Design Research Journal by STUDIO SUSEJ

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Foreword �� 04 A Design Education Proposition

Introduction ��06 Welcome to A Bag Full of Hellos: Silence & Giggles.

Seoul Searching ��08 If the size and look fit, why not? ��12 World Design Capital 2010, Seoul

Lost and Finding �� 16

The road to new experiences 10 insider tips for travelling in Seoul

Will you marry me? ��18 Dinner on a cloud, mesmerised by the cityscape, charmed by the culture and inspired by the experience

Linking cities, designing experiences ��20

from Singapore to Seoul

Say “Annyoung” to the revelation of export culture �� 26 To be old and new at the same time ‘the export culture: Made in Korea’

The next trip �� 30 A bag full of hellos’ vision, dreams and aspirations.

A bag full of hellos: silence & giggles Strategy & Creative Direction Nur Hidayah Research & Editorial Joselyn Sim & Shannon Sim Photography A Bag Full of Hellos: Silence & Giggles team Design & Art Direction Mike Chen 1/7, SUSEJ Special Feature Circe Henestrosa Contribution Adindara Jelita Setyohadi Belinda Catharina Vania Catherine Chew Hui Yu Cherie Moh Shi Min Chua Kian Wee Josiah Cindy Fu Delicia Bee Germaine Chen Shiyun Grace Supandy Ha Tshui Mum Hai Xin Maria Giovani Isalaura Mishiel Novelica Wong Jun Hui JeremyW Yeo Siew Fong Special Thanks to Professor Kwon Haesook and the staff and students from Sangmyung University Printed by BS Press Pte Ltd Paper sponsored by

ÂŠ Copyright 2012 A Bag Full of Hellos: Silence & Giggles Faculty of Design, LASALLE College of the Arts, Singapore Disclaimer: Copyright of document belongs to A Bag Full of Hellos: Silence & Giggles team. Any references of materials mentioned that may bare similarities to published materials is purely coincidental. Updated ÂŽ April 2012. 2

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Joselyn Sim Programme Leader, Design Communication LASALLE College of the Arts

Nur Hidayah Dean, Faculty of Design

LASALLE College of the Arts

Design education today has seen a radical shift in its structure. The focus in design education is centred not only on discipline specific learning and teaching but also a broader perspective on critical thinking and the design process. The notion of interdisciplinary design and cross-disciplinary design has been debated time and again. The core of learning and teaching methods involve the experimentation and exploration of design through a wide range of areas. It is pertinent that the world of education evaluates the changes on the design of everyday life while making an informed analysis. The world we live in today challenges the philosophical positioning of what and how we teach design today. As mentioned by Swanson (1994, p. 54), ‘…there is a growing recognition that a wide-ranging education is needed for a synthetic and integrative field such as design to progress’.

In Singapore, as the Creative and Design Industries evolve, Art and Design disciplines must adapt to the growth of the social economy. The creative infrastructure must encourage cross-disciplinary collaborations between different sectors in the industry. This will fulfil needs of the fragmented creative industries in Singapore, particularly in multidisciplinary areas. With the emergence of more small-medium enterprises (SMEs) in Singapore and in response to the changes in the creative sectors, more opportunities will emerge. Some of these will include areas of product innovation, research and development, business and enterprise and tourism and entertainment. With such dynamic shifts in the industry and changing perceptions from the society, the next phase is to evaluate the specific inclusion of other areas in design education. Some of these important factors have started to surface and add depth to curriculum development.

Rooted with this thinking, the design programmes at LASALLE are producing thinking designers that are not only armed with strong design fundamentals, knowledge and skills important to the commercial aspects of the design industry, they are also trained to think as problem solvers with a keen mind in surrounding everyday issues from related social, cultural, political, economical areas and have a sensitive understanding of visual culture.

In higher education, academic programmes are seeing larger manifestations of specialist areas, such as Sustainability, Ergonomics and User-Interface and Systems Design, which are all based on research agendas. Good design seems to be an indispensable obligation to society and culture at large (Heller & Vienne 2003). Social responsibility becomes more important to designers today as the purpose becomes more serious and complex. Designers must have the ability to see and plan according to the changing social, cultural and political environments. An important facet to these developments should include the area of Inclusive Design.

The Faculty of Design endorses the philosophy of integrating fundamental design theories and practices with factors vary from design-related languages, crossdisciplinary awareness which is essential to build a concrete fundamental knowledge. Once designers are advocators of these elements, they then can become exploratory with their work and giving them the confidence to experiment and enquire. Design education cannot forsake the primary stimulus that allows the engagement with other types of disciplines, beliefs and desires within design and beyond design.

