Typographic Exploration in Hangul

The UC Davis “Typographic Exploration in Hangul” displayed Korea’s native script, Hangui in creative forms and design. Throughout the exhibit many of the 2-D designs were full of expression, form and emotion. Viewers get a sense of how nature plays an important role in the Korean society. Some of the icons seen in the exhibit were that of an owl, a crane, and a flower. Nature is a major influence on design techniques because it can be a foundation to inspiring new ideas.

In the exhibit, the usage of forms from nature showed how the Koreans appreciated nature. For instance, in the piece “Dream of a Goose” created by artist Phil Choo in 2009 he illustrates a goose flying through the center of the piece. Typographical exploration was popular in Korean song. The goose represents how dreams are intimidated by reality. The image of the goose is supposed to show that it can break through the barriers of a dream. This indicates that there aren’t any walls, or ways to block dreams.

Other images in the exhibit were also associated with nature. Nature is the fundamental form for any design idea. As seen in Phil Choo’s work the usage of the goose represents how nature influences their beliefs and the way they view the world. Designers benefit from fundamental and simplistic forms in their design creations. The exhibit showed how designers from Korea could use nature to tie together what they want to get out of the viewer.