Interviews with Sunghoon Kim

Brand Design Studio hej is working on graphic design with a brand based on typography. Starting with graphic design, we are interested in using various visual languages such as images and digital as a means of communication and are working on brand experience design by considering methodologies for customers' journey from brand birth to expansion. In addition, we are attempting and conducting a wide range of tasks beyond the boundaries of design in various fields, including graphic design, editing design, exhibition design, information design, signage design, and brand design.

For me, design is my everything and endless steps to reach my goals and dreams.

I don't have a particular favorite kind of work. When I get a design request, I wonder what I can do to solve the problem. I'm interested in solving problems, so I like every design work that can solve problems. I don't want to do design work that doesn't interest me.

I am interested in using various visual languages as a means of communication. When designing, think about what problems to solve and think about what visual language to use as a tool to solve the problem. Since I enjoy solving these problems, I would like to design a design that can be interested in solving the problem rather than simply distinguishing the types.

I worked for a design company. After leaving the company, I started my own company. I started my own design company, so I designed the company's branding first.

I don't have any particular favorite ingredients. I like all the ingredients. And I want to use various materials. Starting with paper, which is the most basic material of graphic design, I like designs that use various materials such as wood, iron, and stone. When I proceed with the project, I would like to select the material according to the nature of the project. The platform I usually use is the adobe program. Before working on a computer, I organize my thoughts and make a hand sketch in a notebook as a top priority.

I never felt creative for a moment. I'm always worried because I don't think I'm creative. I want to be creative. To do that, I think about it every moment and try to find a solution.

I think about why the client asked me for the design first and think about how to solve the problem. I focus on making our clients feel satisfied through designs that reflect those concerns. Also, I try to reflect on one method that I really want to try in the requested design.

I seek and ponder methodologies to solve problems. So when I design, I always feel more pain than pleasure. However, if you design every moment and find a new design methodology, you will feel the most incredible joy at that moment.

I feel the happiest. And I feel relieved through the results that have been realized.

I think thinking all the time to solve a problem, thinking until a problem is solved, and finding a methodology can achieve the best results and produce successful design results.

The first consideration is whether you can design with a new methodology and feel fun and interesting.

My design, the result of my design, should be able to have a good impact on society. If my design doesn't do anything to society, it's just useless garbage.

With the advancement of artificial intelligence, the scope of what humans can do is getting smaller and smaller. I think the design also applies. However, I think that human thinking is different from artificial intelligence because each person has their own characteristics and is different. Artificial intelligence will replace humans in many areas, but if we continue to develop creativity, I think design will continue to evolve by humans.

I haven't done a solo exhibition yet. The last group exhibition was the Korean Society of Typography Exhibition, on December 20, 2021–22.1.20. It has not been decided when the next exhibition will be held. Since 2016, we have been working on posters under the theme of Hangeul every year, and we would like to hold our first individual exhibition with Hangeul posters in 2025, the 10th anniversary.

I get inspiration for my work in everyday life and in my day-to-day life. I drink coffee or tea, walk or take a walk, and try to empty my complicated mind. When you clear your head through this process, new ideas naturally arise. These ideas come together and are completed as a result of the work. Eventually, the source of inspiration is also created in life.

I personally don't want to have a design style. If I have a design style, it will be my own feature. But due to the style of the design, I don't think I will be able to take on more challenges. That's why I don't want to have a specific design style. After working in design for a long time, I found out that my design is mathematical and planned. It's just a minor taste in my design. I don't want to think of it as my design style.

I live in Seoul, South Korea. South Korea is a country between China and Japan. It is located in Northeast Asia, so it is similar to China and Japan, but has a distinctly different culture. And Hangeul, the only character designed in the world, is used as the character system. There is a special cultural heritage of Hangeul, so Hangeul is used as a basic element of the design. Other than that, I get a lot of inspiration from various Korean cultures.

