Graphic Design Trends in South Korea in 2021

11 min readMar 2, 2021

South Korea is a country of so many talented graphic designers, typographers, and illustrators demonstrating sophisticated works and a distinct design language. The country’s historical and geopolitical contexts shaped graphic design culture and created a unique way of expressing. As in any other country, the trends in graphic design are rapidly changing from one year to the next making it necessary to keep up with them and adjust the marketing strategy and app or game graphics for the South Korean market.

Hem Chill-Seoul Street by Hem Chill, Source: Grapevyne

Having established itself as one of the 10 leading economic powers in the world in 2021 and being something of tech heaven, South Korea has become one of the most important mobile markets for developers. What many foreign companies ask themselves is how to make a breakthrough into the South Korean market, optimize their marketing strategy and understand the uniqueness of content localization. The first step towards optimizing is doing thorough research and grasping the idea of what visual assets trigger South Korean users.

On Google Play, South Korea is ranked near the top in terms of app revenue and the average number of apps installed per year, (Kim M., 2020, Find success for apps and games in South Korea, GooglePlayDev on Medium). The fact that there is fast internet, 4G available in around 70% of cities, high consumption of app content during the day with an average of 52 apps installed on the phone per user, over 200 minutes spent in apps per day according to AppAnnie data, South Korea sounds like a dream for any developer.

Optimizing your app or game for South Korea is a must, especially with local developers dominating the market. Having exactly the same approach as for planning localization for other markets simply does not work.

South Korean trends, when it comes to graphic design, are changing immensely and what one can do is keep up with design trends for marketing, promo graphics, and finally app and game graphics.

In this article, we’ll be covering the following topics:
- Advertisement Trends in South Korea in 2021
- The Key Design Trends in South Korea in 2021
- Apps and Games Graphics Design Trends

Advertisement Trends in South Korea in 2021

South Korea is a country of great contrasts where bold and modern meets traditional. This is exactly what one can notice in their graphic design style. South Koreans have found a way to play with elements that are complete opposites and create a unique trend recognized throughout the world.

South Korean graphic design is young, confident, vibrant, and introspective. (Fu F. (2020) This Just In: Contemporary Design of South Korea, Letterform Archive). In order to fully understand their approach to advertising and graphic elements, one has to research the K-Pop and design scene. (Read more here)

When it comes to current dominant colors, one couldn’t help but notice the following ones: dark/black, grey and brown shades, cream white, white, beige, soft pink, blue, yellow, and red. However, depending on the niche, the color may vary.

South Korean Design Trends, Source: Inspirationfeed

illustration by Yeji Yun, Source: Seeoutspace

Left: An Mano, Spring is Coming, Right: DDBBMM, Noryang Battle, Source: DDBBMM Graphic Design Studio

Promotional banner design by erlengzi, Source PNG Tree

The Key Design Trends in South Korea in 2021

In order to understand the graphic design style of South Korean people, one needs to pay attention to popular trends that are flooding the internet. Here is a short guide written by Ronita Mohan, a content marketer at Venngage, on how to nail graphic design this year be it in South Korea or worldwide.

Brand’s aesthetic in 2021 is influenced by the following design trends:
- Subdued colors
- Minimalism
- Asymmetry
- Data visualization
- Flat icons and illustrations
- Simple and classic characters
- Animated logos
- Overlapping designs
- Geometric shapes
- Dark colors
- Nature-inspired design
- Authenticity

Subdued colors

Some time ago, neon colors in graphic design were a major trend. However, since 2020 the trends suggest going for a muted color palette instead of bolder colors. The trend is not about changing colors but rather their saturation.

Why has there been a move away from bold colors? Because the trend has caught on a little too much. Too bright colors were suddenly everywhere, saturating the online world. (Corner A., 2020, How to Make 2020’s Hottest Graphic Design Trends Work for Your Brand, Shift4Shop Blog).

*Source —* *Venngage Graphic Design Trends*

Whenever a certain trend overfloods the brand aesthetic, there is an immediate response with something totally the opposite. Therefore, soft colors are a natural response to the overwhelming neon trend. Customers and users now want to see something less vibrant and more natural.

For some inspiration, check out how South Korean Graphic Designer Jee Ook Choi uses a muted color palette.

*South Korean Graphic Designer Jee Ook Choi Source:* *HomeArt & Culture*

Minimalism

Each year, the design trends have been shifting from busy to more minimalist aesthetics. Right now, minimalism is one of the main trends going on in the graphic design world.

Why is it better for the brand? Because fewer elements and a clean look make your Call to Action (CTA) stand out much clearer. Apart from that, the rise of mobile marketing and the fact that users see the brand’s visual elements on their mobile devices makes minimalism even more logical.

Travel App Concept designed by Vanessa for DUNCKELFELD. Source: Drebbble

Asymmetry

Asymmetric patterns are a very popular trend of the 21st century in general. Nowadays, the trends suggest using less and less grids and going for more asymmetry.

Why asymmetry? Because it is more memorable, dynamic and distinctive and it gives many options for playing with the elements.

