How South Korea Became Asia's Visual Pioneer

Since 2020, Feeling the Rhythm of Korea—a video series released under Imagine your Korea, the official brand of the Korea Tourism Organization (KTO)—has captured global attention. Compared with Taiwan’s respective development across different fields, South Korea demonstrates a remarkable degree of cultural integration in the content it exports. The boundaries between underground and mainstream culture have grown increasingly fluid, reflecting a shared mission between the market and cultural practitioners—one that respects diversity while fostering unity.

Led by the PaTI Design Institute, founded by Ahn Sang Soo, South Korea has, since 2012, actively cultivated its artistic spirit and cultural subjectivity through graphic design. It has nurtured internationally acclaimed designers such as Jin & Park and Kim Do-hyung, whose works apply a continental methodology and contribute to Korea’s evolving design identity.

Under a policy of active engagement with continental design discourse, creators like Yehwan Song have explored counter-intuitive and dehumanising approaches to interface design—challenging the rigidity of conventional web design. Arguably, South Korea’s “Leave Asia, Join Europe” cultural strategy has succeeded in positioning the country as a prominent figure in the global contemporary design scene, making it the most design-distinguished Asian nation after Japan.

This lecture invited O.OO Studio to share their experiences working within South Korean culture. Drawing from selected works, they illustrated how South Korean design flows across various media and is embraced by local government, consumer markets, and global audiences of all ages. Additionally, O.OO conducted interviews with South Korean practitioners in web design, graphic design, and programming to examine the cross-disciplinary nature of creative practices—aiming to identify the underlying characteristics that define the South Korean style.