Research on Modern Lifestyle and Design of South Korea

Urban Planning and Design Research (UPDR) Volume 1 Issue 4, December 2013

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Research on Modern Lifestyle and Design of South Korea Liangxing Su*1, Zheng Yang2 School of Urban Design, Wuhan University Apartment 12, Faculty of Engineering, Wuhan University, Wuhan, Hubei Province, P.R.China sulx2007@163.com; 2zyangwh@163.com

*1

Abstract Due to rapid growth of urbanization and globalization, the development of cities are tending to be homogenization. In particular, cities’ competition not only concerns economy growth and urban construction, but also the living environment that includes culture and arts of city. This article tries to explain how prosperous culture promotes the boom of design through the analysis of culture and cultural industries. Design, global city and mass communication promote each other and integrate into a new lifestyle in South Korea which has deeply influenced design, particularly mass communication. Seoul, a capital city of creative design, benefits from this modern lifestyle and increases its competitiveness in the world. The modern lifestyle and design have become the special culture and art of South Korea, especially in Seoul. This paper seeks to analyze the importance of city culture and art in urban planning and design through a case study of the relationship between city development and design prosperous.

Keywords Lifestyle; Popular Culture; Design; Mass Communication; South Korea

Introduction Since the 1990s, South Korea has emerged in the world known as popular culture, called Korean wave. At the same time, its design was also up and coming, as demonstrated by Samsung, Hyundai, LG etc. Their electronic products began to challenge the traditionally dominant Japanese, European, and American brands.

It is amazing that the charm Korean wave has brought, not only in the sphere of television dramas or music, but also in the design sphere. A fantastic example of Korean popular music is ‘Gangnam Style’. This had spread throughout the world in 2012, and we just surprised about the Samsung galaxy cell phone before long. What made Korean design develop so fast? To explore the reasons, we must know their lifestyle, since Korean design combines advanced information technology with special Korean peninsula cultural methodology, particularly, the flourish of mass media.

The modern Korean lifestyle, including its cultural

industries in a global context, famous for the mass communication, has deeply influenced Koreans. As well, modern social characteristics are advantageous and motivational for design development. In order to understand the relationship and the influence of lifestyle and design in South Korea, a research into modern lifestyle and design in Seoul have been conducted. This study was done mainly with the collaboration of the University of Seoul in the latter half of 2011.

Analysis of Culture and Cultural Industry in South Korea The Feature of Culture in South Korea What is culture? There are many different expressions, but the most famous and acceptable definition will include the whole way of life. Material things, such as art, machines, buildings, clothing, and jewelry, belong to culture. Non-materials, consisting of beliefs and patterns of behavior, are part of culture too. It is a lens through which we see the world; and the basis on which we construct reality and so on. As Ralph Linton said, water is the last thing that would ever be noticed by a fish. Therefore, the internalization of culture is the culture within us, and utilizes our beliefs and ways to do things that are taken for granted. But, how do we notice our culture? The best way would be to experience culture shock abroad, since it will make our assumptions more visible, and make us more aware of how arbitrary they are.

Popular culture is the main culture of South Korea after it entered the information era. Knowing the approach of culture will make it better to interpret the lifestyle trends of South Korea. First, the elitist approach represents the culture and social stratification that is cultural stratification, as well as superior, mediocre, and brutal culture etc. This popular culture is produced mainly by mass media, and consumed by the masses, a transient phenomenon.

The elitist approach has led design style to fit the 69

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Urban Planning and Design Research (UPDR) Volume 1 Issue 4, December 2013

elitist culture and caused the emergence of national design. Second, the Marxist approach is the reproduction of capitalist ideology. In other words, it is the repressive state apparatus, which contains the police, the military and the judiciary, and the ideological state apparatus, as well as the education and cultural industry. The Marxist approach implicates the cultural hegemony and the cultural strategy of the ruling class that is sex, sports and movie screen and makes people want to pursue international identity products, guiding the product design and integrated international elements. Third, the Culturalism approach argues that there is no difference between high and popular culture, and the public have creative cultural capacity. The popular culture represents values and identities of the public.

It directs the design of mass style and citizen aesthetics.

Fourth, the Post-modernist approach, whose characteristic is oriented against rationalism, materialism (capitalism) and statism, anti-professionals, and anti-system, is linked to the post-modernism style of design and encourages people to pursue differentiation from public in daily lifestyle.

The Features of Cultural Industry in South Korea What is cultural industry? There are many explanations, including the institutions both private and public, directly involved in the production of social meaning.

