Research Project: “Design for Harmony: Towards a Korean Design Paradigm”

I co-authored a paper with Kristina Mah, a PhD candidate at the Design Lab at the University of Sydney, on a proposed Korean design paradigm based on the Confucian influences that we summarised as Design for Harmony. We were invited to submit this paper as a chapter in an edited book to be published by CRC Press (Taylor & Francis). The paper is an extension to the conference paper we presented at Design Thinking Research Symposium (DTRS12), at UNIST in Uslan, South Korea, from 15-17 November 2018.

Abstract

Design is fundamentally a cultural activity. Curiously, there are relatively few examples in the design research community of design paradigms that occur in non-Western cultural settings. This article contributes to the discussion about the relationship between culture and design. We make our case by reframing the conversation about design research and practice in Korea to help facilitate further dialogue and investigation into the nature of a Korean design paradigm.

Our analysis reveals an inherently collectivist model of design that features iterative cycles of review and evaluation throughout the design process, as well as tensions around the expression of design freedoms, specifically towards the societal values of hierarchy and collectivism. We propose Design for Harmony as a design paradigm that answers the three questions: ‘why’, ‘how’, and ‘what’ Koreans design. We also investigate the influence of the Korean concepts of inhwa, kibun, and nunchi, and the associated key considerations, as they apply to Design for Harmony.

Our discussion explores the tensions associated with the societal values of hierarchy and collectivism, and reframes the conversation about the state of Korean design and the role it plays in innovation. We argue for the notion of a uniquely Korean approach to design-led innovation. Moreover, we propose that deeper investigation of design at the cultural interface, in this case between Korean and Western design, can leverage the best of both – creating opportunities for future research to better understand the potential competitive advantages to Korean organisations.

Keywords: Design, Korean design, harmony, culture, Confucianism.