Award-winning faculty design work draws inspiration from Korean heritage

January 26, 2022

Columbus State University’s Samantha Yoo was recently honored by International Design Awards, a worldwide organization that exists to recognize, celebrate and promote exceptional design visionaries in areas including architecture, interior design, fashion and graphic design. Yoo, an assistant professor of graphic design in the College of the Arts, earned an honorable mention for her piece, “The Beauty of Hangul: Korean Typography.”

Yoo said the inspiration behind the piece was the experience of seeing her father’s library in Korea. She was drawn in by the vivid range of Korean calligraphy, with the older styles of letters capturing the eye in the body of text. Being from South Korea originally, Yoo was surprised that she had never seen her everyday language as more than a means of communicating information. She began to look into the history of the Korean alphabet and became fascinated with how it is designed.

Elements of the piece pay tribute to the muse, style and history of Hangul, the Korean alphabet. The piece—a set of 11-inch by 17-inch posters with 10 vowels and 14 consonants—exemplifies the vivid design that the Korean alphabet has had for centuries. Yoo’s submission was created with Adobe’s Illustrator, InDesign and Photoshop design software, with the use of GungSeo font for the text to give the piece a unique look. The texture on the poster boards is made to resemble Korean rice paper, making use of the space on the poster not occupied by text design. 

“Graphic design isn’t just making pretty things,” Yoo said. “We can change people’s minds…that’s why I want my students to understand the true meaning of graphic design. Design can make society better.” 

Yoo’s other projects include a bus advertisement in New York City for a NYC shoe store, as well as projects for Nike, Timberland, and CROCS. She has created several book cover designs and worked on advertisements for a project dedicated to aiding refugees from North Korea suffering from hunger.

In the classroom, Yoo teaches future graphic designers the power behind the work they create.

“I urge my students through their projects to think beyond their national and cultural boundaries in order to create a design that is responsive to the diversity of audiences today,” Yoo said. “Their design concepts stimulate social commentary and raise awareness around issues in culture, race, gender, poverty, crime, and other socially relevant topics. Through these cross-cultural experiences, my goal is to foster more impactful communication among my students, as well as help them garner a better understanding of the interwoven experience of design, culture, and diversity in our lives.”

The Department of Art at CSU offers rigorous undergraduate and graduate programs for students pursuing careers in creative fields ranging from art education and history to studio art, design and animation. Visiting artists and scholars are regularly in residence and lead workshops or teach courses in topics related to their artistic and scholarly work. Students have the opportunity to rent studio space and display their work publicly as part of several shows throughout the year. Learn more at https://art.columbusstate.edu.