All activities’ primary aim is to communicate with an audience, and create texts. The core cultural industries include advertising and marketing, broadcasting, film, internet, music, print and electronic publishing, video and computer games, and the design industry. As well, the peripheries of cultural industries are sports, software and fashion. There are five approaches for cultural industry: cultural economics, liberal-pluralist communication studies, political economy, the production of cultural perspective, and cultural studies approaches.

Cultural economics based on neo-classical economics and the invisible hand (market), correlates human happiness with economic satisfaction, mainly concerning performing arts and the art market. Liberal-pluralist communication studies are basically a Marxist tradition, and focus on power conflicts in capitalist society by dealing with the relations of the state, business and civil society. Culture is produced and consumed under capitalism, which raises the issue that cultural industries serve the interests of the wealthy and powerful. The main characteristics of political economic approaches in cultural industry studies include the holism; which sees the economy as 70

one interrelated with political, social, and cultural life.

The historical pays attention to long-term change in the role of state, business, and cultural industries, as well as concerns the balance between private enterprise and public intervention, and engages with basic moral questions of justice, equity, and the public good. The production of cultural perspective is a methodology that concentrates on empirical studies about what happens in cultural-industry organizations and interactionist orientation, claiming that the creative cultural and artistic work is the product of collaboration, and puting attention on the resourcefulness of people in their everyday lives, and brands organization as a process but not a structure.

Cultural studies approaches speak for examining and the rethinking of culture by considering its relationship with social power and stressing ordinary culture. The approaches outlined above paint a picture that cultural influences politics not only by serving the interests of the powerful, but also by structuring recognition and identity, and raise questions about “who speaks?” and “who has authority to pronounce on culture?” as well. It can also influence issues of textuality, subjectivity, identity, discourse, and pleasure in relation to culture.

The Relationship of Cultural Industries and Design Cultural products are factory produced, standardized items geared to the demands of a capitalist economy.

Different cultural industries such as movies, TV, and magazines are only different on the superficial level.

In order to enhance the attraction of cultural products, design has been introduced into cultural industries and the cultural creative industry emerged. The cultural industry guides the mass by manipulating them into passivity and pleasure with consumption of popular culture. Therefore, the mass becomes satisfied and content, no matter how difficult their economic circumstances are. The cultural industry as a whole has molded men as a type unfailingly reproduced in every product.

In the cultural industry, standardization and generality dominates, so the notion of genuine style is seen as the aesthetic equivalent of domination. Design is to improve the aesthetics and artistic angle of cultural industry, but it belongs to cultural industry actually. In other words, cultural industry supplies the platform and influences design, while design promotes the development of cultural industry. In the information period, the internet and mass media are some forms of medium to support cultural industry, while design makes it better absorbed by the public.

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Globalization and the Cultural Design in South Korea Globalization The term “globalization” introduced in 1990 means imperialism, which is “the highest stage of capitalism”, Lenin argued, as well as advanced capitalist countries exporting financial capital to colonial countries to exploit their resources and labor or that developed countries can design their products and produce them in poorer countries, making domestic workers politically content with a slightly higher standard of living. In that case, a communist revolution is impossible in developed capitalist countries while the imperial global system remains. That is why the first proletarian revolution occurred in Russia.

Globalization shows the process of unequal development, the cultural industries design coming with the development of underdevelopment, but dependent on development. Labor is divided into the core, the semi-periphery, and periphery. Globalization stresses “interconnectedness of different parts of the world” and gains popularity with the development of the IT industry. But the development of cultural industries design is due to some aspects of economic globalization such as free trade. Globalization is a way industrialized countries use to export their cultural industry to developing countries.

TABLE 1 GLOBAL CITY RANKING

RANK

CITY

1

New York

2 3 4

London Paris Tokyo

5

Hong Kong

6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

Los Angeles Singapore Chicago Seoul Toronto Washington. D. C. Beijing Brussels Madrid San Francisco Sydney Berlin Vienna Moscow Shanghai

BEST CATEGORY (POSITION IN THAT CATEGORY) Business Activity and Human Capital (1st) Cultural Experience (1st) Information Exchange (1st) Business Activity(2nd) Business Activity and Human Capital (5th) Human Capital (4th) Business Activity(6th) Human Capital (3rd) Information Exchange (5th) Cultural Experience (4th) Political Engagement(1st) Political Engagement(7th) Information Exchange (2nd) Information Exchange (9th) Human Capital (12th) Human Capital (8th) Cultural Experience (8th) Political Engagement(9th) Cultural Experience (6th) Business Activity(8th)