Inclusive Design is an important element in design for the future. There are urgent issues, which concerns everyone. ‘It is a general approach to designing in which designers ensure that their products and services address the needs of the widest possible audience, irrespective of age or ability. It has become a constant topic of discussions in recent years and will be developed further in the years to come. It will become an important element in design education in the future. (Design Council, n.d.)

The guiding principle of education as a creative business; should be a process of constant re-evaluation and that educators should often challenge that design is not just about “making” but also “building ideas” and “realising a vision”. Looking at current trends and how culture has evolved, a certain degree of understanding of social responsibility, ethics and inclusivity are crucial as we move forward.

The Designer Who Collaborates and is Multi-disciplinary Design is often an activity that requires teamwork and collaboration. The design process is often a negotiation between one person/group to another. This involves the sharing of ideas, knowledge and skills, an avenue to understand teamwork and overcome difficulties through learning. The more designers do it; the more equipped an individual is to pursue self-less, and non-egoistic projects.

Design education will become increasingly important and will play a crucial role in educating professionals for the industry. As such, the learning pedagogy must be continuously developed and reflected upon. These discussions influence the changes to the design spectrum and highlights important developments crucial to the bigger picture of education. The question is if design education is becoming an important mechanism to the creative industry, how much of that knowledge is imparted through the work that designers do in the real world? Will they still be able to challenge real issues faced with commercial and profit-making pressures? Will clients understand, be open to new ideas and eventually allow for more creative thought and process? The Designer Who Creates and Leads The relationship between the designer and the audience/end-user is now enhanced and it falls into the concept of the role of a content generator. - The creator/author has the responsibility to produce original ideas in response to issues relevant to everyday life

Designers should be able to network and develop a professional work ethos, forming meaningful partnerships and understand the business side of the industry

Designers should understand the process of collaboration and have interest in the various disciplines to enhance and develop a multi-disciplinary aptitude to the design process

The Designer Who Is Entrepreneurial Design entrepreneurship is an exciting area and expects a degree of sophistication and maturity in design management and networking.

- Develop an effective communication means through media and people with relevance, impact and originality

- Have an understanding in strategic thinking, business planning and be open to new ideas to develop new creative propositions. Be able to predict trends, watchful of the social, political and economical changes and develop a practical know-how of design management.

- Benefit the society, culture and is conscious of the consequences of the design production - Retaining the tools in design as the basis and core knowledge of the design process and critically reflects on them -

Sufficient knowledge in design theory, history and criticism as an integral role in design creation/authorship; where writing or creating becomes an informed means of communication

The designer needs to be able to fulfil the gaps in relevant markets and yet be practical enough to achieve the strategic aims and creative ambition of the big idea.

The role that design takes on today and tomorrow will shape the framework of design education. To overcome obstacles, design education has to play a leading role and nurture the next generation of creative leaders, design thinkers and strategists to form and contribute to modern society.

The article above has been extracted and referenced from research undertook on papers cited below. Please refer to full articles for citations. • The nurturing of creative leaders – understanding the pedagogical progression through visual learning, a study on alternative learning and teaching approaches that could influence Singapore’s design education system and environment. A paper presentation for “Motion in Design – International Conference on Computer Animated Design and Visual Learning 2011”, Chao Yang University of Technology, Taichung ,Taiwan. • Big Picture: Finer Details, Education by Design, Design through Education A paper presentation for “Image, Imagination, Emotion: New Vision of Design Through Liberal Arts” – International Design Symposium, Ubuntu 2011, Seoul, South Korea.

Nur Hidayah On behalf of the Bag Full of Hellos: Silence & Giggles team

â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;The life in Seoul is comfortable and poetic, gradually one becomes engross with its solitude of free culture.â&#x20AC;&#x2122; 6

Welcome to A Bag Full of Hellos: Silence & Giggles.

Wake up and smell the coffee This has been a long-awaited dream. What seemed like an idea in a cloud became something real. This was a project, which we had wanted to do for quite some time. We were inspired by a series of different activities including a cultural research trip to Melbourne Design Festival in 2007. We then decided to break the silence with this special issue. We couldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t wait to shape this and make it a worthwhile venture. Hello. It all started in Seoul in 2009. We went on a research study trip and visited the Seoul Design Festival. Fascinated by the cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s commitment to Design and its enthusiastic involvement in World Design Capital, we were inspired to design this as a special tribute to the city. Our lure to this city has given us moments of ponder and reflection to the visual culture, popular phenomenon, people and the environment. In addition, it has offered us different perceptions and ideas. We wanted to develop creative dialogues and exchanges through Design, by Design and for Design. Seoul has a lot to offer and using it as catalyst, provided the appropriate depth and breadth to this project.

