Street of Broken Heart by Korean Photographer Kim Jung Man is a compilation of photos over the course of all the years he would travel in the countryside to his studio. Kim Jung man is known predominately by his commercial works, having shot some of Korea’s biggest celebrities in his long career. Now in his later years, he has begun explore more expiremental forms of the medium. He would document specifically the trees throughout the seasons as they change, after he heard a tree talk to him one fateful day.
The design, paper, and overall editorial execution of the book is to reflect the somber energy that Kim Jung Man exudes through his photos. Still, but somehow also screaming.
Project
Book Editorial Design
Client
Hanmi Museum of Photography,
South Korea
Year
2018
As the images of Kim Jung Man exude a powerful stillness to them, I wished not to clash design elements with the photos themselves. Therefore, I wanted to accompany and embody the same energy in my use of Bilingual typography in a manner that alluded to the linear branching of trees, and to traditional Korean writing, through a spacious vertical use of typography. Mainly this was used in chapter pages, the cover, and as seen above, in the table of contents.
The final cover was finished in a black canvas, with its mystique and textural component, much like the photographed trees. Around it was a semi-transparent tracing paper book sleeve, with the silhouettes of the branches that Kim Jung Man photographed. What resulted was a veil-like sensation, with the subtlety of beauty that Kim Jung Man captured through his striking images.