When a client asks for a project, the first thing we try to do is figure out what the client wants. In order to implement what they want, I study by conducting in-depth research and other data investigations. Based on such data, we find and implement methodologies that can be solved by design.

Flowerpot, pencil, and notebook, robot figure, coffee cup, iPhone

Life itself is design. So design is very difficult. You have to work hard on design with patience and perseverance just like you do in life, and you have to study and work hard every day to acquire rich and diverse knowledge.

I believe that having to keep thinking about how to design a design through a design methodology every day is both a strength and a weakness of a designer.

It is about finding the optimal methodology for implementing the design, and the methodology varies from project to project. Therefore, it seems that there is no "golden rule" for special design to me. I have a tendency to approach very mathematically to implement the design.

I majored in visual communication design. So, I am always thinking about how to communicate through visual language in the relationship between the client and myself and the unspecified number of people. In my opinion, the most important skill for a designer is to try to understand the other person and think about how to communicate better. I think communication skills are the most important.

Pencil and other analog tools, adobe programs, nature, coffee

When I receive a design project commission, the first thing I do is create a schedule for project execution. I try to make the schedule very detailed and execute it as much as possible. I design according to a set schedule such as one hour, one day, one week. Sometimes my thoughts stop. Then, the design does not go according to the set schedule. At that time, I don't think about anything and I don't design. Shut down my computer and walk until my head is empty.

Because every project has a different duration, it is not possible to predict how long a project will be completed. The project proceeds according to the set schedule.

I have worked with clients with different personalities such as Wemade, Lucia, Eterno, Gwangju Design Biennale, Hyundai Motor Group, National Museum of Korea, Shinsegae, Hyundai Development Company, Naver, CJ, and Nike.

Currently, I am focusing on brand design projects. I enjoy doing brand design because I can work on various types of design work, such as graphic design, editorial design, signage design, and video design, with a brand design project.

My goal is to grow the company well because I established and run a brand design studio hej in 2021. And I want to teach design better to students because I am teaching at university. My goal and plan is to become a teacher who can grow the company well and have a good influence on students.

Depending on the nature of the project, sometimes you work as a team or sometimes you work alone. Each project has a different way of working.

You can contact me by email, Facebook or mobile phone.

We first thought about what elements of Korean culture would set it apart. When we travel, the first thing we notice when we arrive is the architecture. There is a huge difference in architecture between the East and the West. These differences make you feel different and fall in love with the place. We thought that a Gypsies book design with elements of Korean architecture would make for a unique book design. Just as a house is built with pillars on the floor and a roof over it, a book is built by stacking pages one by one. The Gypsies book design was also designed as a piece of architecture with Korean elements. If I Koudelka’s photographic content is the interior element, the elements of Korean architecture are the exterior. The concept was to combine the look of Korean architecture with the content of Western authors. The most distinctive feature of Korean architecture is the hanok, or traditional Korean house. A hanok is characterised by its structure, which is made up of wooden beams fitted together horizontally and vertically like blocks on top of a foundation stone. The key is that they are fitted together like blocks, rather than nailed or glued together. Also, hanoks do not have glass windows like Western buildings. They do have doors and windows, but the doors and windows are covered with a traditional Korean paper called ‘changhoji’. As a result, you can’t see into a hanok from the outside, or out from the inside. This feature is especially noticeable at night. When you switch on a light inside a room, you can only see the faint silhouette of the inside from the outside, which is very attractive. It is characterised by an indirect, rather than direct, transmission of light, which gives it an ethereal charm. If these elements of traditional Korean architecture were applied to a book design by a Western artist, we expected that the result would be a book design with Korean characteristics. This resulted in a book design with strong regional characteristics that Koudelka requested, and a design that is different from Koudelka’s other “Gypsies” book designs.

