About
Hello, I'm Marsel.
A graphic designer and art director in Tokyo. I build identities, character systems and illustrated worlds.
About
A graphic designer and art director in Tokyo. I build identities, character systems and illustrated worlds.
I have lived between cultures my whole life. Raised in Jakarta - Indonesia, art university in Quezon City - Philippines, then a master's in Tokyo - Japan. Most of what I make has to work in two languages and two sets of expectations at once, which has turned into a habit.
The work I am proudest of is the kind that has to hold together at volume. On Sisterhood of the Knives I developed the concept and visual system for a 2,000-piece generative character world, drew roughly 80% of it myself, and led a three-person illustration team so that five races and 200+ interchangeable traits stayed on-model across every output. The issue I always aim to solve: define the rules well enough that consistency survives scale.
At Miraidukuri I make logos, illustration systems, campaigns, motion and print for tourism and regional revitalisation programmes across Japan, from brief to launch. At Enjin I owned the company's design output as product designer, brand designer and illustrator, including the three-mark sub-brand system, company cards, B2B brochures and the tabletop standees used at career events and embassy displays. I edit in After Effects and Premiere Pro.
Under the name ktsn I released fourteen 1/1 pieces across Foundation, Formfunction, Hic et Nunc, Rarible and OpenSea, some as commissions for other collections. They read gentle and minimal on the surface, with something slightly off underneath. It is where I keep the hand skills sharp.
As of last year I started going deep with AI tools. I use them for concepting and production, and I direct and carefully compose AI-generated key visuals. The judgement is still the job, so I make sure to make my AI related projects look as human made as possible.
I also keep a parallel product design practice, four years of it, mostly bilingual UI/UX and design systems. If that is what you came for, it lives at marselbait.me.