Posters can transcend mere advertising and become a canvas for cultural commentary and creative innovation. Hoon-Dong Chung, a celebrated professor and designer from Dankook University in Korea, brilliantly encapsulates this transformative power in his award-winning projects “D-Space” (above, left) and “F for Face” (above, right). His works, recognized at prestigious international forums such as the Visual Information Design Association of Korea and International Osaka Poster Fest, employ typography and symbolic imagery to explore the dichotomy of closure and openness in our future-oriented design landscape and reflect on the societal impacts of COVID-19. Through Hoon-Dong’s lens, we witness how design serves as a visual communicator and a poignant narrative of our times.
By: Hoon-Dong Chung
“D-Space” was submitted for an exhibition hosted by the Visual Information Design Association of Korea. The exhibition theme was ‘D-Space,’ which relates to a future-oriented design environment. While “F for Face” emphasizes repetition and overlapping, “D-Space” highlights communication with letters D and S. It is an approach considering “harmony in contrasting features” of D and S representing closure and openness respectively.
Furthermore, “F for Face” focused on the form of ‘closure,’ whereas “D-Space” on the form of ‘openness’ taking into account the exhibition theme. Limited colors were applied in “D-Space” to differentiate it from its previous work. In contrast to the previous work, on the whole, I had a different approach to “D-Space” in terms of form. Thinking of my personality and tendencies, I am expecting something different in new works to come after these works.
“F for Face” was an entry for the International Osaka Poster Fest held in Japan. Back then, COVID-19 was still prevalent in East Asia. The International Osaka Poster Fest organizers chose ‘face’ as its exhibition theme, taking the circumstances into consideration. Accordingly, I produced a work based on the theme. I have intended to present the following in the work.
The COVID-19 pandemic forced us to wear masks, which replaced our faces. Our ample emotions were covered with masks and three years were stolen. During this time, the hidden faces were covered all over with ‘anxiety,’ the virus. This is why we long for our previously intact ‘face’ more than ever.
I wanted to combine 3D typography and ‘metaphorical senses’ through the first letter of ‘face,’ F that is repeatedly used and overlapped to be partially or entirely covered up, a gloomy sphere which brings up the image of coronavirus, and the remaining letters, A, C and E, which gather around the intact letter F in white.
Hoon-Dong Chung is a professor at Dankook University in South Korea. His works have been shown in international exhibitions and received more than 200 awards, including the German Design Award, the Red Dot Design Award, the iF Design Award, the Good Design Award, the Creativity Design Award, and the HOW Design Awards. He also received a commendation from the President of South Korea at the Korea Design Award. Furthermore, his works are in the collections of the Design Museum Munich, the Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe, the Museum für Gestaltung, the Musée de la Publicité, the National Museum in Poznan, the Poster Museum at Wilanów, the Museum House of Humour and Satire, the Dansk Plakat Museum, the Ogaki Poster Museum, and others.
