The fluorescence of a hemicyanine dye was considerably enhanced by the formation of loosely packed aggregates, compared to tightly aggregated and molecularly dispersed hemicyanine dyes. Loose dye aggregates were realized by introducing a self-assembling unit to the dye molecules and by adjusting the mixture of good solvent and nonsolvent for the dye moiety.The aggregation morphology of organic dyes can greatly affect their fluorescence intensity, wavelength, and lifetime. For example, when arranged in a parallel orientation, the so-called H-aggregation generally causes a significant decrease in fluorescence intensity accompanied by a blue shift of the absorption band with respect to the monomer band.1 Conversely, in a slipped arrangement, the so-called J-aggregation exhibits a narrow red-shifted absorption band which often results in enhanced fluorescence with a very small Stokes shift.1 Therefore, how dye molecules are designed and the way in which their aggregation morphology is controlled are very important for applications of fluorogenic materials (for example, sensors, laser sources, sensitizers, and nonlinear optical materials).Fluorescent dyes are very useful materials and are usually used in solution at low concentration so that the dye molecules do not form aggregates and self-quench. In contrast, a number of dyes have recently been developed that exhibit strongly enhanced fluorescence by the formation of rigid aggregates in the solid (nanoparticles and thin films) 1a,2 or gel 3 states, through a process known as aggregation-induced emission (AIE). This finding has expanded the range of fluorogenic dye applications. Their enhanced fluorescence is caused by, for example, conformational planarization, J-aggregate formation, and physical constraint. The formation of tightly packed dye aggregates has been limited to the solid state or at sufficiently high solution concentrations at which gel formation can occur.In this paper, we demonstrate the fluorescence enhancement of a hemicyanine (stilbazolium) dye based on a new concept, that is, the formation of "loosely packed aggregates" in the sol state. In general, it is difficult to form such loose aggregates in the solution state because dyes can be molecularly dispersed in good solvents, whereas tightly packed dye aggregates are formed in poor-or nonsolvents. We have achieved the formation of loose dye aggregates by functionalizing the dye molecule with an