Silence We were privilege to have had the opportunity to work with colleagues and students from Sangmyung University, who taught us a thing or two about Seoul. Through the awesome journey, there were meaningful silences and exciting giggles. The incredible people we met share similar aspirations and showed us the enthusiasm in developing long-term collaborations and exchanges. We thank them for their warm hospitality and dedicate this issue to all of them.

& giggles We hope you join us in the discovering and uncovering of newexperiences, and enjoy the wonders of these fascinating journeys.

Circe Henestrosa Programme Leader, Fashion Management

Seoul

Searching

LASALLE College of the Arts

South Korea, the so called Land of Calm, is located between the two superpowers of Japan and China, is Asia’s fourth largest economy and is home to 50 million people.A country that has suffered various economic crises since the post war, including Daewoo Group´s collapse in 1999, is today the 15th largest economy in the world. Once known as a hermit nation, famed for its conformism, Korea is now a place of increasing creativity. According to Andrew Salomon, columnist of The Korean Times, greater numbers of young Koreans now want to enter the creative industries rather than simply wear suits as doctors, lawyers or salarymen.

design technology company INNO Design, a design company founded by Kim Young-Se, with a vision of innovation in design and technology. His inventions go from MP3 players to Samsung phones to bottles of cosmetics and all sorts of IT devices that show how the city has been transformed from old to total cutting edge modernity. Interior design and architecture also form a big part of the city’s landscape with a vibrant retail industry, going from buildings created by architects of the calibre of Rem Koolhaas and Jean Nouvel to amazing interior decoration as portrayed in shops such as Corso Como, Bun the Shop and the Lotte Department store. Great interiors can also be found in smaller quirky fashion shops such as Covette and Mogool, a shop that sells all sorts of hats to serve the needs of a savvy Korean clientele obsessed with fashion, hats, shoes, bags and fur.

South Korea offers strong growth potential in the creative industries, and is slowly finding new models to allow Korea to develop its creative economy, as its creative sector is still very much dependent on government funding. Nonetheless the film and TV industries are very developed and are the most profitable and fastest growing industries alongside music, fashion and design.

For the first time in its history, South Korea – a nation whose name had been defined by war and by generals, by factories and ruthless businessmen is seen as cool with its vibrant pop-culture renaissance that has now positioned South Korea as one of the most creative centres in Asia.

Back in 1999 the launch of the film “Shiri”, was a ground-breaking blockbuster film that defined South Korean film style and enterprise. Films blending attractive actors, tense plotting and eye-catching action have established Korea as the ‘&die;Hollywood&die’; of Northern Asia. Korea not only produces soap operas, with actors and musicians shown in billboards across the main Asian capitals such as Bangkok, Beijing and Tokyo, but is also the land of global business giants such as Samsung and LG, alongside innovative

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Joselyn Sim Programme Leader, Design Communication LASALLE College of the Arts

World Design Capital for 2010, Seoul

If size look why

the and fit, not?

Unlike old films that gets a horrible remake and very often failing in expectations; the city of Seoul, South Korea, which was appointed as the World Design Capital for 2010 did not fall into such a predicament. Habitually neglected when it comes to being a centre of establishment for design cities, the city of Seoul has brilliantly transformed itself into a capital of remarkable designer led facilities, architecture, fashion, design, entertainment and technology. The twenty-first century has been called the age of design, where the consideration of inclusive design is of the utmost importance. Hence, this is the very essence that drives innovation and design entrepreneurship. Seoul as the World Design Capital 2010 (WDC 2010) has been an extremely prestigious title conferred on one city biennially by the International Council of Societies of Industrial Design (ICSID). The conferment allowed the city to celebrate the accomplishments of an inventive city that has been leveraging the concept of design as a tool to enhance its social, cultural and economic development. Seoul is now on a speed train to realise its vision to be a cultural centre of Asia through design and innovation. No doubt, it is still a leading megacity in Asia that boasts top financial centres and home to multi-national conglomerates such as Hyundai, LG and Samsung, as well as being the host city for the G20Summit 2010. Moreover, the land is rich and diverse in history, natural resources and culture, where intricate old stories are restored, preserved and littered down to generations of young Koreans. These are the very inspiration that drives the young Koreans to motivate their lifestyles and build high standards of technologically advanced infrastructure, commercialisation and innovation.