Data visualization

As data goes hand in hand with marketing, sharing it with users in a creative way has become a thing.

What is crucial when talking about this trend is that incorporating data into your design aesthetics needs to be visually appealing and simple. In general, nobody wants to look at a bunch of numbers but this year it will be simple visualizations that will attract people.

Photo by Midori Nediger. Source: Venngage

Flat icons and illustrations

After a dominant 3D aesthetics a few years ago, flat (two-dimensional) icons and illustrations are taking over.

Flat design is a powerful way to convey a message, promote products and ideas
due to its minimalistic, clean, and attractive visual impact without unnecessary embellishment. It is why many companies are turning to flat logo and icon design.

Simple and classic characters

Classic serif fonts are back and they are a brand design trend to follow in 2021.
Why choose these fonts over others? Because they are elegant, readable, and evoke nostalgia. Apart from that, users find them reliable. Classic fonts are not as easily readable as sans serif fonts, so it’s best not to use this font for paragraphs. It will be enough to use them for titles and subtitles (Corner A., 2020, How to Make 2020’s Hottest Graphic Design Trends Work for Your Brand, Shift4Shop Blog).

Mailchimp Landing Pages, Source: Nemowebdesign

Animated logos

This trend is related to company logos. The main idea is to grab attention and revive a brand logo for 2021.

As the main goal of any company is to convince users and customers to interact with their published content for longer periods of time, an animated logo, as a basic element of a company’s identity, is one of the ways to achieve that.

*Design by Daniel Bodea, Source:* *Graphic Mama Blog*

*Design by Hound Studio, Source:* *Graphic Mama Blog*

Overlapping designs

As part of the minimalist movement in graphic design, the overlapping design has become an efficient way to group elements and still be able to leave plenty of clean space around them.

Not only is it applied to icon design but also to promotional banners because it adds to readability, dynamics and increases engagement. Graphic designers state that it adds to the depth of an image and gives space for creative solutions.

Left UltraLinx, Source: Pinterest, Right The current Plenty of Fish logo, Source: Pinterest

Geometric shapes

During 2020, companies massively used abstract and fluid forms in their design. However, as it is not a part of every company’s aesthetics, the trend is shifting towards simple geometric shapes that are easier to create.

This trend goes hand in hand with soft colors and minimalist looks.

Promotional Flat Contrast Geometric Banner Background by 588ku / Source: Pngfree

Dark colors

The dark mode option has taken over for some time now. Apps, social networks, and operating systems all offer dark mode options for their user interface, and those ones who still do not are advised to do so as soon as possible.

As a natural consequence of offering users a dark mode option, the brands need to adjust their graphics design aesthetics for advertising and within the products.
Brand design trends for 2021 suggest that dark mode will dictate banners and other promotional graphics design in order to be visually appealing.
It is no wonder that users prefer this look as it is sleek, modern, and highlights design elements while at the same time reduces eye strain.

Skeuomorph Mobile Banking | Dark Mode by Alexander Plyuto, Source: Dribbble

Nature-Inspired Design

Graphic designers have always been inspired by nature. In recent years, the nature-inspired trend or organic graphic design has become globally accepted.

In 2020 graphic designers were all about earth tones and this year the trend continues with slight changes. Apart from using natural earth colors like terracotta, sand, grey, ten and sienna, designers are also drawn to nature scenes like leaves, trees, etc.

The organic design trend is explained as being minimal, delicate, modern and playful. It evokes the feeling of being immersed in nature and is widely influenced by sustainability and environmentalism.

Organic Graphic Design by R.Kelsie, Source: Envato

Botanical and Organic Design by **Schenker M.** **Creative Market**

Authenticity

More than ever, users expect the brands to show support for social causes and missions. When done right in an authentic way, social cause support by the brand can make a real difference to a movement people care about. At the same time, it illustrates the company brand’s values, ethics and ideals and brings sympathies from users.

Conclusion

After a tumultuous year for the graphic design culture and the world in general, when graphic designers were pushed to be more creative and imaginative because of the rise of competition on the market, the predictions for 2021 announce some changes in how users perceive brands’ identity and advertisement. As graphic design trends are tremendously changing on a global scale, unique markets such as South Korea embrace that change and adapt their visual appearance.

South Korea, as one of the leading countries in the mobile market, should be among the top priority markets for optimization for developers. Due to its distinctive graphic design style and the aforementioned changes, it dictates graphic design trends for 2021. Companies are changing their visual assets in marketing, games and apps in terms of color, fonts, design elements and style as well as the messages they want to convey. The trends for 2021 announce embracing less vibrant, more natural look, minimalism, muted colors, flat design, simple and readable fonts, dark theme and geometric shapes. What appears to be of utmost importance is to be authentic.

With all the ongoing trends, developers who are planning to optimize their products for South Korea need to adjust the products’ visual look, promotional graphics and marketing strategy in order to be competitive on the market.

Apps and Games Graphics Design Trends

Check out some of the trends in game and app design graphics in South Korea in 2021.