Typographic Exploration In Hangul: Work by Hyunju Lee and Phil Choo

If a boundary line does exist between art and design it is certainly an ambiguous one. Typically, typography is a term one would expect to find on the design side of this dichotomy. However, if you squint your eyes while examining “Typographic Exploration in Hangul” you may not see it that way. The exhibit, which showcases the works of Hyunju Lee and Phil Choo at the UC Davis Walker Design Gallery October 4 – December 6, 2009, uses the native script of Korea to evoke emotion and communicate messages with both explicit and implicit meaning. While typography is commonly used to evoke emotion and is intrinsically tied to its primary function of communication, it is the implicit, higher order messages which make this edge toward the artistic. Both “Sad” and “Stand Up” are particularly effective at conveying visceral feeling through visual elements. Unfortunately, while all of the works are skillful in composition and technical execution, the neon rainbow color palate, lack of variation in typography and simple themes result in an exploration which is fairly mundane and ineffectual.