Design / Innodesign
Design is innovation and venture
What actually is design all about Who better to put this question to than someone deeply involved in Korea's design industry: "Design is venture," said Kim Youngse, president and CEO of Innodesign, a professional design group.

He embroidered further, adding, "Design is innovation and venture. So to speak, design is not just drawing wallpaper. It takes about 20 years for me to herald what design is and formulate my opinion.Design is venture!"
Innodesign was established in 1986 in Silicon Valley, the United States. It has become a leader in the expansion of the designer's role, by offering its own INNO brand, firmly based on an understanding of market leading technology.
It has successfully operated as a design consultancy to corporations, providing them with concept designs, brand strategies, product planning & design and corporate identity establishment programs.
Innodesign is currently concentrating on becoming a leader in the design consulting business for the global market.
It took the first steps toward this goal by establishing Innodesign Korea in 1999 in Seoul, and by opening its Beijing branch in 2004.
"Strictly speaking, it is very difficult for general people to classify the borders of design and art.
This also applied to me. I am one who created a mobile phone through sketching. In my opinion, the difference between art and design is that art is forever and historic, whereas design is the future and present," said Kim.
"Art is from the past while digital is of today, and design is of the future. The process of creation is seen as desire and behavior of people. Accordingly, if human beings exist, the energy for creation will spout continuously," he said.
"What I felt from seeing the Pablo Picasso works exhibited at the Seoul City Museum in Seoul is that the true art is what is created without being conscious of others," he continued.
Designer Kim Young-se introduction
Young se Kim was born in Seoul in 1950. He received a BFA in Industrial Design from Seoul National University, and a BA in Industrial Design from University of Illinois Chicago. In 1978 he received a MFA in Industrial Design from University of Illinois Chicago, Illinois. He also served as Assistant Professor of Industrial Design at University of Illinois, Urbana Champaign from 1980 to 1982.
Young Se Kim founded INNODESIGN, Inc. of Palo Alto, California in 1985, INNODESIGN Korea of Seoul, Korea in 1999 and INNODESIGN Beijing in 2005. Since the inception of the company he has been active in running the business as well as designing numerous products. The company has grown to a multinational design consulting organization. Recently, he leads the product design of iRiver portable digital audio, the cellular phone of Samsung Electronics and many more Korea's digital product designs; and these products are becoming renowned in the world as world's most advanced digital products. He also launched the designer brand, the INNO , and he is actively developing this design collection as a brand which the majority of people can easily enjoy and become friendly with. He made a big step towards making design more popular among the people, upbringing the design mind among many and helped people recognize the importance of design in the society. |
Design is loving others
After establishing Innodesign U.S. in Silicon Valley in 1986, he worked as a design consultant in Korea and the United States simultaneously and witnessed how society's perception of designs has changed over time.

"Nowadays, being good to look at, easy to use and easy to manufacture has become the criteria for any good design and of course, they must be created in par with the fast evolving technology of the moment. Design has become the career of visualizing humanity's dreams," Kim said.
"Just as society's changing at breakneck speeds up the sensibility and lifestyle of humans should become more and more fundamental to any design. Designers should be confident that designs created from the heart would move and touch the consumers. I, as a designer, want to dream with you about the wonderful and innovative future that designs create for us," said Kim.
"For an instance, my six-year-old son presented various coupons he designed to his mother on Mother's Day. All of the coupons, except one, carried the term of validity. But, the coupon on which "Loving Mom" is written had no validity, its validity was forever. Extremely impressed by the coupon, my wife cried.
At that time, I knew the true spirit of design. Namely, design is loving others," he stressed.
This is my favorite definition of design that I always try to put into practice," said Kim.
He said the spirit of a designer is to create a nation's roadmap strategy, suggest future directions for development and bright visions.
"Creativity is the most important factor that young people keenly need and can share each other's feelings," he said. Noting that individuality is the key word of the 21st century, he said that it does not mean a negative sense of individualism but means that individuals' creativity should be outstanding. Now, individuality is the trend of the 21st century. For an example, the "Facebook" site produced by a 22-year-old who dropped out of Harvard University, boasts of its high value standing at 2 trillion won ($2.04 billion).
All about understanding customers
"Everything is design. The process of escaping from the box of 'generalization' is the design. Emotional logic that can move the mind of people is the design. Making more humane people in the digital world and making people live more conveniently is the design," he said.
Commenting that design is to understand consumers, he said that design is not art, technology, and business ability but benevolent art.
Producing what people need is possible only when we can understand consumers. When this process is being developed smoothly, not only the design industry but also the overall economy could develop further.

"When we were attending university, we learned that design is technology. But it is the Bauhaus theory of Germany that appeared in the industrial revolution 150 years ago. Meanwhile, the United States regards design as a function to make something more conveniently. It means in general that design is business policy. However, I think, design is not a showdown for a short period but an eternal one that has to make people happier than ever," said Kim.
The biggest power of a design company that has accumulated long history and fame in the design field is the powerful ability to read the tendency and trend of customers.
What designers do is to create identity of users. Designers have to know about the identity of customers and create trend. "Accordingly, I hope all designers working at Innodesign engage in design study in a simple conception stressing identity," he said.
Black box theory of design
Asked about the peculiar design concept, called the "black box" theory created by designer Kim, he said, "The black box theory is the design-first theory. This theory does not require clients. Namely, we design what consumers want, but redesign the business model itself. In fact, the No. 1 economic power that sways the whole world is consumers.
Namely consumer is king. A slew of ideas are produced in on and off lines and they are becoming new products. It refers to the system that the market designs and factory delivers the design. Design should be made in the market, accordingly," he said. On the change of the Korean society and the design trend, he said, "Groupism cannot keep power anymore. Design is a kind of creation. Sometimes, 10 percent should support 90 percent. I think the conception of CEO has to change from Chief Executive Officer to Chief Execution Officer. CEO should actively plunge in business and produce the most creative ideas. I like anywhere, anytime-style ubiquitous design," he said.
In the meantime, Innodesign has brought design management all the way from Silicon Valley to Seoul in the mid-1980s, promoting the power of ideas. With its unique and innovative "Design First" philosophy, Innodesign's goal is to become established as a design strategy consultancy.
This is a unique service based on diagnosing the design management needs of the clients, and providing a customized execution strategy.
Innodesign, which has ensured its economical superiority, has secured its commercial success with the establishment of its powerful network between Korea, the United States and China, and will further expand its representation in new markets by developing smart partnerships.
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