A traditional Korean house, a hanok, is not as large as a typical Western structure. The size of the book design is also partly inspired by the architecture. The hanok’s characteristic modesty and modesty became a reference point for the size of the book design. Also, photo exhibition books are usually large in size, but I wanted it to be small enough to be held in one hand and viewed comfortably. I wanted it to be a book that can be carried around and easily viewed anywhere, not a book that has to be placed on a desk because of its large size, and Koudelka agreed and strongly wanted it. The grate of a hanok is made by fitting wood in a lattice pattern. I was looking for a material to represent the lattice pattern of the hanok grate. I decided that gauze would be the most suitable material for the binding, as it would allow me to realise the idea of expressing the lattice pattern of the hanok grate and the idea of applying the material of hanbok, traditional Korean clothing, to the book design.

When you look at the windows of a hanok in the evening after the sun has gone down and the moon has risen, the silhouettes on the translucent paper windows look warm, soft, and beautiful in the light of the fire. The paper windows from the outside are mysterious and invite a lot of questions because you can’t directly see what’s inside. I wanted to apply this feature of hanok to the book design to make the content inside the book mysterious and curious.

As the exhibition is taking place in Korea and I wanted the book to have a rich Korean feel, I suggested that Koudelka actively use the Korean alphabet, Hangul, in the book's title, which she readily accepted. To make the Hangeul look stronger and more impressive, we used a very bold Hangeul and processed it with hot foil stamping. The alphabet is represented in white on a black fabric, while the alphabet is stepped back with thin lines, black, as if it were shining from the inside of a window. This allowed the Korean alphabet, which is unique to Korea, to be on the foreground, unlike exhibitions in other countries, and set the book apart from other books. As I I Koudelka’s only book with an active representation of Hangul, the book’s content is presented in a vessel with the regional and cultural characteristics of Korea.

Communication is the most important part of the design process. Close communication between the person who commissioned the project and the person who is realising it reduces the margin of error of each other’s ideas. Since Koudelka is in France and I am in Korea, communication was even more important due to the huge distance. Through close communication, we tried to understand each other's ideas, which helped us to reduce the margin of error to a minimum.

As the exhibition is the first of its kind in Korea, we wanted to emphasise its sense of place. We decided that if we incorporated elements that could represent Korean characteristics into the book's design, the book would be able to fully represent the context of I Koudelka’s exhibition in Korea. We were inspired by “hanok” (a traditional Korean house), “hangeul” (the Korean alphabet), and “hanbok” (traditional Korean clothing), and applied each of these elements to the book design to show Korean characteristics and sense of place.

As the exhibition is held in Korea, the primary audience for the content is naturally Korean, so the typography for the book was also designed with the Korean audience in mind. The Korean typography was completed first, and then the typography of the alphabet was adapted to the Korean typography. We tried to make the typesetting and layout reflect the design characteristics of East Asia, especially Korea. There will be some differences from Western typography. Since Hangeul is not used in many countries or regions outside of Korea, you may find the typography with Hangeul as the main character to be both familiar and strange.

A photographic work of art is not just about seeing a print. It is a work of art that contains the artist’s intentions and the emotions of the individual viewer that come together to move you. I think the same is true for books. The artist’s intentions are expressed in the form of a book using paper. The tactile sensation of a book also creates a different experience for the reader. Cloth-covered boards, translucent paper, and gauze binding allow the reader to feel sensations and emotions from the form of the book before they can appreciate the content. These emotions can be felt differently by different people. We wanted the book’s appearance, with its Korean elements, to indirectly give the reader an experience that is characteristic of Korea.

A book is not just a collection of sheets of paper, stacked and bound together. I think of a book as a house or a building that has a different structure depending on the concept and is made up of paper and content based on that structure. The exterior of the book is the exterior of the building, and the content inside the book is the interior of the building. Therefore, the content of the book determines the appearance of the book, which acts as a vessel to hold the content. The combination of the exterior and interior elements of a book is what makes it a complete structure. The combination of the exterior and interior elements of a book is what makes it a complete architecture. Just as world-renowned architects design buildings by fusing elements from different places, cultures, and races, I think the same is true for book design. This will continue to create a different kind of content architecture made of paper, and many people will be moved and inspired by the results.