9 Questions with Jieun Lee, Red Peak
9 Questions with Jieun Lee, Graphic Designer
Creativity is at the heart and soul of everything we do at kyu, and we are extremely fortunate to have the most creative minds as part of our collective.
To get to know the creatives in our community better – what makes them tick, where they draw their inspiration from, what they bring to their work – “9 Questions” is a regular series profiling their art and work.
Who is your design inspiration?
I get inspired mainly by my everyday surroundings and contemporary artists/designers such as Olafur Eliasson, Sun Yuan & Peng Yu, Kazumasa Nagai, Nan Goldin, Andre Thomkins, Choi Jeong Hwa, and Haegyu Yang. The list of artists and designers of interest is always changing and is somewhat affected by media and trend. Jan Tschichold and Bruno Munari have a more immediate and consistent influence on me as a designer.
What’s the best advice you’ve ever received?
Every person has at least one thing that is worth learning.
What’s your life motto?
Life is way too short to hassle with things I don’t believe in.
What’s your favorite book of all time?
The New Typography by Jan Tschichold
Design As Art by Bruno Munari
The Elements of Style by William Strunk Jr.
Childhood’s End by Arthur C. Clarke
Plus a few books in Korean (titles in English are not the official translation):
쓰기의말들Words of Writing (은유Eun Yu)
한국디자인의문명과야만Civilization and Barbarism of Korean Design (최범Choi Bum)
What’s one food you can’t live without?
I think it is very important for me to have a balanced diet. When I decide what to have for a meal, I tend to pick something I didn’t have in the last few meals to balance it out. But one thing that I can absolutely not be able to cut to zero is seafood.
What’s your worst habit?
I tend to be too punctual and try to get everything done way ahead of time, or get nervous.
What’s one hobby you’ll never give up?
Reading. I don’t mind if the text is so dreadfully boring or useless, because I don’t necessarily mean to learn or remember anything from it. I just need to keep reading words.
What does creativity mean to you?
Creativity for me is having an original language to express my feelings and thoughts.
What’s the best part about living in New York?
Everyone visits me.
Jieun Lee is a graphic designer at RedPeak (New York). Find out more about her work:
Website: cargocollective.com/jeeleedesign
Instagram: @jiilgagi