Yuko Shimizu

is the Japanese designer who created Hello Kitty.

She was born in Japan. After graduating from Musashino Art University, she joined Sanrio. She designed the first original Sanrio character, Coro Chan, a bear which was introduced in 1973. In 1974 she made the original design for Hello Kitty, whose birthdate is 1 November 1974, Sanrio's most successful and best known character. She drew her based upon Alice's black 'Kitty' from ''Through the Looking-Glass'' as a symbol meaning ''kawaii'' for small accessories such as a decoration for tote bags, cups, and stationery. In 1975, the design made her debut in Japan as an instant hit with her image on a coin purse and, later, Sanrio revealed her as Sanrio's ambassador to the world who is not bound to one language and named her in the late 1970s as Hello Kitty: she has no mouth because she speaks from her heart. She left Sanrio in 1976 to get married and has been working as a freelance designer ever since. She did not make a lot of money from Hello Kitty.

The other characters she has created include Angel Cat Sugar and Rebecca Bonbon. She has also published some picture books. Provided by Wikipedia