K-Design: the New Design Vision for the New Korean Government

K-Design: the New Design Vision for the New Korean Government

Choi, Jungwon

Article:

K-Design is a new vision declared by Korea Institute of Design Promotion (KIDP) in December, 2012, and now is a keyword of Korean design policy. K-Design is not a fully developed concept, but a vision which aims to develop the unique Korean design identity that can appeal to the world. This rather a vague term is often found in design related government projects. In those contexts, K-Design is perceived as a method supporting the idea of “creative economy”, which is the core economic principle that has been proposed by the new regime. This situation coincides with the paradigm that penetrates the history of Korean design policy: design is a tool for improving economic value of products, yet shows some difference. Through investigations on the definition and the usage of the term K-Design, this paper aims to reveal the current Korean government’s perception on design.

K-Design is a new vision declared by Korea Institute of Design Promotion (KIDP) in December, 2012, and now is a keyword of Korean design policy. K-Design is not a fully developed concept, but a vision which aims to develop the unique Korean design identity that can appeal to the world. This rather a vague term is often found in design related government projects. In those contexts, K-Design is perceived as a method supporting the idea of “creative economy”, which is the core economic principle that has been proposed by the new regime. This situation coincides with the paradigm that penetrates the history of Korean design policy: design is a tool for improving economic value of products, yet shows some difference. Through investigations on the definition and the usage of the term K-Design, this paper aims to reveal the current Korean government’s perception on design.

Palavras-chave:

DOI: 10.5151/despro-icdhs2014-0086

Referências bibliográficas

• [1] Korea Institute of Design Promotion. (2010) Korea Institute of Design Promotion 40 years, Gyeongi: Korea Institute of Design Promotion.
• [2] Korea Institute of Design Promotion. (2013) Why K-Design?, Gyeongi: Korea Institute of Design Promotion.
• [3] Kim, Min-soo (2000) ‘Korean Art Democracy in Void: Design Politics without Politics’, Design Culture Criticism, Vol. 2., Seoul: Ahn Graphics.
• [4] Woodham, Jonathan M. (2010) ‘Formulating National Design Policies in the United States: Recycling the “Emperor’s New Clothes”?, Design Issues, Vol. 26, No. 2. Boston: MIT Press.
• [5] Kim, Jong-kyun (2008) ‘A research on the development direction of the Korea design promotion system’, Doctor of Design Thesis, Seoul National University.

Como citar:

Choi, Jungwon; "K-Design: the New Design Vision for the New Korean Government", p-593-597. In: Tradition, Transition, Tragectories: major or minor influences? [=ICDHS 2014 - 9th Conference of the International Committee for Design History and Design Studies]. São Paulo: Blucher, 2014.
ISSN 23186968, DOI 10.5151/despro-icdhs2014-0086