Character design and regional identity in Korea since the 1990's

Abstract

The aim of this study is to research the local government-led identity design by analyzing the official characters of the municipalities. After the autonomous local government system launched in 1990s, each region started to establish a CI (Community Identity) including regional character in order to promote themselves. The competition between governments was so overheated that in about 7 short years, a majority of the municipalities established CIs. The regional characters look very similar to each other in several aspects. And it is apparent that there is a stereotype. Many of them were designed by KIDP (Korea Institute of Design Promotion) and some design companies that are registered with the Institute. The CIs were created and established hastily in a competitive manner without enough deliberation, and discussion by only a handful of companies. As a result, the characters could not successfully embody the true identity of its representative area.