The Past Thirty years after hosting its first Olympic Games—the Seoul Summer Olympics in 1988—the Republic of Korea was given the honor of hosting a second—the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, which took place February 9–25, 2018. I was working in Korea as a corporate identity designer at the time of the 1988 Olympics, and for the 2018 Olympics, I had the privilege of chairing the Design Advisory Committee. The committee played an instrumental role in shaping the holistic design program of the Games and presenting PyeongChang, and South Korea, to the world. In the intervening years, I have been part of a design industry that has changed almost beyond recognition, much like South Korea. The moment seems opportune to reflect on this course of change, the present to which it has brought us, and the challenges that lie ahead, some of which are unique to the Korean situation and some of which are faced by design and designers all around the world. When Seoul hosted the Summer Olympics in 1988, South Korea was just emerging from a long period of authoritarian government and massive economic transformation. Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, economic activity had centered on rapid industrialization and production for export, directed more or less by government decree. Design’s role in this scheme was as a servant to export-led industry, styling and beautifying goods for international consumption. As the economy matured, design matured along with it, soon outgrowing its subjugation to manufacturing to take its place among the pantheon of creative industries. While its coming of age followed a well-worn path, Korean design now finds itself in unmapped territory; in this predicament, it is not alone—defining the designer’s role in a postindustrial digital economy is foremost among the challenges the design world presently faces. However, it is perhaps only in South Korea that one could have experienced what is essentially a localized version of the broad history of industrial design in the span of a single career.

中文翻译：

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设计平昌冬奥会的设计

在举办第一届奥运会——1988 年汉城夏季奥运会——过去 30 年里，大韩民国有幸举办了第二届——2018 年平昌冬奥会，该奥运会于 2018 年 2 月 9 日至 25 日举行。我是1988 年奥运会期间在韩国担任企业形象设计师，2018 年奥运会期间，我有幸担任设计咨询委员会主席。该委员会在塑造奥运会的整体设计方案以及向世界展示平昌和韩国方面发挥了重要作用。在此期间，我加入了一个几乎面目全非的设计行业，就像韩国一样。现在似乎是反思这一变革进程、它带给我们的现在以及未来的挑战的好时机，其中一些是韩国独特的，一些是世界各地的设计和设计师所面临的。1988 年首尔举办夏季奥运会时，韩国刚刚摆脱了长期的专制政府和大规模经济转型。在整个 1960 年代和 1970 年代，经济活动以快速工业化和出口生产为中心，或多或少受到政府法令的指导。设计在这个计划中的作用是作为出口导向型产业的仆人，为国际消费设计和美化商品。随着经济的成熟，设计也随之成熟，很快就不再受制于制造业，在创意产业的万神殿中占据一席之地。虽然它的发展遵循了一条陈旧的道路，但韩国设计现在发现自己处于未映射的领域；在这种困境中，它并不孤单——定义设计师在后工业数字经济中的角色是设计界目前面临的首要挑战之一。然而，也许只有在韩国，人们才能在单一的职业生涯中体验到工业设计广泛历史的本质上是本地化的版本。