desymbol: Design studio Pa-i-ka searches for the value in every project

Graphic design studio Pa-i-ka is made up of just two people, Lee su-hyang and Ha Ji-hoon. Launched in 2015, the studio takes on projects and clients in the worlds of culture, art and social interest.

Guided by an open and self-assured approach, Pa-i-ka don’t subscribe to one particular style and instead embrace diversity. “We don’t want our style set. We are changing every year, every month and every day,” they say. “We try not to do the same, and inspiration often comes from nature, our surroundings and life. But really, the ways to get inspired are limitless.”

As a result, the studio’s work is varied, busy, and eclectic, but one thread that runs throughout is a love of colour and contrasts. There’s a collaged aesthetic to many of Pa-i-ka’s designs, with photography combined with graphic shapes and bold type, and this creates a series of pleasing clashes, making for a refreshing portfolio. This daring aesthetic also means that Pa-i-ka happily lend their skills to all sorts of projects, including identities, book design, motion graphics, packaging, installations, web design and a whole load more.

This diversity emulates Pa-i-ka’s design ethos of “seeing many things, learning many things, talking a lot and feeling a lot”. The duo emphasise feeling present in the work they create, and in turn their approach for every new project is similarly hands-on. “We want to talk to the client a lot when we start a new project, we want to really understand them and their heart,” they explain.

Detail driven and thoughtful in their design work, key for Pa-i-ka is finding the value in the projects they work on. “When we find that value, we try to express it and put all of it together,” they say. “The process of trying to find that value is fun.”

As well as finding meaning in their individual projects, Pa-i-ka also remains aware of the responsibility design has. “Graphic design plays a great role in the world and is a part of everything,” they say. “As long as mankind exists, so will design.” Their clients are therefore often in the cultural sector, and this is one of the reasons why their work is guided by both “our heads and hearts”.