This year many food products such as liquor, drinks and crackers were given pure Korean names, without using any Chinese characters. A Korean poem was printed on a cell phone battery. The Hangeul-only (Korean alphabet) name phenomenon that started with book covers spread like wildfire this year to all design fields. Hangeul emerged as the number one design motif of 2007.
The handwritten Hangeul print style graces not only products but is affecting film titles, ads, wrappings, signboards and also digital type.
Lee Joo-yeon, who studied the effect of hangeul logo design on buying trends, says calligraphy stimulates consumer senses and raises a product's abstract value.
Calligrapher Gang Byeon-in said, "Print letters simply convey information but handwritten print delivers an additional vibe". Hangeul is regarded to be particularly fit for design variations.
Gang said, "Until now, hangeul has been rather confined to its three-tier sound based structure and Chinese characters. The newly discovered calligraphic hangel print has reestablished the alphabet's value".u