His diverse oeuvre ranges from book designs and typographic experiments via art direction for companies like Seibu, Mazda and Shiseido, to logos and exhibition designs, through to the concept for no-name design store Muji. Outside Japan, he is best know for his posters, designed for theater and dance productions, exhibitions and other cultural events, social and environmental issues, but also for font foundries and fashion designers. The selection draws a distilled picture of the manifold aspects in Ikko Tanaka’s poster oeuvre.

His style can be described as forceful and clear, expressive and harmonious, boldly abstract and sublime, deceptively simple. A fresh take on Japanese aesthetics is clearly identifiable, as are western sources of inspiration, including the Bauhaus. East meets West, as one of his books about Issey Miyake was titled, also applied to the activities of Ikko Tanaka, who always saw himself as a mediator between Japanese culture and the West.