Kept away from the bustling street noises of Myeongdong, my hotel room bolstered several digital connectivity, which allowed me to reconnect to my world in Singapore, where often I am frustrated with the wireless speed, suffice to say, it is not normally free to use. I read that Seoul was one of the first cities to adapt Digital Multimedia Broadcasting, a wireless high-speed mobile Internet service. This was a service offered free in any establishment that you walk into and I observed this intriguing phenomenon on a train ride to Jamsil. I was hoping to find a seat to rest my feet, which were burning up from all the walking in autumn, instead, I see almost everyone glued to his or her phones, this includes the tenderly aged ‘Ahjumma’ and ‘Ahjussi’1. A peek over to a laughing stranger beside me, I realised that he was watching a naughty game show and that had caused his contentment.

1Ahjumma / Ahjussi: referring to elderly strangers in Korean

Twenty minutes later, I arrived at the Jamsil Stadium. I see the entire place filled with various design festivities, cultural activities, friendly furniture designers who will urge that you take a seat on their design, design universities, and most importantly, children with their parents enjoying the cult of new design objects. People were curious, entertained, and of course thrilled by the noisy apparition of the history of food in a nearby food store, the extension of Samsungâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s involvement in the arts or the simple exhibition on the restaurant logos around the city of Seoul. When I look over to our neighbours in North Asia, I cannot help but ponder on how the vast developments and excitement that the cities could contribute to design and its industries. Design has become a key element that enables sustainable and harmonious coexistence of human beings and environments. The ultimate value of design lies in its enhancement of quality of life for humans, and the facilitation of communication to make the world harmonious. A universal design that is for everyone and can be used with ease carries the philosophy of social equity and a realisation of human value. It is also design for all, aimed to be shared together, to remove barriers and to work as a social situation for communication.I realised the impact it can have and that I was in the middle of a city that had the infinite possibilities and potential. Designers from Singapore need to be able to constantly encounter a new philosophy of design experiences, learn to expand networks in the creative industry for a social and economic purpose and to exchange information among people from all around the world. In a constant battle to be a better-designed environment and Singaporeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s aim to be a creative industry hub, Design education firstly has to consider the various innovations it can offer to its country and local Design professionals. Past events such as The Seoul Design Olympiad, which demonstrated the power of design in 2008 and 2009 opened under the new name of the SEOUL DESIGN FAIR in September 2010 at Jamsil Sports Complex. The evident rise of popular culture and consumerism are littered within the cities in South Korea and that phenomenon allowed such changes to vastly develop into export counter culture. Seoul had spent years preparing various design projects & collaborations for urban development ranging from education to industries, policies, facilities, and the designing of the city itself. The inspiration has been influential and evidently so, when you see the economical effect ripple into the Industrial

â&#x20AC;&#x153;Seoul is now on a speed train

realise

its

vision to be a cultural centre of Asia through design and innovation.â&#x20AC;&#x153;

Design, Information design and Fashion design industries. The â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Every Design Seoulâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; initiative, which is one of the initiatives for WDC 2010 was also intended to not only re-design Seoul as a city of global renown, but also to strengthen Seoulâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s economy and bring cultural benefits to its citizens and visitors. With an astounding cohesive effort from the government, the design industry and the locals, Seoul is becoming a worldwide hub of creativity and innovation, with design further increasing the brand value of the city. Personally, I am amazed by this commitment and dedication. My take on this entire experience is that the city of Seoul well deserves the title of World Design Capital for 2010 and being part of this ingenuity is truly a holistic indulgence for my soul.

The role of WDC designated city: World Design Capital (WDC) is a biennial global competition open to all cities in the world. The title is conferred on cities that have demonstrated exceptional progress using the varied tools design offers. A city is appointed as WDC every other year to celebrate its achievements and to share them with other cities. Designated cities are different but the same in that design plays an essential role in reinventing the cities to meet evolving needs in the world. Helsinki, Finland is the conferred city for 2012. (last seen-http://www.worlddesigncapital.com/what-is-the-wdc/)

Nur Hidayah Dean, Faculty of Design

LASALLE College of the Arts

Lost & Finding

10 Tips Travelling In

Seoul

Kathryn Shannon Sim Lecturer, Design Communication LASALLE College of the Arts

W I L L Y

Retailing & the Cosmetics Industry

M A R R Y M

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What’s more: in the past, bags, shoes and apparels, which are made in Japan are considered to be more premium than those made in other Asian countries. Today, that perception is passé. ‘Made in Korea’, the three-word liner is one that consumers look out for on clothing labels and would readily pay top money for.

