The Colors of Spring (Haru no iro)
A Japanese woodblock picture book printed in Edo in 1794 by the publisher Tsutaya Jūzaburō and made by the artist Kitagawa Utamaro, intended for a popular urban audience. Its pages show everyday scenes of Edo townspeople at leisure, with delicate line work, soft washes of colour, and loose, asymmetric spacing of figures across the page, which a designer might borrow for airy layouts and restrained palettes built on muted pinks, greens and greys.
