Cultural Hangul Typography: workshop case studies of learning lettering

The presentation captures the results of several workshops between Korean and American design students that demonstrate the unique features of Hangul typography. The written form of the Korean language, Hangul, was designed and constructed in the 1400s by King Sejong the Great. Despite its form originating from a brush script, like some other East Asian scripts, Hangul typography has a unique set of parameters that complicate the primary challenge of basic typographic education; viewing language as a graphic form. Three cross-cultural workshops about Hangul lettering were conducted between Korean US-based design students (2019-2025.) Examining the different briefs, processes and outcomes revealed learning opportunities tied to the greater challenge of typographic education, while demonstrating the unique characteristic of the Hangul alphabet. In order to contextualize the Hangul language, a cursory explanation of the history and key features of the Hangul alphabet was presented by each workshop leader, who was always a Korean type designer. A summary of their different assignment briefs are tied together to speak to Hangul's unique typographic features. The result of these workshops revealed both the foundational learning challenge of typography and letterform. Although each workshop brief was slightly different, each used a basic formal element of Hangul and invited students to explore freely with the form. The cross cultural format allowed a comparison of different perspectives on Hangul, both as written form and language. Each workshop also brought additional opportunities for cultural interaction, albeit mediated through online connection. The results demonstrate Hangul's dynamic qualities as a written language.