Head-in-the clouds. Smiles. Charming people. Dim lights. Sumptuous food cooked to perfection, presented like a form of art; almost too beautiful to eat it. As the name suggests, Top Cloud is a posh restaurant located on the 33rd storey of Jongno Tower at Insadong, Seoul. It is a place where it will make even the heart of the most unromantic person go thumping with excitement and into the mood for love. No, not kidding; and yes it is the perfect place to pop that big question of “Will You Marry Me?” for a guaranteed “Yes, I Do”.

To say the least, South Korean fashion is down-toearth and practical for everyday wear. Although there are not many distinct fashion styles in South Korea, unlike Japanese with their ‘Decora’ fashion, ‘Lolita’ fashion etc., there are general trends one can observe about it.

Enough with the fantasy talk now. Dining at Top Cloud; looking around at the beautiful faces – like watching a silent movie, a lot came to mind.

Layering of clothing and accessories is common in South Korean fashion style. It makes use of fundamental design rules such as matching chunky accessories with simple clothing – pairing a chunky owl necklace with a single-color blouse, and a pair of matching well-cut pants. The simple rule of the thumb is to cast the spotlight on an item at a time, or end up looking like a walking fashion disaster. With the booming retailing and cosmetics industries as strong contributing factors to South Korea’s successful tourism, one cannot deny that trips to South Korea – whether for business or leisure – are without question fun and inspiring. Those that would get one uber excited; liken to going on a first date, and counting down to the days left before leaving on an airplane for it, but they are also trips which one would want to keep it low. Simply because telling others would mean having to pay for excess baggage from the can-you-help-me-to-buy products from South Korea for family members, relatives and friends, but who is complaining? Good things are always best to share although it would be nice to be gracious like the South Koreans by offering to pay for the excess baggage, when you ask someone to buy a truckload of things back for you from South Korea. Just pulling your leg. Really, what’s not to like about South Korea: the fashion, perfect; the cosmetics, perfect; the weather, perfect; the people, perfect; the culture, perfect; the food, perfect.

Perfection is a word synonymous to South Koreans. They take pride in how they present themselves to the world. South Koreans are known for their perfect trendy fashion sense, their perfect natural-looking make-up, which are complimented by their perfect, flawless, porcelain complexion, and perfect, gracious mannerism. Honestly speaking, one cannot thank South Korea enough for being the pioneer in popularising Blemish Balm or more commonly know as BB cream, with other notably cosmetic brands from the world over following suit. South Korean companies are the first to realise the business potential. They adapted the technology and started making their own formulas, thus allowing the achievement of seemingly perfect skin possible for the general public, without having to undergo the knife. How wonderful is that. But that’s not all to thank South Korea for. With the broad fame of Korean pop culture, South Koreans’ influence on other people has gone a long way – from hairstyles and fashion to cosmetics and others. The high amount of spending on cosmetics and skincare products alone in South Korea can never be questioned as being physically beautiful is a great deal to South Koreans. In fact, South Koreans have even set their own criteria for what beauty should be defined as: fresh-looking, translucent skin, flawless and chiselled face. Not only one will see South Koreans are up to their own products, even women and men from other Asian and Western countries too, are going wild; no, maybe crazy would be a better word to describe; or insane is much closer to expressing the uncontrollable addiction and craving here – well, you get the drift – over South Korean beauty products. In comparison with Western beauty products, South Korean cosmetic products often yield about the same or even better results and have more economical prices. To say the least, South Korean cosmetics are now so established that their niche and presence are all over the world, thus earning them a remarkable place in the field of beauty and cosmetic products – a truly noteworthy and commendable achievement.

South Korea – the perfect partner. Yes, I do. Let’s get married.

Cities:

Linking

Project collaboration between SangMyung University, South Korea and LASALLE College of the Arts, Singapore

Joselyn Sim Programme Leader, Design Communication

LASALLE College of the Arts

Throughout this collaboration between LASALLE College of the Arts and SangMyung University, it was carefully considered that students had taken into account appropriate methods of academic enquiry so as to give an intellectual interpretation of the main theme.

This interdisciplinary project aimed to develop studentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; research skills so that they can grow to understand cultural and contemporary design, fashion and visual arts in an urbanisation context. Students who participated were required to demonstrate relevant research skills to make a well-informed presentation with critical analysis on creating contemporary design proposals and designed outcomes.

