“Design Seoul Walk” Lights Up the DDP Trail, Inviting Visitors to Experience Seoul Design on Foot
- The Seoul Metropolitan Government will host the “Design Seoul Walk” exhibition along the DDP Trail from Friday, June 5 to Thursday, June 25. - Designed as a “slow walk” along the 150-meter sloped DDP Trail, the exhibition uses a monochrome visual approach to focus on the meaning and essence of design. - From fonts and transit maps to fun design and Seoul Light, the exhibition presents urban and public design in everyday life in an accessible way. - Under the slogan “Design that Changes Everyday Life,” the city shares the direction and future vision of Seoul design. |
A special exhibition will be held, offering visitors an easy and enjoyable way to explore urban and public design found throughout everyday life in Seoul, as if taking a leisurely walk.
The Seoul Metropolitan Government announced that it will host the “Design Seoul Walk” exhibition for 21 days, from Friday, June 5 to Thursday, June 25, along Section A of the Dongdaemun Design Plaza (DDP) Trail.
The exhibition is designed as a walk-through experience, inviting visitors to explore design in everyday life as they stroll along an approximately 150-meter sloped section of the DDP Trail.
In particular, the exhibition shares its entrance with the currently popular “Kickny Special Exhibition” at DDP, allowing visitors waiting for the exhibition or moving through the venue to naturally encounter the evolution of Seoul’s design.
The exhibition space is designed in a neutral palette of white, gray, and black, allowing visitors to focus on the meaning and essence of design.
The exhibits are spaced generously apart, allowing visitors to stroll at a relaxed pace and reflect on how design has become embedded in citizens’ daily lives.
QR codes are also placed on key exhibits, enabling visitors to scan them with their smartphones and instantly access background information and further details about each project on site.
<From Citizens’ Everyday Lives to Urban Enjoyment: A Comprehensive Look at Seoul Design, from Policy Brands and Public Facilities to Fun Benches>
The exhibition presents a range of design cases that reflect the five core principles pursued by Seoul Design: empathy, inclusion, contribution, recovery, and sustainability.
It is designed to offer an accessible look at how the city is changing and where it is headed, through various examples of public design applied across citizens’ daily lives and urban spaces.
The exhibition begins with visual systems that have helped define Seoul’s identity. From policy brands and transport design that improves the urban mobility experience to typefaces that shape the city’s image, the exhibition brings together Seoul’s visual assets that have become deeply embedded in citizens’ daily lives.
The exhibition features major policy brands such as “Reading Han River Park,” “Going Together with the Socially Neglected,” and “Less Sugar 9988,” highlighting the role of design in communicating complex policy information to citizens in an accessible and approachable way.
The exhibition also presents the “Seoul Subway Map,” redesigned for the first time in 40 years to better meet citizens’ needs, along with “GO SEOUL,” an integrated mobility brand covering city buses, subways, Han River buses, and Seoul Bike “Ddareungi.” Together, these examples show how design can improve convenience in everyday urban mobility.
It also features the “Seoul Typeface,” developed to reflect Seoul’s distinctive character, allowing visitors to see and experience the city’s own typeface firsthand.
The next section highlights how the integration of design and policy has brought meaningful changes to citizens’ everyday lives. It presents a range of design-driven initiatives that help protect public safety and improve quality of life.
Through examples such as “Runner Station,” which transforms unused spaces in subway stations into healthy cultural hubs; “Standard Safety Design,” which helps prevent risks in industrial settings and daily life; and “sidewalk commercial facilities” and “subway entrance canopies,” which improve both the urban landscape and public safety, the exhibition offers a look at a safer and more vibrant city shaped by design.
The exhibition also explores landscape and public art projects that have brought art and inspiration to different parts of the city, while taking a deeper look at how design goes beyond beauty to become a source of industrial competitiveness.
The exhibition presents the striking visuals of “Seoul Light,” which has illuminated Seoul’s nightscape, in a gallery-style format, sharing the city’s distinctive nighttime scenery with visitors.
It also highlights public art projects that bring cultural appeal to the city, along with innovative products developed through support for design startups and design development programs for small and medium-sized enterprises, underscoring the dynamism and economic value of Seoul’s design industry.
The exhibition also draws attention to the diverse experiments of “Fun Design,” which has transformed the city’s character by bringing wit and emotion to public facilities that were once centered mainly on efficiency and function.
The exhibition features “Fun Benches” and “Fun Lighting,” which have brought enjoyment to citizens, along with “Pictogram Photo Zones” that reinterpret Seoul’s landmarks. Visitors are invited to sit, relax, and experience moments of ease and a fresh sense of vitality in the heart of the city.
The final section of the exhibition concludes by presenting Seoul’s distinctive visual assets alongside a sustainable future vision for Seoul Design.
Through Seoul’s Colors of the Year, from 2024 “Sky Coral” to 2026 “Morning Yellow,” as well as award-winning works from domestic and international design awards, visitors can experience the value of Seoul’s city brand shaped through design and explore the future direction of Seoul Design together.
Choi Inkyu, Director-General of Design Policy at the Seoul Metropolitan Government, said, “This exhibition will be an opportunity to see how design has transformed citizens’ lives and the city. As reflected in the exhibition slogan, ‘Design that changes everyday life in Seoul brings joy to citizens’ lives,’ we hope this exhibition will help citizens discover the value of design in everyday life and experience a sense of enjoyment.”
