hear, Hear! (Copyright © Toykyo, 2022)

An aerial view of a basketball court painted in bold blocks of lime green, red, blue and black. Five people in colourful sportswear play around a hoop, their long shadows stretching across the graphic court markings.
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Toykyo: Asfalt (Copyright © Toykyo, 2024)

A basketball sits on a bright red section of a colourful sports court. A white line separates the red surface from a light blue area and a lime green section.
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Toykyo: Asfalt (Copyright © Toykyo, 2024)

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Toykyo: Asfalt (Copyright © Toykyo, 2024)

A person in a colourful patterned vest jumps to dunk a basketball. The word “ASPHALT” is laid over the image in large, bold, lime green letters.
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Toykyo: Asfalt (Copyright © Toykyo, 2024)

A matte orange vase with two thick, rounded handles sits atop a cardboard box. The box features a green line drawing of the vase and the text “Vase ‘Oscar’”.
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Left

Toykyo: Home Studio (Copyright © Toykyo, 2024)

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Toykyo: Home Studio (Copyright © Toykyo, 2024)

A stack of brown cardboard boxes. One box features the text “Blow Up Collection” and “HOME STUDY”, while another is marked “Jug ‘Emily’” inside a white outline.
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Toykyo: Home Studio (Copyright © Toykyo, 2024)

Hero Header

Toykyo: Asfalt (Copyright © Toykyo, 2024)

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About the Author

Ellis Tree

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Ellis Tree (she/her) is a staff writer at It’s Nice That. She joined as a junior writer in April 2024 after graduating from Kingston School of Art with a degree in Graphic Design. Across her research, writing and visual work she has a particular interest in printmaking, self-publishing and expanded approaches to photography. ert@itsnicethat.com

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