Suah Yoo, Brand Creative 4Team

[월간 AC] 브랜드 크리에이티브 4팀 유수아님

AMOREPACIFICApr 17, 2023

Editor C.

I’m a product designer in my fourth year. While I’m confident in what I know, there’s so much I don’t. I’m constantly curious about the lives and work processes of other creatives. How does everyone else make it work?

Prologue.

I searched for ‘Yoo Suah’ on our Amorepacific Creatives (AC) site. This design, this emotion, this atmosphere… It was anything but ordinary. I had to meet her.

Q1. Hello, Suah. Could you please briefly introduce yourself and the projects you’re currently working on?

Hello, I’m Yoo Suah, and I’m a product designer. I’m currently on Brand Creative Team 4, where I handle new business-related projects and also develop the Private Brand (PB) products for Amore Seongsu.

Q2. When I searched your name on AC, Holitual and Puzzlewood came up first. It was a nice coincidence, as I use Holitual for my skincare and Puzzlewood for my home fragrance. Since both are new brands, I imagine you faced a lot of challenges.

Previously, I was part of a large, established brand and only handled a specific portion of the product design. Holitual was the first new brand I was responsible for launching from the very beginning. It was the first time I had to think about an entire brand, and I often found myself considering aspects I never had to before. There were so many decisions to make—the logo, the symbol, the brand colors, the typeface—and it was difficult to feel confident in my choices. But I was lucky to work with an amazing team of senior and junior colleagues. We had great chemistry, I learned so much, and we built a strong relationship of trust and support. That environment allowed everyone to bring their expertise to the table, which made the project incredibly enjoyable. Ultimately, it was a project that made me feel I had truly grown as a designer. Puzzlewood was different because the entire process, from product planning to design and launch, was handled within the Creative Center. It was a project where I got to experience the marketing and planning side of things. I started by proposing collaboration ideas, then researched and contacted artists, and designed the final products. It was incredibly stressful at times; I was handling everything from searching for and buying the specific containers I wanted, to requesting installations and connecting suppliers with our production facility. I even visited a pottery village to find ceramicists, tried glass crafting myself at the studio of our collaborator (artist Mowani), and went to Bangsan Market in Dongdaemun to find the perfect eco-friendly fabric for a pouch. I had to personally research and manage things I’d never had to before. But once it was all over, the project was as rewarding as it was difficult, and I remember it fondly.

Glass crafting and visiting a pottery village. ⓒYoo Suah

Q3. You said you felt you grew through the Holitual project. Was it because it was your first time launching a brand from scratch?

“Growth”… that word suddenly makes me feel shy (laughs). Our company is an established one with many legacy brands, and so much of the focus is on managing them well. It’s not easy to get experience launching a new brand, so being able to do that felt like a rare and valuable opportunity. While I learned about branding in school, what you learn on the job is completely different. I was able to learn by observing things like how to think about a brand from a marketing perspective, or how my colleagues planned to grow the business. At the time, I jokingly called it the “Holitual prison” because the brand manager would call me in, and we’d talk for an hour straight. She would explain her vision for the business with such passion, but when it came to the design, she trusted me completely. That made me feel a greater sense of responsibility. So, while experiencing the entire brand creation process was memorable, I think what I learned from the people I worked with was even more valuable.

Puzzlewood & Holitual Packaging ⓒYoo Suah

Q4. Listening to you now, and from working with you, I get the feeling you’re the kind of person who thinks about work even in the shower (laughs). It may be a cliché, but I think the word “immersion” really suits you. It seems like the experiences you mentioned—feeling a sense of growth, having fun—all created the foundation that allowed you to become so immersed.

