The Odakyu Line extends from Tokyo through Kanagawa, and its major station Noborito is used by an average of over 160,000 passengers daily in 2017, making it the 5th busiest station operated in Odakyu. With the time schedule revision in March 2018, the rapid express began to stop at this station, and along with the significant increase in the total number of trains making stops, Noborito Station became extremely convenient and accessible, however its awareness in the Tokyo area remained relatively low for its size.

Odakyu was aiming to increase its awareness as well as traffic performance by gaining publicity with Noborito Station.

The Fujiko F. Fujio Museum in Kawasaki-city exhibits the works including original pictures of manga artist Fujiko F. Fujio, known as the creator of the world-famous Doraemon, famous to all Japanese, and partners with Noborito Station, its closest station.

Spotting the color tone similarity between Odakyu’s corporate color and Doraemon-blue, we suggested Noborito Station to undergo a collaborative redesign with Doraemon, as we were confident that the project will not only be warmly welcomed by the tourists heading to the museum, but also to the people using the station to commute, solely for the reason that it encompasses the spirit of Doraemon, a mascot loved by men and women of all ages.

With the project, we aimed to make Noborito a one-of-a-kind station, boost its awareness, and add value to it by becoming a new destination for many.

It was essential for the central piece of the project to draw attention from most users, so the station sign, a consistent design throughout all 70 stations of the Odakyu Line, was redesigned into an Noborito original.

There was an option to prominently feature Doraemon in the design. Although, the station users vary, and the design needed to be considerate of those who feel uncomfortable with, or lack interest in Doraemon.

Therefore, much care was put into finding just the right amount of Doraemon to blend into the design, as too much spotlight on the mascot will foster a negative image, given that the designs were intended for a public space.

The idea was “not show, but experience” Doraemon. Elements of this symbolic mascot were disassembled into plane composition images and color palettes which were recognizable as Doraemon, a method successful only because this character is known to all Japanese.

The project reached a record of 30,759,146 tweets in merely 10 days, with still a few items yet to be completed. Featured repeatedly on TV and various online media, “Odakyu” and “Noborito Station” both experienced exponential growth in awareness. In February 2019, when the project was implemented, station traffic excluding commuter pass users increased 9.2% year on year, proving that this drove people to the now “Doraemon-ized” Noborito Station. The most remarkable of all, is that every day, you can witness people of all ages taking pictures at Noborito Station with big smiles on their faces.