Each year, graduating students of the Industrial Design department exhibit their final projects. The KAIST Herald met with Ji Ha Kim, the head of the graduation exhibition committee, and Youngho Lee, the head of the exhibition team.

Could you briefly introduce yourself?

Kim: My name is Ji Ha Kim, and I have been working with Jieun Hwang as the head of the graduation exhibition committee this year.

Lee: My name is Youngho Lee. I am the head of team that is in charge of displaying the final projects. The exhibition team is under the graduation preparation committee along with marketing team, sponsoring team, and design team.

Could you briefly introduce the graduation exhibition of the Industrial Design department?

The exhibition this year has a theme of “design hatch.” This figuratively depicts graduating students transforming from students to designers. They are showing their potentials as designers through this exhibition. The students’ projects will be exhibited from 12/8 to 12/16. We will have an opening party, “ID Night” on 12/6. ID Night is open to public, and it will be held in an entertaining atmosphere with music and drinks. You will also be able to hear stories of graduates while working on their projects.

This year, 39 students are each exhibiting their projects, or rather, their products. In fact, many students get their projects patented. This year, the exhibitions are centered on seven keywords: memory, new experience, lifestyle, hobby, society, communication and safety.

As members of the graduating class, you two are each exhibiting a product. What keyword did you guys pick?

Lee: My project has the keyword of new experience. I worked on making an interactive lighting that is easily accessible. Although many people only associate lighting with the banal on and off switch, there are lightings that are more delicate and interactive. Unfortunately, those lightings are mostly seen in art galleries and cafe. Thus, I wanted to make interactive lightings be a part of everyday life.

Kim: My keyword was memory. When people travel, they often want to keep postcards and tickets to keep their memories. Nevertheless, those symbols of memory often become hassle after the trip. To prevent the degradation of memories, I made a travel kit that collects postcards and tickets so that they can be displayed collectively as a design item.

What was the most arduous part in completing your project?

Lee: This project is a year-long one. I guess the hardest was generating concepts and making it. And that makes it every part in the project.

What was the most fulfilling part while doing this project?

Kim: We were able to exhibit our works at Tokyo Designer’s Week (TDW) 2014, biggest design fair in Asia. It was more special because we exhibited our works in the main section, not the student section. TDW was also a good experience observing other designers and what we could do after going into society.

Lee: I personally think that designers “struggle with ideas.” The feeling of coming up with a great idea is just simply overwhelmingly satisfying. Although the moment of fulfilling parts may be different from student to student, overcoming struggles during the course of the project was the fulfilling for me.

Could you briefly give few words on finishing this project?

Lee: I really appreciate the fact that I was able to work with my friends. I was very moved because although the graduates were also very busy with their own works, they were willing to help one another.

Kim: This was a great opportunity to build more intimate relationships. Because I and my peers shared the similar emotions during the journey of making this project, we were able to become much closer. This bond is very special for me as well as the satisfaction upon finishing the project.

Any final comments?

Kim: We are also displaying our works online at idkasit.kr. This is currently available only as an application but we are working on making a website. You can also visit our Facebook page, idkaist2014, to learn more about the event. We are also selling books that feature the projects. Finally, please take interest in not only this year’s graduation exhibition but also in those of following years.