Well, first of all, I’m not a workaholic. But you know how when you’re fixated on something, you just can’t stop thinking about it? I’m a person who naturally thinks a lot, so if a task isn’t complete, I’ll find myself checking things on my phone on the way home until I have to tell myself, “What are you doing? You’ve already left work!” For me, creating a beautiful and complete design is important, but the context, the flow, and the reasoning behind why it has to be a certain way are the most important things. That’s why I tend to think so deeply during the planning stage. When I present three design drafts, people always ask which one I think is best. In the past, I used to say, “Well, this one is good for this reason, and that one is good for that reason,” because I was already attached to all of them. But then, I had a team leader who constantly challenged me, telling me I needed to have my own opinion and be able to persuade others. It was incredibly stressful at the time, but it forced me to constantly re-evaluate my criteria for a good design. Every brand has its own unique color. If you keep reflecting on who the brand is targeting and why a certain concept was chosen, you can find the design that best fits that intent. I think I developed that mindset through those challenges.

1) Puzzlewood concept C was rejected, but Suah was still very attached to it.
2,3) Holitual leaflet concepts that were eliminated due to difficult post-processing (die-cutting and folding). ⓒYoo Suah

Q5. This is just an extra question, but I remember getting goosebumps when I heard you read books on your commute. I can’t believe people like that actually exist. What are you reading these days?

Ah, I have a bit of intellectual vanity, so I only read books when I’m out and about. Right now, I’m reading Before We Were Us by Anri Tauru. I keep a list every year of the movies I’ve seen, the books I’ve read, and the new things I’ve tried. Even really small things, like going to a pro tennis match for the first time or joining an open chat room. When I was job hunting, I had a final interview at a company I really wanted to join, and they asked me a deep question about my personal tastes. Back then, I didn’t really have any. I couldn’t answer the question well, and I always regretted it. Since then, I’ve made it a habit to write down and remember what I’ve seen and experienced. Also, as you get older, you tend to try fewer new things because you know exactly what you like and dislike. But they say that if you live the same routine every day, your brain doesn’t form new memories well. That’s why when we look back on a year, we remember it by specific events, not the daily commute. I heard that’s how CCTVs work, too—they only record when there’s a change in the scene. I’m scared of getting dementia, and I don’t want to just get old without any memories. So, I’m trying to remember the things I do now, try new things, and live a joyful life.

Q6. A random question, but what are your plans for retirement? Is there something you’ve always wanted to do one day?

Yes, I want to be a children’s book author. There are a few thoughts behind this. The first is that humans live for a very long time, and we can’t work at the same company forever. Designers in this industry, especially, are tied to trends. What you know naturally in your 20s, you have to actively study to understand in your 30s and 40s. As I get older, I think an inevitable gap will form between me and the target audience, and I wonder if I can keep doing work for young people. I also don’t have any special talent for finance, like stocks or real estate. But I still need to make a living, so I’ve thought about what could support me besides a salary. Second, I actually completed a teacher training program in university. I’m not sure if it started then, but around that time, I came to believe that education is incredibly important. When I see negative events happening in society, I feel a strong sense of disillusionment and sadness. When I trace those problems to their roots, I feel like it always comes back to education. It’s so important to help children develop healthy values and ways of thinking, but it feels like our country grew so fast that we didn’t prioritize that kind of education. So, I think it would be fascinating to create educational content that reflects our changing times. Maybe if I made a children’s book with philosophical themes that adults could also appreciate, it could be a source of comfort for them, too.

Q7. One last question, from one creator to Korea’s future Dr. Seuss. What is good design?

That’s such a hard question. What is it, really? I’m still not sure. As I said before, I’m someone who believes the planning is crucial—what a design should contain and how it should be shown. But recently, I went to an illustration fair for a CP project, and I realized that for a lot of young people these days, if something is just pretty at first glance, that’s enough. They don’t seem to care about the deep intent, the context, or whether a design is “right” or “wrong.” It made me wonder if maybe I’m the one who’s overthinking it. Maybe good design is simply something that makes a person feel good when they see it.

Amorepacific Creatives
Interviewee
유수아
Interviewer
민채현

Suah Yoo, Brand Creative 4Team

[월간 AC] 브랜드 크리에이티브 4팀 유수아님

AMOREPACIFICApr 17, 2023