We had the distinct pleasure to interview award winning designer YuJin Jung about their original and creative Visual Language design work. YuJin Jung is an award-winning communication designer, that makes our world a better place with their original visual language works.
YuJin Jung ("YJ") answered Design Interview ("DI") questions about their award-winning work You and We Visual Language. Interview questions prepared by Frank Scott.
YJ : I was inspired by the basic shapes commonly found around us and Lego, a familiar toy from our childhood. In particular, ‘You and We’ is designed to facilitate the expansion and recombination of the shape by using modular elements such as Lego.
YJ : I focused on attracting interest by reducing the sense of distance and showing positive images of volunteer activities clearly to those who feel the difficulties of volunteer activities. In particular, it was visualized to visually simplify the meaning of each volunteer activity so that it could contain meaning in one cut.
YJ : In the future, I would like to make it easier for many people to access and utilize design, and to continue to help positive social change in everyday life through better visual language.
YJ : The total duration of that project took 2 months. It took a few days to collect the data and understand them. And, it took a few weeks to come up with a concept, set a direction, and get the job done.
YJ : In celebration of the 10th anniversary of the establishment of the Korean Volunteer Center, this design was commissioned for the purpose of promoting volunteer activities for volunteers and citizens.
YJ : This design is currently being used by the Korean Volunteer Center, and is being distributed to the public at the Korean Volunteer Center internet homepage.
YJ : I made it possible to communicate through visual language that the volunteer activities in daily life are accessible and familiar. Ultimately, I wanted to bring positive social change through this design.
YJ : I have been helped to understand volunteer activities from people engaged in volunteer work and the stakeholders associated with those activities to do this design.
YJ : The target customer of this design is those who are not familiar with volunteer activities, those who are interested in volunteer work, and those who are involved in volunteer work.
YJ : The concept of this design is to increase the familiarity by using shapes and colors that can be easily seen in everyday life. Visually simplifying and clearly showing the various volunteering activities of an abstract concept, people can easily understand the volunteer activities even if people do not read the text message. I think that it is different from other similar designs that it is made with a modular based system like a Lego toy so that people can utilize the design image to suit their needs.
YJ : It is a small force when looking at each volunteer, but each one is connected and becomes a great force. The design was named ‘You and We’ to convey the meaning of bringing about a great social change by filling each other’s shortcomings.
YJ : I drew what I was thinking about in a notebook or sketch book with a pencil, and I did graphic using illustrator tool.
YJ : I think my design is unique for convenience and recycling compared to other designs. In other words, anyone who needs images related to volunteer activities can download and recycle it, by designing the module to be easy to expand and recombine through module-like elements.
YJ : I was helped by people working at the Korean Volunteer Center to better understand volunteer activities, and I designed it myself based on that understanding.
YJ : I was able to create vector-based graphic elements using programs so people could recombine this design and use it as needed. In other words, there is no loss of image resolution under any circumstances.
YJ : Before I started this design, I collected and researched numerous materials to raise awareness of volunteer activities and deepen my understanding of various types of volunteer activities.
YJ : The challenge I faced during the realization of my concept was to make the people receiving the service not appear poor and passive, but actively respond and show communication with volunteers. In general, volunteering is based on the stereotype of helping someone in need. I have reorganized several times to break the stereotypes of oneself so that even those who are served can feel the ‘interaction between the volunteer and recipient’ that I want to convey.
YJ : I am always grateful to those who volunteer. Through this project, I felt that nothing was as happy as sharing with each other, and I wanted to share this design with everyone through this design competition.
YJ : While working on this design, I realized that I could get away from the traditional way and gain a deeper understanding through on-site experiences and interviews. Because people have different perspectives and acceptance criteria, I had been thinking a lot about how to communicate well in a balanced way. Through these concerns, I was able to grow one step further. By analyzing a lot of material, I was able to pick the core and learn how to simplify it visually.
