Logos We Love (Korean Edition)

09.5.23

As our “Logos We Love” series continues, Design Intern Sun Ho Lee brings along a few of her favorite logos from her home country.

As a 7th grader in Korea, I started skipping school to go to K-pop concerts. I would pass out flyers so that I could buy concert tickets and snacks.

My parents thought I’d have a better future in America where I didn’t have access to the any of these sweet distractions and sent me to a boarding school in the middle of nowhere Pennsylvania. The obsession, unfortunately, never stopped and in fact only grew. K-pop has come a long way since then—here are few of my recent favorites, as well as a some you can find in your cupboard!

NewJeans

The new K-pop girl group NewJeans went all out with their logo and really leaned into the Y2K vibe. Their neon and experimental logo and the bunny mark are serious throwbacks to the Geocities/MySpace era of digital design.

Aespa

Another girl band, Aespa, builds their brand around the metaverse and dreamscapes. With the metallic typography comes a whole mythology around how the girls navigate the real world while their AI counterparts hold down the fort in the virtual world.

Le Sserafim

Catchy songs and perfectly synchronized choreography aren’t enough anymore—an animated logo and tight branding are almost prerequisites to success.

Banana Flavored Milk

Ok, moving on to food and beverage — growing up in Korea in the 90s, I couldn’t walk out of a store without grabbing an iconic Banana Flavored Milk. While they have redesigned the logo multiple times over the last 50 years, the curvy typography (and the taste that’s nothing like a real banana) remain the same.

Jinro Soju

Jinro Soju’s toad was designed in Pyongan, what is now North Korea, in 1924. The toad made it through hell a.k.a. the Japanese colonial period and the Korean War, but is still looking cute and fresh after a face lift in 2019.

Gompyo

Gompyo, which literally translates to The Bear Label, has been producing sugar and flour since the 1950s. Each product once had different animal, like a goat or an elephant, but only the bear survived.

Fritz Coffee Company

Fritz Coffee Company isn’t a heritage brand, but I just had to give a shoutout to the seal. The combination of linocut seal and 70s typography makes me feel nostalgic for a time when I didn’t even exist.

That’s it for now. Get yourself a Banana Flavored Milk next time you’re in Korea!

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