Experiences

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Project Theme: Quiet-scape in Urban Cities Cities sometimes form a quiet symphony of reflection amongst the urban and suburban landscapes. The sites, the places, the locations are a research loci, seeking a communication between the scope observation and the presence everyday changes. The landscape and everyday lift that surrounds everyone in the city is sometimes quiet when you close your eyes. Will this ever be possible in urban cities or is this a myth? Can the quietness be an interpretation of a necessity of noise that defines the city?

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Students were tasked to reflect on the theme, conduct visual research and respond as a project collaboration between the Singaporean and Korean colleagues, and articulate the initial ideas in a presentation format at the end of the workshop that was held in Singapore.

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Linki Visual Culture workshop, Singapore The workshop that was conducted in Singapore aimed to reflect the culture interpretation of the urbanites living or working in the cities, present and the future. Students had to work with different design research approaches to articulate the message within the design context. Some examples were, the negotiation of identities in shopping malls or the exploration of quiet visuals within the masses of consumption. This was where the students were able to gain opportunities to explore on varied concepts and ideas that enabled the culmination of a design outcome or response. Key Themes were either, Spaces & Places or People & Objects; henceforth, cumulated to enable each group to conduct a five minute presentation explaining their design proposals and their design approaches. These culminated in installations to be used in the final exhibition where the design responses to the project were finished by the second phase of the project and presented in Sangmyung University, South Korea. The design research angle to the entire project was to provide students with an introduction

to the cultural, contextual and practice of contemporary design, fashion and visual culture through visual learning, as well as encounter basic research methods and key transferable skills, such as presentation, editing, managing. The students also enjoyed how to communicate information, arguments and ideas effectively and appropriately to the subject, purpose and audience, in both written and verbal forms. The out of classroom learning activities have enable students to demonstrate reflective knowledge and understanding of contemporary design theories, issues, principles and concepts relevant to curating contemporary design, fashion and visual arts. They were also able to form a critical and reflective knowledge and understanding of visual culture and society. Without a doubt, through these new networks, new found friends and across cultural barriers, being able to find, critically evaluate and interpret evidence from relevant literature and material culture.

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Catharina Vania

A wonderful experience. A chance where the two personalities, cultures and lifestyles collide. A clash of creativity and a strike of competition to achieve one goal. Human nature to be individual and self-centered, we all hide inside our own box, our own world. This collaborative project will be the eye opener for us, to let people in to our world, to be ONE.

Citie Catherine Chew

gning

While my Korean counterpart and I were visiting the different areas of Singapore looking for â&#x20AC;&#x153;Quiet Scapesâ&#x20AC;?, I found construction workers sleeping under the shade amidst all the rubble and scaffolding. What seemed like a mess was a haven for them. To be able to be at peace and at rest in the scorching summer, my partner and I looked for scapes where people rest, parallel to a personal quiet scape.

eriences

As much as an oasis is to a blazing desert, the shade is a refuge from the sun. Both in Korea and Singapore, summer is a season where everyone struggle with the sun and slab on amounts of sunblock. Some may choose to turn to icecream, some choose the shade.

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Cherie Moh

The journey started with the meeting with our Korean teammates. Although there were occasional language barriers, the time we spent together exploring the city was really enjoyable. We explored various significant places in Singapore like Ann Siang Hill, Haji Lane, the newly erected Art Science Museum, and more. These places showed the culture of Singapore, not only through artistic visuals but also through the architecture of buildings as well. I particularly enjoyed the visit to the Art Science Museum, as there were many exhibits from great artists such as Dali and Van Gogh. It was really an eye-opener for me.

Jeremy Wong

I had made full use of the time in Seoul to find as many inspirations as possible in relation to my studio project and captured photos of the inspirations to execute them into typefaces. During the tour, I noticed that the architecture design of their buildings and shopping malls were mostly in geometrical shapes, which I find really interesting. These amazing architectures had given me many inspirations in designing the new typefaces for my studio project.

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I was glad that I did not let this opportunity slip by. Other than being able to explore another part of the world, it had really helped me greatly in my design process. It is truly an inspirational trip and I am pleased to have made many new friends in the course of this collaboration project.

Cindy Fu

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The collaboration project has left an impact on me, especially in building a professional network. Meeting new people has widen not only our social network but also familiarising ourselves in different cultural way of working, dealing and solving the problem. Communication is the biggest yet most interesting challenge.

