Halftone-printed portrait of a person covering one eye, on orange paper

Form follows beauty

Ahn San-soo design-inspired book about Ahn San-soo

Experimental | Editorial

Ahn Sang-soo was born in 1952 in Chungju, South Korea. Today it is considered to be a South-Korean leading typographic designer. Ahn Sang-soo developed an interest in Hangul typography in the early 1980s. He invented many typefaces, including one named after himself. He graduated from the university of Hongik.

After graduation, he became an advertising designer for LG Electronics. He joined the Ggumim magazine as an art editor in 1981 and then the magazines Ma-dang and Meot as art director in 1983. In 1985, he created the design firm Ahn Graphics.In 1985, he designed his first self-titled typeface, creating a path of experimentation for the Korean script.

He created the Madang typeface for the monthly magazine Madang to overcome the general monotony and rigidity of existing Hangeul typefaces. In 1988, he launched the alternative art and culture magazine bogoseo/bogoseo.

Ahn Sang-soo founded the alternative design school Paju Typography Institute (PaTI). He also founded the AG Typography Institute, an organization dedicated to the design and research of new typefaces.Ahn has published several design books, and translated seminal works in typography of Jan Tschichold and Emil Ruder into Korean. Ahn Sang-soo supposedly launched the first internet cafe in Korea.

This book is a tribute to a designer who gives his all to his passion in typography.

Animated cycling through pages of a book about typography
Book cover with cutout Hangul characters revealing textured orange layer beneath
Back cover with grey translucent wrap and biography-style text
Book spread with portrait of Ahn Sang Soo and analysis of his Hangul type design
Halftone portrait of Ahn Sang Soo smiling with hand over one eye
Book spread titled "Chapter 1 — It’s about his life" with Hangul letterforms and biography text
Full-spread typographic composition with bold Hangul characters and abstract background pattern
Book spread from "Chapter 3 — Graphics and philosophy"