How Language and Typographic Expression Shape Korean Identity

This project explores contemporary expressions of Korean identity through the lens of design, with a focus on typography as both a cultural artifact and visual communication tool. By juxtaposing the work of Korean and Korean American designers, the project acknowledges how Korea’s complex history informs identity—marked by colonial occupation, war, and national division—and how this shapes a fragmented yet expanding amalgamation of what it means to be Korean in an increasingly globalized world. Central to this inquiry is Hangul, the Korean alphabet, developed in 1443 to democratize literacy amongst the Korean people through its efficient and user-friendly design. Hangul’s symbolic importance of cultural resilience deepened during the Japanese occupation, when its use was banned in efforts to erase Korean cultural identity. Typography, inherently bound to context, carries layered connotative and denotative meanings. Hangul holds powerful semiotic potential in its ability to uniquely convey Korean cultural nuance through form, rhythm, and structure. This project asks: How does nostalgia shape identity for Koreans and Korean Americans? What concepts or expressions capture the essence of Korean identity? How do diasporic and domestic perspectives differ in their visual articulations of belonging? To explore this visual inquiry, the project focuses on typographic work that utilizes distinctly Korean words or concepts—whether geographic, historical, culinary, or otherwise. Together, these works aim to form a collective typographic investigation of Korean identity today, touched by tradition and articulated through design.