Joselyn Sim Programme Leader, Design Communication LASALLE College of the Arts

Say Annyeong to the revelation of export culture

There is a method to the design of K-pop music, often look at how music elements are broken down and then built back up again in order to be transformed into a type of genre blend that becomes an annoying antidote. Instead, any barrier that language might have will be mustered into a frenzy of sounds and vast imagery. Armed with a temporary formula and clever marketing, K-pop has yet again arrived at the shores of Japan, where usually a reverse import that rarely happens, and anyone who questions the revelation of this will need to realise the admirable effect that K-pop has, especially where one has to accommodate a new language and survive amongst the sea of Japanese popular music. I reckon it is the strength of the Korean marketing diversity that enables this infiltration. It has begun to take-over in a culturally tight Japan and also how its culture is always so closely link and widely embraced by others within Asia, the transference of influence is now different. Asian cities such as South Korea are now the idea of inspiration although long touted as a western culture follower. Imaginably by endorsing export culture, it has allowed and accepted the change and shift of tides.

Often when I mention exporting culture from South Korea, one will immediately think of South Korea’s popular culture or drama exports (commonly known as Hallyu or K-pop and K-drama). Ever so often, the idea of export culture lies with a popular phenomenon that drives popular culture, no less, the stuff you read about on tabloids or the visuals you see on the television. There is an idea of this revelation, which is some kind of visual abstraction, only notable when you closely review the deeper entrenchments attached to the popular culture phenomenon around us. It is also probably an entity; some kind of erroneous genre and maybe you can sense a similarity in lifestyles across Asia, which is often unique and individual in meaning. The idea of the South Korean popular culture rose from close anonymity in the late 1990s after decades of strict internal censorship, which finally came to an end in the 1980s. There was a decade where television dramas began to be broadcast widely in China, Japan and then trickle down to South-East Asia. This was the ‘First wave’ of exports of Korean video games, television dramas and popular music. This effect lasted and has doubled since 2004 and this is what I affectionately call the ‘Second wave’.

The formula is simple. Boys and girls with unmistakably good looks and style and visually enhanced dance moves that project the ‘cool factor’ has been evidently used in South Korea’s tourism board advertisements and marketing ingenuities. The idea of product or celebrity placement or should I say that the idea of how a K-pop artist(s) or K-drama celebrities boasts nearly 200% increase in the amount of visitors to Seoul and neighbouring vibrant cities like Busan, Daegu and Jeju has been astounding. These celebrities has to keep up with the competition so that they can remain popular by going for constant extreme make-overs that is notoriously known as cosmetic surgery to maintain their youthful skin. I am personally taken by their extreme effort to be the idea of perfection and how one can be near the byproduct this revelation by just visiting the country. The wired generation that receives these media images

I say this because I know K-pop is enjoying a progressively global moment. In the past year, the manufactured K-pop idols have filled stadiums from Los Angeles to Singapore and tickets to an S.M. Entertainment showcase in Paris was sold out in minutes. Along with this success, American Billboard charts announced its K-pop Hot 100 Chart and, MTV Music Awards 2011 awarded the Best Asian Act to South Korean hip-hop group, Big Bang. In addition to this tidal wave, the infamous ninemember girl group Girls’ Generation paraded their addictive choruses on international shows across the globe.

or literacy continuously evolve to be trendsetters and jetsetters, as such; the Generation Z across Asia wants to incessantly look for ideas on how to be like their idols or counterparts. The tourism industry in Korea must be laughing their way to the bank. In recent years, the idea of import recently regained attention in South Korea paving way for the melting pot of connectivity and diversity across North Asia. As such, entertainment companies begin to employ new marketing tactics such as ‘storytelling’ which has always been a useful and important method to transfer or impart knowledge under various educational or entertainment circumstances. One of the many reasons why the K-drama phenomena has spread wide and fast was because audiences are able to relate to the stories culturally. Scholars who studied the subject had found that Hallyu comes in a form of a family-friendly way; basically influenced by how the Confucian teachings are littered in a typical South Korean drama; these conservative and sometimes ideal values appeal to Asians more than the usual Western audiences. A good estimate of why content generated in Asia is considered more significant to the individual may be due to the requirement to input a uniform mentality across to at least two billion people within Asia. It has been argued by scholars that the ‘rags to riches’ storyline speaks directly to audiences who have lived in Asia and have dealt with the harsh economic boom and struggles of the past two decades. This has been evident by statistics concluded by several studies looked into how respondents from largest market for Hallyu such as China, Japan and Indonesia look to South Korean culture with high respect and recently, it became even clearer that this esteem has increased trade and tourism for the country. Moving away from the popular export culture, and jumping into the concept of how the label, ‘Made in Korea’, has a more desirable branding than the label ‘Made in China’, which is also known to the Chinese as a rather uncomfortable public image. The Chinese knows that it will be a challenge to be released from an identity crisis. Designers and Design Education in

