PROFILE

Yoonho Choi

Yoonho Choi
research in design, media, and locality

Working as a technology evangelist in both design and media industries, he was one of the first generation web coder-designers in Korea while doing his BFA in 1990s, and recently led digital publishing projects in 2010s, mostly for the first time in the field. He also has been working as a professional interviewer-writer based on his academic background of design, crafts and their histories after he got MA degree from University of Brighton in 2008, and translated “Design: intelligence made visible(by Sir Terence Conran & Stephen Bayley)” into Korean.

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

Operating Officer, Soseng-gong-dan
Jul 2017 –

  • Soseng-gong-dan is a platform for small sized productions. I have been interviewing and writing articles dealing with Korean makers and producers based on small-scale production since its foundation in 2013.

Researcher & Writer, Independent Researchers
Nov 2007 –

  • Curatorial Advisor – “MA:T 맛: Korean Culture Beyond the Recipe”, Korea Foundation, Seoul, Kr, 2015. // Advised curators as a professional especially to understand histories of ordinary objects related to Korean food culture.
  • Guest interviewer – Soseng-gong-dan, a web-based magazine for small sized productions. // Interviewing and writing articles dealing with Korean makers and producers based on small-scale production. from 2013.
  • Co-translator – Stephan Bailey & Terence Conran, <Design: Intelligence Made Visible>, Design House, Seoul, Kr, 2009.

Editor In Chief, beSUCCESS
Oct 2016 – Apr 2017

  • Directed an internet news media dedicated to the Korean tech and startup scenes.

Digital Content Director, Ahn-graphics Ltd.
Mar 2015 – Sep 2016

  • Directed digital projects and activities in the company’s Media department, including digital magazines such as Olive Magazine Korea, Lonely Planet Magazine Korea, in-flight magazine ASIANA, digital titles labeled as Lonely Planet, magazine websites, mobile applications, and other emerging media platforms.

Editor In Chief, Delayed Gratification Korea
Aug 2014 – Jan 2015

  • Prepared a newly launched journalism magazine Delayed Gratification’s Korean edition as its editorial director in communication with the UK edition’s editorial team in London.

Research Director, D&Department Seoul by Millimeter Milligram
Jul 2013 – Jul 2014

  • Managed core researches for the launch of D&Department Project Seoul, originally founded by a Japanese designer Kenmei Nagaoka. The goal of the research was identifying local productions and makers, and their products.
  • Edited the Korean edition of Kenmei’s book <디앤디파트먼트에서 배운다, 사람들이 모여드는 전하는 가게 만드는 법.>

Lecturer (part-time), Sungshin Women’s University
Sep 2012 – Dec 2013

  • Design History course (3 hours) – Dept. of Crafts, Graduate School, Sungshin Women’s University

Senior Digital Content Manager, Ahn-graphics Ltd.
Apr 2010 – Jun 2013

  • Managed e-publishing projects in the company’s Media and Publishing divisions, including Lonely Planet Magazine Korea(under-licensed from BBC Worldwide and Immediate Media, UK), in-flight magazine ASIANA, Lonely Planet(wireless mobile travel guide under-licensed from Lonely Planet in Australia), and several ebooks labeled as ‘Ahn-graphics’ and its imprint ‘Culturegrapher’.
  • Lonely Planet Magazine Korea’s Digital Edition was one of the first digital magazines (next to GQ Korea) in Korea.

Senior Global Content Manager, Alt-C Ltd.
Oct 2009 – May 2010

  • Managed web-based design news service Designflux and curated several exhibitions as a staff researcher for such as Design Olympics for Seoul Metropolitan Government, in co-operation with US and Italy-based design media and contents agencies like CORE77 and DESIGN BOOM.

Designer, Ahn-graphics Ltd.
Oct 2000 – May 2001

  • Designed websites and digital works as a senior graphic designer, including SK Telecom, LG AD, YAHOO Style Korean edition, Lonely Planet Korea and ABROAD projects.

Very Early Stage Web Developer & Designer, Freelance
1997

  • Created a whole website for a commercial magazine My Wedding as a student free-lancer, and it was a very rare case in 1997. HTML hard-coding and some design works such as photoshop image processing were included.

EDUCATION

University of Brighton
MA, History of Design & Material Culture
2006 – 2007

  • Dissertation titled “Transformed Alternativeness : a comparative analysis of alternative design exhibitions, Designersblock in London and Designersplanet in Seoul”, 2007.

Kookmin University
PGCert., Metalwork
2000 – 2003

Kookmin University
BFA, Metalwork
1992 – 1999

AWARDS

University of Brighton International Student Scholarship, 2006-2007
Univerisity of Brighton, UK
2006년 9월

Reporter of The Month
Ohmynews, Korea
2001년 7월

  • Reported 15 exclusive news articles on the “Nepalese royal massacre” when travelling in Kathmandu, Nepal. As a backpacker but the only Korean news reporter at the scene, I experienced how a very new social internet news service was working as the fastest news provider in the Korean media industry. “Son-sukhee’s Spotlight” of MBC, one of four major national Korean television and radio networks, interviewed me on the issue via international phone call.
  • Nepalese royal massacre : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nepalese_royal_massacre
  • Photos I took at the time : http://www.flickr.com/photos/ssall/sets/72157594452153953/