Born in Nara City, Nara Prefecture in 1930. Graduated from the Design Department of the Kyoto City Technical School of Art (presently Kyoto City University of Arts). Joined Kanegafuchi Spinning Co., Ltd., and later the Sankei Shimbun Osaka Head Office. Participated in a drama club since his school days, and eventually worked as a stage design assistant for Jiro Yoshihara, the founder of the Gutai Art Association. Designed posters for Sankei Kanze Noh Performances from 1954. Moved to Tokyo in 1957 and traveled to the United States on a study tour in 1960. Opened the Ikko Tanaka Design Room in Aoyama in 1963. In the same year, participated in the design activities for the 1964 Tokyo Olympics and served as the chief of pictogram design. In 1968, designed the exhibition for the “History” section of the Japanese Government Pavilion No.1 at the 1970 Osaka Expo. Worked on poster design for the Seibu Theater from 1973 and as art director for graphic design at the Seibu Museum of Art (later the Sezon Museum of Art) from 1975. Consultant for MUJI from 1980. In charge of designing the ISSEY MIYAKE poster series from 1987. Received the Medal with Purple Ribbon in 1994, and the Cultural Merit Award in 2000. Died in January 2002. The following year, “Ikko Tanaka: A Retrospective – Our Era of Design" was held at the Museum of Contemporary Art Tokyo.