New at Vinyl

Almost 3 weeks after returning to Korea, I think I am finally finding some semblance of being settled. I started work at Vinyl, a 120-person strong “web agency” located in the heart of Seoul. Vinyl’s a well-established and according to some accounts (mostly internal), is the leading web agency in Korea. Most of the work at Vinyl is domestic, but they were the firm responsible for designing the interface for the Helio phones sold in the US.

I’ve been hired to head the User Research department, which mean, build it up from scratch, staff it, and find opportunities to make it productive and profitable. Pretty much do what I did at my last job at Forum One. Hopefully it won’t take 6 years this time around.

Yesterday was my first day, and like any typical disoriented new hire: I sat around all day setting up my computer, going through HR stuff, meeting people and wondering if anyone’s going to come by to take me to lunch or if I’ll have to spend the first day pitifully eating by myself. I was rescued at the last minute.

One thing that is a little unsettling: when one of the senior managers introduced me to the staff, he chuckled and said that he can finally retire the title of “the oldest person” at the company. Ugh.

Well… not quite first impressions. I arrived August 10th, but I’ve lived here at various points in my life for a total of 14 years, but the last time I lived here was 13 years ago. So things that I would not have noticed before seem to jump out at me.

Mountainous Landscape Korea is about 70% mountainous and that is even apparent in Seoul and environs. You see the landscape everywhere. Seoul was situated as a capital in 1394 and was chosen partly because it had mountains surrounding it. The landscape is beautiful, and most Koreans take it for granted. It’s only when you live in a city like D.C., or Chicago that you realize how blessed Seoul actually is to have such a diverse landscape.

Boring Apartment Blocks Landscape is both a bless and a curse. Due to the mountainous landscape and limited buildable land, there is overcrowding, and most Seoul inhabitants live in apartment blocks or “a-pa-tu” as the locals say. And they are ubiquitous feature of Seoul to the point that I think they are the single most prominent architectural identity of Seoul (and rapidly speading across the country). I live in one. Everyone I know lives in one.

Crowds It’s like Fifth Avenue in New York during the summer everyday in some parts of Seoul. You are overwhelmed with people most of the time. You can’t get away from them. They are everywhere. In the streets. On crowded buses. Sitting in cars in perpetual traffic jams. Crammed in to subway trains. I remember writing in my journal when I first went to Columbia in 1994 that New York felt peaceful compared to Seoul. My opinion hasn’t changed.

Since it is so crowded, there is also a lack of personal space. I think this is one of the things that people especially from the States find most uncomfortable. People bump in to you all the time. You are squished together on public transportation. Your personal space is constantly invaded. For Koreans, personal space is one that overlaps with others.

Signage Mayhem The consistent thing about the commercial signage on buildings is that they are in Korean and they are rectangle-shaped. They cover buildings like a disease, and what’s more, they light up at night. It’s an extreme form of visual pollution. It’s the only visual communication between the business and their customers and everyone seems to understand that.

Since Korean are used this form of visual assault, this seems to be the trend on internet sites also. Most of my web consulting clients in the States asked that the information architecture and designs be “simple” and “easy to use”. Not so here.

Take KT’s (Korea Telecom) Megapass site. This is a site for KT’s internet service, and it’s IPTV service. Everything is moving, there’s no focus, it’s just a collection of animated ads. I guess the folks here are used to that.

It’s done. I have decided to go to Korea. I will be moving to Korea in early August.

More for my benefit, I look back at the last 13 years in the US, and it has been quite a journey.

In 1994, August 16, I came to New York to start the Master of Architecture program at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture. After I got my degree, I stayed on to teach Fundamentals of Digital Design at Columbia, and started a full time job at Smith-Miller + Hawkinson Architects.

In 1999 at the height of the Internet bubble, I jumped on the bandwagon and started at Cybersites, Inc. which built online communities. Cybersites was quite a ride, but it went the way of many startups and in just before 9/11, we moved to metro DC and I started at Forum One Communications based in Alexandria, VA, just outside Washington DC.

The last place I visited in before I left New York City was the Krispy Kreme at the World Trade Center to pick up donuts for my friends who were helping me move. On 9/11 I found myself driving to work on I-395 looking at the smoke rising from the Pentagon, which was a 10 minute drive from my office.

Working at Forum One has been one of the most pleasurable 6 years in my life. Forum One is a small consultancy that develops creative internet strategy for a mostly non-profit clientele. The work was deeply fulfilling and the people amazing to work with. I will miss it very much.

But now it’s time to turn the page. Another job, another continent, another blog.

Let’s see what happens.