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The Relationship of Global City and Design With the globalization of economics, the global city has emerged in developed areas with many advantages to develop cultural industries, and thus design prospers as well. As Table I shown, the top 20 global cities are also the top cities for design. In South Korea, Seoul is a metropolis as well as a creative and design oriented city. There is an annual design festival which focuses on creativity and design in cultural industries. This leads to a competitive city, and contributes to the development of the economy. There are many art districts and creative areas in Seoul, such as Insadong, Samchingdong, the Hongik University area etc. In addition, art fairs or design exhibitions are held regularly. Therefore, design cities usually emerge in global cities. In contrast, design also helps improve a global city’s image, as well as its competitiveness.

The Influence of Globalization on Cultural Design in South Korea South Korean society has been entrenched in western cultural products. Cultural differentiation takes place throughout the world, but there is creative and active use of western cultural products by non-western audiences especially in Seoul. There is a fear that globalization in South Korea will eventually lead to the destruction of indigenous traditions.

The influence of globalization on cultural design in South Korea includes westernized pop music, Hollywood movies, and favoring western style looks (double eyelids) that came with the popularity of plastic surgery. In addition, Japanese fashion, and ‘Bang (room)’culture: PC bang, Karaoke, etc, influence the internet and politics.

Globalization has changed the lifestyle of South Korea gradually, always followed by the design revolution, because designers must follow the prevailing theme in society and try to use their creative products or their designs to influence lifestyle.

Special Lifestyle and Design of Modern South Korea In the information era, the main cultural industry is mass communication, which dominates in social media, and it is a special lifestyle in South Korea.

Popular culture in South Korea has become one of the most important factors that represents the image of South Korea to the world, whose dramas and music are popular in Asia, Europe and America. At the same time, the South Korean design is rated highly on the 71

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Urban Planning and Design Research (UPDR) Volume 1 Issue 4, December 2013

world stage, especially in products, such as Samsung electronics and Hyundai automobiles.

The Influence of Mass Communication on Lifestyle and Design Field in South Korea Mass communication has been transferred from tribal to information eras due to the development of information and computer technology. In the tribal era, speaker and listener were close both in space and time.

The invention of a phonetic alphabet led to a detached reflection among people. With the invention of the metal printer, a linear way of thinking among ordinary people emerged, which seemed more rationalized. However, with invention of the telegraph, mass communication went into the electronic era which caused the revival of Tribalism. Followed by the information era, mass communication began to spread everywhere and was free from time limitation.

Due to Gutenberg’s invention of a metal, movable type printing method (1450), mass communication have changed from verbal to written, from mosaic to linear, and from tradition to reason. In this era, books, newspapers, magazines, etc. act as a supplement of mass communication.

After that, visual communication supplanted the print era, through TV and cinema, mass communication changed from linear to mosaic again and the recovery of senses and emotions. Since the medium is the message centre, watching TV rather than reading newspapers changes everything. In when, the lifestyle of South Korea is affected by ‘cool’ media, such as television, seminars and cartoons, and ‘hot’ media like, radio, film, lectures, and photography. Meanwhile, design which has been affected by mass communication, started to find a better way to collaborate with the lifestyle. The special lifestyle has caused particular products to be designed.

Therefore, the special lifestyle, such as mass communication, has promoted the development of design widely.

The Revolution of Lifestyle and Design in Modern South Korea With the development of information and computer technology, virtual reality and digital technique are widely applied in the fields of mass communication and design. Because most information can be converted into binary code and saved, this makes design more flexible and manipulative, which connects different media to designs. In this period, the three main media outlets that play the most important role in Korea are KBS, SBS, and MBC (as figure 1-3 72

shows) and have helped mass media sweep ordinary life in South Korea and overseas. As well, information science supplies the stage of convergence of media forms and production or consumption. Because new media have became mass communication in South Korea, the design also grasps the chance to apply the information and computer technology, and combines with new lifestyles to gain further development.

FIG.1 KBS

FIG. 2 SBS

FIG. 3 MBC

However, modern design has been developed rapidly after the Second World War in South Korea. Before, there were traditional art designs and some modern design rudiments from the Japanese colonial period.

The most successful case would be the computer assistant and interface design which helped mass communication become more reasonable and artistic.

With the development of mass media and popular culture of South Korea, the area of design has changed quickly and followed well-known popular culture in the world. For example, Samsung, with its high technology information products designed by their

Urban Planning and Design Research (UPDR) Volume 1 Issue 4, December 2013

design department, made mass communication more accessible and fashionable.

