Students at the Department of Digital Media Design, Kyungil University (president, Hyun Tae Chung) got awarded prizes of silver, bronze, and winning at the area of students ‘2019 Spark Award’ which is the 4th international design contest. Spark Award is one of four main design contests held in the U.S. including IDEA in the U.S., Red Dot and iF in Germany. Moreover, it is the place for an opportunity for professional designers and design majors to objectively show their abilities.

These students who consist of seniors in their department (advisor, Ji Sun Ahn) suggested three applications such as Healing App (ka:m), Happy Contraception Practice App (ME, U), and Alcohol Management and Control App (MeReap), and received favorable comments from the local judges.

Hee Kyung Seo (the team leader), Chae Ryim Park, and Ji Yeon Bae who got silver prizes proposed ‘ka:m’ which is a journal mind healing app. ‘ka:m’ is designed for personalized journal healing application, and got the idea from that Korean teenagers have been having difficulties in establishing their self identities because of the educational environment focused on the College Entrance Exam. It helps them build up their self identities through the reflections of “Who am I?” and also helps them recover their self-esteem and establish the positive selves by means of on-going reflections and observations of themselves.

A judge, Earl Gee (a creative director) gave a comment “It is a very sensitive but considerate approach toward worries in which every teenager can meet while they are growing up.” He continues to favorably comment “it is an important social issue for all of us that shows a possibility to be solved by Design Thinking. A judge, Jochen Backs (a designer) also complimented ”It was the most favorable work among entries“ In addition, ‘ME, U’ is an application with bronze award suggested by Joo Hyun Seo (the team leader) and Young Shin Park, with which singles in 20s can reach out for knowledge of contraception and also practice it wisely. This application includes practical and exact knowledge that male and female adults should be aware of when they want to have a happy birth control.

Soosanna Chae (the team leader), Jeong Bin Ryun, and Ga Young Hwangbo got awarded with the app ‘MeReap’ by which we can intuitively obtain information about alcohol data examination and moderation in drinking, making it possible for us to get our drinking habits and its information visualization.

Hee Kyung Seo, at the winning stage, mentioned “I had many difficulties during the project, but finally realized that those difficult periods of time were the process for good results.” She also said “I thank my advisory professor for her giving us courage and team members for their encouragement, and thanks to them I could have a good result.”

Below are the awarded works displayed at the contest gallery.
[ka:m]: https://tinyurl.com/y27vre26
ME, U: https://tinyurl.com/y4pct7ft
MeReap: https://tinyurl.com/yymazw7v