Hong Kong are now working towards a new branding concept that will attach itself as a separate identity. Nevertheless, export culture with labels that has ‘Made in Korea’ will still have the support of the Korean government and together with its expansion plans for the materials, infrastructure, natural resources and technology industries. On the flip side, there is no doubt that everyone in Hong Kong or even in Singapore knows that manpower will still be outsourced to factories in China or Indonesia and that the makeover needs to recover its public image that will elevate a higher standard in work based skills and technology. Comparatively, I had read on the Internet, that the Korean government has expanded their investment volume for Research and Development in Culture Technology, and this support is expected to develop the culture industry further. With this, the attachment to the culture industry is quite seemingly wide. The upward increase in the amount of cultural infrastructure that is readily available to citizens and museums for start, have increased and influenced the culture or locally made products, art, media and technology. Hence, the choice made to go to Korea instead is now inevitable. I am in awe at how the South Korean government has responded to the needs of the times and that the tourism industry has been showing an upward trend since 2008 due to the advancement of the “Made in Korea” by-product. [Paper abstract, April 2012]

Kathryn Shannon Sim Lecturer, Design Communication

t h e next trip

LASALLE College of the Arts

Such great time: travelling, making new friends, and having fun in Seoul. It feels like something is missing since returning back to the perpetually hot and humid island of Singapore. We have been thinking about Seoul a lot ever since that faithful visit and falling deeply in love with the city – wondering at odd hours of the day how’s the weather there. Picturing ourselves walking on the streets with our favourite Korean pop song plugged into our ears, played through a Samsung Galaxy note, whilst greeted by friendly strangers who walked passed us. Thinking to ourselves if our new friends miss us as much as we do. We sure hope so. Wondering what new cosmetics must be out. Well, we could go on and on. So here’s a list of things we miss about Seoul.

Here’s our miss list: • Our friends! We met so many great people and we miss seeing their ever-smiley faces, beyond this world hospitality and small talks about South Korean men. Just kidding. We didn’t always talk about that, right?

• Internet – Hello, it’s Seoul we are talking about here people. We miss the high-speed Internet and free WI-FI connections. Not that we are cheapskates but we constantly find ourselves readily connected even whilst on the roads. Hello world.

• South Korean students – we love being a teacher with such enthusiastic and promising students. Not trying to gloss over the stress and frustration we often felt while teaching. Our students are the best too. But, our experience from the trip was overwhelmingly positive and all thanks to them. They made it possible for the Singapore students, who went on the trip, and us. • Foods – Let us make a brief list: Kimchi, Toppoki or better known as rice cakes in English, push cart ice cream (which ended up on the ground twice because of butter fingers), Bibimbap, as well as Korean rice and seaweed. We put on a couple of kilograms when we came back. But it was all worth it.

• Hair salons – One of our students did a perm at some salon located in Gangnam. He totally looked Korean thereafter. Next trip to Seoul, make-over hairdo for us. We are so going to rock the house down the next time. • Korean language – We miss hearing South Koreans speak their native language! Made us wished so badly we could speak Korean too, to better converse with them.

• Shopping – Because let’s face it, that was what put a hole in our savings, and we came back eating only simple meals until our next pay day. Well, we exaggerated a bit for the latter.

• Visual Culture – Seoul has its own unique visual culture. The glittering lights from the billboards. Amazing. It’s a city that never sleeps. • Design – Seoul, the next big thing in design education and design landscape. Thumbs-up! We are sure we have forgotten some things. Nevertheless, we were so glad we took the chance and went to Seoul. We learned so much and have lots of great memories and stories to share with everyone.

• Cosmetics – There were so many, and the easy-on- the-pocket prices made them even more attractive and irresistible! What made it worse was most of the brands we love were endorsed by charming South Korean celebrities. How to not buy them? • K-pop – Playing at almost every corner of the streets, malls and restaurants. The soundtrack of our lives in Seoul. What’s new nowadays? Got to keep up. • K-dramas – Perfect guy. Perfect girl. Love was always in the air.

• Mobility – It was pretty easy to travel in Seoul. Just don’t take the black cabs, unless you are willing to buy lesser made-in-Korea products.

A Bag Full of Hellos: Silence And Giggles – we could not think of a better name to express our thoughts, our feelings, our “moments”, for this trip and future ones we will embark on than this.

We left out hearts in Seoul the last time. Got to go back again to get them back for our next stop, Shanghai or Tokyo, maybe?

• Four Seasons – We think it’s a nice concept. Just a concept for us, as Singaporeans. How sad.

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