"Hongik University is at its best when it blends the unique with the classic"... The grand prize winners of the student ID design competition share their process for the winning design, "Wake Up the Bull

From August to November 2023, Hongik University held a student ID card design competition for about three months. This was the result of the student government of Hongik University Seoul Campus recognizing the need to change the design of the student ID card. The contest was organized by the Seoul Campus Student Government Association and sponsored by Shinhan Card, and the entries were voted on by the students of Hongik University.

Many students at Hongik University were interested in the contest, and a total of 119 entries were received during the contest period. Of these, only nine were selected to advance to the final round after preliminary judging by eight professors from the College of Fine Arts. The final seven works were finally selected and announced on November 13, 2023, after 1,262 Hongik University students voted in the main round.

<The grand prize winners were Seoryeong Park, an autonomous major from the Seoul Campus, and Dahyun Kim, a visual design major from the College of Fine Arts. They won the grand prize for their unique and powerful designs. We couldn't help but ask them about the process of designing their student ID cards, the stories behind them, and how they felt about winning the award. We conducted a written interview with Seoryeong Park and Da Hyun Kim, who graciously agreed to be interviewed, and got a lot of interesting answers.

<Rising of the Bull is a design that adds intense colors to DOUBLE SUP HWA's White Cow, which is housed in the Hongik University Museum. Park Seo-ryung and Kim Da-hyun said that when they were creating their submissions for the contest, they prepared a number of different designs that utilized symbols of Hongik University, including the logo, professors, and buildings such as Hongmun Hall and Eternal Smile. <The "white cow" in "Rise of the Bull" was one of these symbols, so it was a natural progression to design a student ID card. The two students said they focused on a design that would connect the meaning of "cows as professors at the school" and "cows in Hwa-baek's works.

When asked about the meaning behind the design elements of the student ID card, Park Seoryeong and Kim Da-hyun revealed that they changed the background color of "White Cow" to navy blue, the school's symbol color, and used orange as a complementary color to capture the intense and heavy feeling of the original. He also said that in order to effectively represent the representativeness and intensity of the student ID card, they placed the logo in different positions and compared them, and finally adopted the most eye-catching design. The final draft of the actual student ID card will be released later in coordination with the school.

We couldn't help but ask them how they collaborated in the process of designing the student ID card. Park Seo-ryung and Kim Da-hyun first told us about their studio. When they were looking for a team project to work on while building their design studio in 2023, they came across the announcement of the student ID contest and decided to participate as a team. "We are happy to have won the student ID card to start our studio," said Park Seo-ryung and Kim Da-hyun.

<The design utilizing the white cow started with an idea from Seoryeong Park. During the preliminary research phase of the student ID card design, the two students had always talked about designing a design that utilized DU's "White Cow," a painting in the university's collection. Initially, the design meetings were held online, but during the first face-to-face meeting, Park and Seo-ryung worked together on the large computer screen in the workshop to realize the idea. When the first draft was completed, they were worried that it was a bit unconventional, but they refined the design by changing the positioning of the text and the size of the pictures, and eventually created an attractive student ID card. "We were only able to complete the project because we had each other," said Park Seo-ryung and Kim Da-hyun.

When asked if there were any disagreements between the two students during the design process as it was a collaborative effort, Park Seoryeong and Kim Dahyun said that there were no major disagreements as they often agreed with each other's intentions while working together, and they enjoyed giving and receiving feedback. They added that the most memorable episode was the process of preparing multiple drafts for the competition and finalizing their submission. The two students mentioned that they had a hard time finalizing their design as they were familiarizing themselves with the design as they were constantly revising it while looking at the screen, as it is a product that will be used most in real life due to the nature of the student ID card. In response, Park Seo-ryung and Kim Da-hyun printed out several prototypes in actual card size, created a mock-up that resembled the real thing, and repeatedly performed a situation play in which they introduced the student ID card to a friend from another school in order to view their work objectively. These mock-ups and scenarios helped them to refine their designs by identifying what looked good in real life and what was eye-catching at first glance. The students' enthusiasm and hard work in choosing the best design for a student ID card was evident.

With its unique design, "Rise of the Enterprising Bull," which caught our attention at first glance, was enough to convince us that the two students had won the grand prize. We were curious to know what they thought was the reason for the grand prize. Park Seo-ryung and Kim Da-hyun's answers to this question seemed to be based on a proper understanding and analysis of their school's characteristics. In order to design the student ID card, they analyzed Hongik University's external image, actual students' perceptions of Hongik University, and the university's own promotional videos, and felt that Hongik University shines best when 'uniqueness' and 'classic' are in harmony. Based on this interpretation, the two added that the design's unconventional reinterpretation of classic paintings resonated with many Hongik students and helped them win the award.

Finally, Park Seo-ryung and Kim Da-hyun said, "As the first step of our workshop has been taken, we will continue to work hard on our future work, so please pay a lot of attention to our workshop. Thank you." With their strong and original work, they won the grand prize of the Student ID Design Competition, and we look forward to seeing what they come up with in the future.

Online Communication, Gaeun Choi