6 Inspiring Design Studios from South Korea 🇰🇷

Our Design Around the World series explores design communities outside our own. We’ve met many talented designers through these interviews and learned a ton from them. And we continue digging deeper.

In every interview, we ask which 10 design studios everyone should know from that country. Kwon Joonho, Kim Kyung-chul and Kim Eojin from Everyday Practice in South Korea delivered.

Thanks to their recommendations, we've discovered many new studios and inspiring work from South Korea. Especially posters. So many beautiful, intricate posters. Most of these studios are based in Seoul and work across print, web and exhibition design. Here are just a few of our favorites.

studio Fnt

Studio Fnt is a graphic design studio focused on print, identities, interactive/digital media and more. Their studio uses typography, graphic elements, shapes and colors in a playful yet considered way. Their event posters are especially memorable, each print an experience in itself.

Zerolab

Zerolab is the studio of Jang Tae-hoon Kim Dong-hoon, founded in 2010. Originally an industrial design company, the designers are often working with analog materials to create exhibits and commercial products.

Jin & Park

JIN dallae & PARK woohyuk's work spans across print design, installations, performances and audio experiences. Their graphic designs are as immersive as their exhibitions. I only wish I could have witnessed experimental works like “ACT / ACT” and “Moving Present” in person.

Ordinary People

As graphic design students in 2006, Jin Kang and a few friends started a project called "We Make Posters," which eventually turned into a graphic design studio. Ordinary People, named for the John Legend song, now works across disciplines creating exhibitions, identities, album covers and more. And they still make incredible posters.

Kim garden

Founded by Yunho Lee and Kangin Kim, Kimgarden is a graphic design studio creating everything from identities to web design to print to exhibition design. Like most print work in this feature, Kimgarden’s designs are clean yet packed with crazy, quirky detail.

Everyday Practice

Of course, the list isn't complete without our friends at Everyday Practice. Everyday Practice is a multi-disciplinary studio, but they prefer to work with their hands.

"As a design studio, we are far from high tech," Kim, Kwon and Kim said in our interview. "Personally, I think the output of graphic design is beginning to look more and more similar, because nowadays everyone can access design tools such as Illustrator and Photoshop. That’s why we prefer handmade and craft-based design methods. That gives us differentiated design color from others."

Read more about the studio's work and their reflections on the South Korean design community in our interview right here.

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There's so much to learn from creatives outside our own little bubble. Check out our Design Around the World series to meet new designers and better understand design communities in Pakistan, Nigeria, Armenia, Brazil, Singapore and more.

Stay awesome,
Tobias