An International Design Exhibition
2009.06.29-07.24
Los Angeles, California, USA
Main Gallery
California State University Northridge (CSUN)
Northridge, California, USA
Gallery Talk by Albert Young Choi
How I Started
Main Gallery, CSUN
Fri, 10 July 2009 at 6 pm
2002 World Cup Football in Seoul
Opening Game,
France vs. Senegal
Everybody expected France to win!
However, the expectation was wrong!
Senegal defeated France by 1 – 0.
Senegal made a history!
The lesson is
Don’t assume you are right.
Don’t assume award-winning designs are
only answers to the best aesthetic.
A few weeks later,
I had a dream.
Stairs
Hill Top
Artifacts
Green grassland
Blue ocean
Cloud-less sky
Kites
Flags
In 2003,
I sent e-mails to the world.
And
I found friends, designers.
We are all designers.
My question:
How can we be connected?
My answer is using
what we do best, design.
Therefore,
UNITED (friends’) DESIGNS
I will never judge their talents
I will never question back at them about designs
I will never put myself first
How to become a UNITED DESIGNER
You must have the quality of
Sharing
Talent
Attention
Represent
Each United Designer is a STAR.
As a group, we are bright.
Introducing
STARS!
The Fourth UNITED DESIGNS
This year, 195 designers and eight design firms from 23 nations participated in the United Designs exhibition. When I first organized the United Designs in 2004, my vision for the United Designs is to have shown around the world every two years to share our concerns about humanity. And I am honored to share this idea with Professor Dave Moon and his colleagues from California State University Northridge (CSUN), California USA. They were excellent at organizing the 4th United Designs exhibition.
We gathered here to share our concerns about the world. There are many issues we need to care about in this world as a responsible world citizen. But, we cannot concern all matters. Thus, environmental awareness is what we regarded most at this time.
As a designer, we do best to express our concerns by designing posters. These posters are personal expression about environmental issues. We see a variety of different visual messages here. Some posters might disturb you, and some might even move your heart. These outstanding posters influence your mind and spirit about the environment. If just one of these posters affects your thoughts, I believe we did an excellent job of communicating the message, and we have a successful exhibition.
Another category of this exhibition is a practical design. In this part of the exhibition, we can understand how we communicate the client’s message now. Each era has its visual language, and through these outstanding designs, we surely learn the present trend in the participant’s country and the world. We cannot judge its content and visual message because its audience has its convention. But interestingly, our design language has conversed. The only difference is that the language we used in designs. Professionals and design students could learn from these practical design works to influence their visual communication skills.
Introduction by Albert Young Choi
Chief Director: Albert Young Choi
Director: David Moon
Co-Director: Scott Hutchinson, Donald Tarallo
183 Participants from 23 Nations
Environmental Awareness Posters
Practical Designs
Design Companies
