We, as the Designer Interviews ("DI") had the distinct pleasure and opportunity to interview award-winning, most creative and innovative YuJin Jung ("YJ").
YuJin Jung is a Visual designer with data thinking. She interested in people, data and design. For her, Design is not just about making things look good. Instead, it is a strong tool of communication and influence. It helps to deliver high quality products and services that lead to better user experiences and happier clients.
YuJin Jung Designs
We are pleased to share with you original and innovative design work by YuJin Jung.
YuJin Jung Design - All In One Experience Consumption Infographic With Animated Gif
YuJin Jung Design - You and We Visual Language
Designer Interview of YuJin Jung:
DI: Could you please tell us more about your art and design background? What made you become an artist/designer? Have you always wanted to be a designer?
YJ : I studied visual communication design in-depth for 4 years at Sookmyung Women’s University in Korea. Since childhood, I have been fond of imaging, scribbling, and making something. Since I was young, I have been curious. Whenever I saw something interesting, I lived with the question ‘why?’. I was especially interested in people, objects and phenomena. These points seem to have inspired me to become a designer today. In fact, I haven’t always wanted to be a designer. My interests have always changed from time to time, and depending on my interests, my future career seems to have changed in many ways. However, the thing that hasn’t always changed is that I wanted to be creative and solve problems to create new values. In my memory, from the time I was in high school, I think I wanted to become a designer in earnest.
DI: What is "design" for you?
YJ : For me, the design is everything. Now, look around you. Design can be seen everywhere so we can not talk about our daily life without design. Everything that exists right around me, I think all of this is design.
DI: What kinds of works do you like designing most?
YJ : I like to design works that clearly show the message I want to convey. And, I like to give people new perspectives and design to create new values.
DI: What was the first thing you designed for a company?
YJ : The first thing I designed after joining the company was a mobile service design, a service app. made for small ships and leisure boat users to safely navigate the sea.
DI: When do you feel the most creative?
YJ : It’s time to get out of my office space when I feel most creative. When I leave the office and walk outside while looking at the scenery, the most creative thoughts and inspirations come to my mind.
DI: Which aspects of a design do you focus more during designing?
YJ : During designing, first, I focus on helping clients find what they want and giving directions to clients to solve problems. Second, I look at the overall process of the project comprehensively and focus on making the original intentions unchanged.
DI: What kind of emotions do you feel when you design?
YJ : When I design, I feel a lot of different emotions. Most of them feel emotions such as interesting, excitement, fierceness, pleasure, responsibility, and happiness.
DI: What kind of emotions do you feel when your designs are realized?
YJ : When my design is realized, I feel like a sense of accomplishment and excitement as if I climbed to the top of the mountain and looked down the mountain.
DI: What makes a design successful?
YJ : I think design success is when it comes to a deep understanding of clients, projects, and high-quality results. A good client is also one of the requirements to make a design successful.
DI: When judging a design as good or bad, which aspects do you consider first?
YJ : The criterion for judging whether it is a good design or a bad one is that it can be judged by what kind of actions people can see and what they can’t do, rather than simply design that is good for the eyes. I first consider whether design can drive action or not.
DI: From your point of view, what are the responsibilities of a designer for society and environment?
YJ : I think the designer’s responsibility for society and environment is to act as a bridge connecting society, environment, and people. I think it is the designer’s responsibility to design to create a better situation than yesterday.
DI: Where does the design inspiration for your works come from? How do you feed your creativity? What are your sources of inspirations?
YJ : I am inspired by the various environments around me. These stimuli, such as talking to others, sometimes doing new things, and thinking alone, feed my creativity. The source of inspiration for me is to think and observe people, things, and situations in various ways.
DI: Where do you live? Do you feel the cultural heritage of your country affects your designs? What are the pros and cons during designing as a result of living in your country?
YJ : I was born and raised in Korea, and I still live in Korea. Korea is one of the countries where everything is fast. This can be seen as the influence of cultural heritage from the past. Most Korean clients expect designers to get results in a short time. That’s why when I design, I find a way to make the design process more efficient so that the project can proceed quickly and utilize it in the design. The pros of designing in Korea is that the result of my design can be brought to the world as soon as possible, and the cons is that there is not enough time to design through various attempts.
DI: Can you talk a little about your design process?
YJ : First of all, I take the time to understand and explore with the customer about the project. Next, I define the problem that needs to be solved. After defining the problem, I review and think from various perspectives on how to solve it. I choose a few ideas, prototype them and share them with my clients. I choose the final draft and develop it based on clients’ feedback. I go through these few steps and suggest the best alternative to the customer. I think active communication with customers is essential in all of this design process.
DI: What are 5 of your favorite design items at home?
YJ : A hand drip coffee pot, a refrigerator, iPod, skateboard, iMac
DI: What skills are most important for a designer?
YJ : From my point of view, the most important skill is communication. Because everyone has different ideas, it allows them to have a deeper understanding of clients and design through communication.
DI: Which tools do you use during design? What is inside your toolbox? Such as software, application, hardware, books, sources of inspiration etc.?
YJ : The software I often use is Adobe programs. And each project uses a variety of tools.
DI: Designing can sometimes be a really time consuming task, how do you manage your time?
YJ : First of all, I draw the whole process from beginning to the end of the project. Make a list of things that may take a lot of time and risks that may occur in advance. Prioritize what needs to be done and plan daily and weekly for efficient time management.
DI: What type of design work do you enjoy the most and why?
YJ : I design various areas such as graphics, web, mobile, and packaging. I currently working on a design, which could convey complex and difficult knowledge in a simplified and visualized way, for people to help them understand more easily and clearly. For the future, I would like to design more public-purpose works for socially marginalized people. Yes, I enjoy designing things that try new things in many ways. As I try new things, I will be able to learn through various trials and errors. This makes me a step further.
DI: What are your future plans? What is next for you?
YJ : I would like to collaborate on design with various people beyond country, culture, and space. With new stimuli and experiences, I will be a growing designer.
DI: Do you work as a team, or do you develop your designs yourself?
YJ : I sometimes develop as a team and sometimes design myself. In common, I enjoy the design journey itself.
DI: How can people contact you?
YJ : You can contact me via Mail, Behance, Instagram, etc. as shown below. I welcome your contact at any time. Mail: tictoc.j@gmail.com Behance: behance.net/toctoc Instagram ID: @jinjung_work