Analysis of the Characteristics of Lifestyle and Design of Modern South Korea The Characteristiscs of Lifestyle in Modern South Korea

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American Christianity during modernization and capitalization of society. Finally, familism is influenced

by Confucianism and the Korean War. An accurate interpretation of the Korean Wave drama, “Winter Sonata” has aroused the nostalgia of strong familism, and known as the egoistic familism.

Modern South Korea holds many socio-cultural characteristics. First is the ambiguous rules and inconsistent enforcement of regulations due to Japanese imperialism exporting their law to the Korean peninsula, which did nothing to bridge the gap between law and social reality, as well as South Korea’s rapid modernization.

Second is the educational craze which occupies 7% of its GDP, while the cost of a shadow education, a set of educational activities that occur outside formal schooling and are designed to strengthen the student's formal school career accounts for 3%. The educational craze is highlighted in an episode of the “Believe or Not” program, “red Queen Race for all students” and “Migrating Goose Dad” etc. Many scholars argue that this is due to social causes, such as academic sectarianism, low quality of public education, globalization, low fertility, and an unstable employment market. However, the deep reasons would be the distrust of society resulting from rapid modernization. For instance, the college entrance exams are regarded as the only fair test in society and representative of prestige that university brings in every aspect of social life.

FIG. 5 STREET CHRISTIAN CHURCH

The Characteristics of Design in Modern South Korea Because of the characteristics of lifestyle in modern South Korea, design is also deeply influenced. For example, at the 10th anniversary Seoul design festival, many products were exhibited that was representative of the design trend of South Korea. There are many designs where the semantic of South Korean lifestyle can be seen, such as Figures 6 and 7 below, symbolic of lifestyle characteristics in South Korea, Christianity and Familism.

FIG.6 CHRISTMAS TREE BOOKS

FIG. 4 TYPICAL CHRISTIAN CHURCH

Third, Christianity, which represents 30% of the total population in 2005. Protestants make up 18.3%, Catholics 10.9%, while Christianity is less than 1% in Japan. Most Korean Christians, devout and fundamental principle of belief, have a strong influence in politics and everyday life. As Figures 4 and 5 shown, churches can be seen everywhere in Seoul. Many researchers think that it is influenced by

FIG. 7 GREECE CHAIR

In the high-tech products field, Samsung phones and

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Urban Planning and Design Research (UPDR) Volume 1 Issue 4, December 2013

computers are more focused on the usability of mass communication functions and the emotions of people.

As well, creative cultural products always attract tourists to shop, because the creative cultural products exhibit lifestyle characteristics of Koreans and they are useful beyond the artistic products. The mass communication industry that is popular with related products contributes to design areas, since a pop star’s endorsement can affect the sale of products. As Figures 8 and 9 shown, these works come from a graduation exhibition of industrial design in Seoul.

The idea usually focuses on one lifestyle area. Pop music and the touring bike are the main social themes in contemporary South Korea, and the graduates observe and try to be applied in design to meet the needs.

also due to their lifestyle and human-centered research.

In that case, the human emotions related to Korean lifestyle on design is the most important element that we can learn from South Korean design, which is the national feature of design. Therefore, it is no surprise that Seoul was awarded the World Design Capital in 2010, which was conferred by the International Association of Industrial Design. Seoul, famous for culture and art of city brand, stands as a prime example for other emerging design countries or regions to reference.

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Su L.X., Yang Z.. “Analysis of emotional factors in design

Liangxing Su born in Fujian provice, China, 1988. MphilPhD candidate in Urban System Engineering, from 2011 to now; and Master degree in Arts of Design, 2010; School of Urban Design, Wuhan University, Wuhan, Hubei province, China. Graduate Exchange Program to University of Seoul, Seoul, South Korea, 2011. Bachelor degree in Industrial Design, 2010, Fujian University of Technology, Fuzhou, Fujian province, China. Currently, the author focuses the PhD dissertation research on product culture and value creation, and living environment.

Zheng Yang got government sponsor as visiting scholar in department of industrial design, Rome University, Italy 1993-1995. he is the Dean in department of Design, School of Urban Design, Wuhan University, since 2003. Currently, his research interest is living environment and design culture. In addition, he has published books such as Artistic Design Specilized English, Wuhan, Hubei, Wuhan Unviersity Press, 2008. Idustrial product form desing, Wuhan, Hubei, Wuhan University Press, 2003.

Prof. Yang is the member of industrial design teaching committe of the Ministry of Education, Rivewer of several Design Journals and expert of CSCD journal source.

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