Neighborhood magazine wins Malofiej awards
Jang Sung-hwan, right, publisher of Street H magazine, and Jeong Ji-yeon, chief editor, hold a poster, a supplement of the magazine which won a medal in the Malofiej International Infographics Awards, at their office in Hongdae, Friday. / Korea Times photo by Oh Dae-geun
By Kim Rahn
A supplemental poster of Street H, a neighborhood magazine dealing with the Hongik University area called Hongdae, has won a bronze medal in the 26th Edition of Malofiej International Infographics Awards, according to 203 X Design Studio, the publishing company.
The magazine's publisher Jang Sung-hwan and chief editor Jeong Ji-yeon said it is meaningful because Street H is almost obscure on the international printing stage and it is the first award given to a Korean and non-alphabet medium.
Malofiej is an award recognizing the best infographics published in print and online, with big name newspapers, magazines and news agencies competing such as The New York Times, Reuters and The National Geographic.
The monthly magazine Street H offers an infographic poster as a supplement, and the 2017 September edition's poster about packing for overseas trips won the award.
“I guess we won the prize because the theme was unique,” Jang said. “Besides the title, all other explanations were written in Hangeul, which is as charming as an alphabet can be in terms of typography.”
Jeong also said, “Many of our readers said they were proud we won the prize. This recognition has become an opportunity for us to keep the steam up.”
First published in 2009, Street H is a free monthly magazine featuring people, restaurants, shops and festivals in Hongdae. It has a supplement which is a map of Hongdae, and the back of the map is the infographic poster. Since 2015, the posters have dealt with various themes such as cameras, soju and jazz.
The posters are popular, and the company sells them online and offline in a quality version by printing them on quality paper and laminating them. They are often sold out.
Jang worked at Yonhap News Agency and Dong-A Ilbo as a graphic designer and set up his own company in 2003. “At that time infographics was not a well-known field. Since the early 2010s, the advertisement circle began to pay attention to infographics. I established an infographic lab within my design studio in 2012,” he said.
He studied the field by himself and established his own process while teaching infographics at colleges.
“The infographic designers of the magazine themselves interview people and visit places to get information they need for their work, because they have different questions and points of view from reporters who deliver information in writing,” Jeong said.
Jang will introduce the production process of the posters in the SND Hong Kong Infographic Summit to be held in Hong Kong from April 13 to 15.