TOKYO - Kazumasa Nagai, a prize-winning Japanese graphic designer who created the official logo for the Sapporo Winter Olympics, died of acute respiratory failure on Feb. 23, the design agency to which he belonged said Monday. He was 96.

Nagai, a native of Osaka in western Japan, helped pioneer the field of graphic design in Japan and earned high acclaim overseas for his distinctive designs featuring geometric forms and masterful color arrangements.