Shinsegae Design Lab — We design a lifestyle for customers through creativity.

Shinsegae is a renowned department store with more than 85 years of heritage located in South Korea. Its multi-award-winning design lab provides creative direction, design strategy and graphic solutions for the department store’s shops and in-house brands. Shinsegae Design Lab’s work is interdisciplinary and encompasses the fields of graphics, campaigns, advertising, product, packaging, signage, sound and motion.

Shinsegae Design Lab interviewed by Red Dot

Red Dot: How would you define good communication design?
Shinsegae Design Lab : In our case, a good communication design allows our customers to want more – not necessarily in a materialistic way – but to experience more and aspire to be a better version of themselves.

What makes your work unique?
We strive to make our department stores progress into not just a place to shop, but also a place to share sentiment and experiences. Our “Full of Love and Thanks” campaign wasn’t just a seasonal campaign. Rather, we wanted to send out a positive message bringing love and gratitude to our community affected by the pandemic.

What intention do you pursue with your award-winning work?
We try to build brands and campaigns that not only cater to the needs of our customers but also inspire. For instance, with XYTS we tried to create a brand that connects the MZ generation to the analogue era. For “The Grocer of Korean Delicacy”, our team updated a traditional product with a fresh design and opened up the traditional wine market to a new generation.

Which three adjectives best describe your award-winning project?
For the “Full of Love and Thanks” campaign – cheerful, fun, thankful. For XYTS – transcending time, age and generation.

Please describe the concept of creativity against the background of your award-winning work.
As Shinsegae department store provides various experiences to our customers, it is important to understand the context of each project. The creative concept is derived through the process of thinking about how to portray these lifestyles and experiences to the customers.