The central theme of our work—that the Hoshi Awards for short-form science fiction are ‘a departure point for exploring future possibilities’—is expressed using many different elements of design. Our graphics depict passengers (award-winning works) gathered at a departure terminal (the awards contest). In addition, invitations to the awards ceremony are designed in the form of boarding passes, while the anthology of award-winning works is designed as a travel journal. Working together, these design elements emphasise the role of the Hoshi Awards in encouraging people to consider the wide range of possibilities the future holds.

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Shinichi Hoshi was the author of more than 1,000 science fiction short stories during his lifetime, and his works are widely recognised for the impact they have had on generations of Japanese scientists. The Hoshi Awards, founded in his honour, are open to all ages in the belief that stories born from science-based ideas can also inspire advances in real-world science. As this year marked the 10th anniversary of the awards, it was an ideal opportunity to remind people of the awards’ important role in promoting the study of science.

The Hoshi Awards are named after Shinichi Hoshi, one of Japan's leading science fiction writers. They are presented each year to authors of science fiction short stories whose work exhibits a high level of creativity and imagination. As in past years, we needed to create materials with an overall thematic consistency that made them suitable for both advance promotion and display at the awards ceremony. But for the awards’ 10th anniversary year, we wanted to do more than just capture their spirit — we also wanted to salute past award winners and encourage aspiring writers to submit their work in the future.

Some 2,000 science fiction short stories are submitted to the Hoshi Awards jury for consideration each year. Our idea was to visualise these entries as passengers waiting to depart on a journey to the future, and the Hoshi Awards as the departure terminal from which that journey begins. To emphasise the significance of the role the Hoshi Awards play in helping people imagine a countless variety of possible futures, we designed iconic characters inspired by award-winning stories of the past to represent the passengers gathered at the terminal.

The design of each of our 'passenger' icons was inspired by one of the possible futures imagined by a previous Hoshi Award winner. One, for example, was inspired by a story in which humans survive through photosynthesis; another was inspired by a story about a world where men can conceive and give birth. Overall, the imagery is active and dynamic, evoking a sense of continuous forward movement. Pastel colour tones predominate, and our iconic passengers move through a fresh, light-green landscape that imbues their journey with a sense of hope for better things to come.The theme of departure was also carried over in the anthology of award winners, which was designed in the form of a travel notebook with 'departure ticket' bookmarks for each of the award-winning works.

The promotional materials we developed to encourage aspiring authors to submit their work helped drive a 6% increase in the number of submissions over the previous year, reaching an all-time high. Award winners were also clearly delighted not only by the honour they received, but also by the imaginatively designed anthology of award-winning stories that they received as one of their rewards.