Kiwook Kim Is Honored with the Bronze A' Design Award for Coexistence and Connection Textbook in Education, Teaching Aid and Training Content Design

Kiwook Kim acknowledged for education, teaching aid and training content design by the international grand jury of the 2024 - 2025 A' Design Award & Competition

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

COMO, Italy, April 18, 2025 /DesignNewswire/ A' Design Award & Competition has announced that Coexistence and Connection Textbook by Kiwook Kim, designed for MiraeN, has been granted the Bronze A' Design Award in the Education, Teaching Aid and Training Content Design category. The award was conferred within the 2024 - 2025 A' Design Award & Competition and was determined through blind peer review by an international grand jury panel of established academics, design professionals and press members, who assessed anonymized entries against predetermined criteria.

About the Bronze A' Design Award

The Bronze A' Design Award is given to outstanding designs that showcase a high degree of creativity and practicality. It recognizes the dedication and skill of designers who produce work that stands out for its thoughtful development and innovative use of materials and technology. These designs are acknowledged for their professional execution and potential to influence industry standards positively. Winning this award highlights the designer's ability to blend form and function effectively, offering solutions that enhance people's lives and wellbeing.

More About Coexistence and Connection Textbook

Coexistence and Connection is a series of textbooks designed for high school geography courses. The books move away from the plain look of traditional learning materials and use color and illustration to hold student attention. Detailed cover illustrations express the diversity of the spaces people live in and the value of mutual coexistence. Four-color printing, color foil and a strong coating keep the pages clean and durable in daily use. The formats stay light and easy to carry, while the larger volume allows clear reading of map materials.

About Kiwook Kim

Mirae-N Design Team is an expert group of designers in Mirae-N Company. The team covers all design related projects of the company and deals with a wide range of design areas such as editorial, web, brand, communication, space, and so on. All members believe that creative efforts could make people’s lives richer and better in many aspects by connecting people and their thoughts and minds. The team strives for better design in all areas than ever before.

Award Record

This recognition makes Kiwook Kim a winner of 7 A' Design Awards. The awards span the editions from 2021 - 2022 to 2024 - 2025 of the A' Design Award & Competition.

About the A' Education, Teaching Aid and Training Content Design Award

The A' Education Design Award is an international competition recognizing good education products and projects by leading designers and brands worldwide. The competition is organized within the A' Design Award & Competition and is open to education designers, teaching aid designers, training content creators and curriculum developers from all countries. Entries typically include textbooks, e-learning platforms, educational games, training manuals, instructional videos and interactive whiteboards. Awarded education designs are published at https://desingers.org/design-category/education

About A' Design Award & Competition

A' Design Award & Competition is an international, juried design accolade organized annually since 2008. The competition is open to entries from all countries. The A' Design Award has a philanthropic mission to advance society through good design by recognizing and promoting superior products, projects and services that benefit society, and by creating a global awareness and appreciation for good design practices and principles. Entries are peer reviewed and anonymously evaluated by an international grand jury panel of established academics, design professionals and press members against predetermined criteria such as functionality, ergonomics, engineering, presentation, innovation, usability, sustainability and technology, with score normalization applied to remove biases. Awards are conferred at Platinum, Gold, Silver, Bronze and Iron levels. The A' Design Prize granted to eligible laureates includes the award trophy, the certificate of design excellence, the hardcover yearbook, a lifetime license to use the A' Design Award winner logo, exhibition of awarded works, an invitation to the gala night and award ceremony in Italy, inclusion in the World Design Rankings and Designer Rankings, and public relations and publicity services. Registration, the upload of a work and the preliminary score are free of charge, and Professional and Digital Edition laureates are not contractually obliged to pay further fees to claim the A' Design Prize. Further information is available at https://competition.adesignaward.com

Press Resources

Winner Page: https://desingers.org/167810
A' Design Award Page: https://competition.adesignaward.com/167810
Media Showcase: https://www.designnewsroom.com/!167810
Laureate Profile: https://desingers.org/d/315336
Further Information from the Laureate: https://www.mirae-n.com/main/mn-main-01.frm

Media Contact

Giulia Ferrari, Press Office
Designers.Org
Via Leone Leoni 32, 22100 Como, Italy
press@designers.org
+39 031 4491953

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Fact Sheet

The Work

Project: Coexistence and Connection Textbook
Function: Textbook
Category: Education, Teaching Aid and Training Content Design
Discipline: Service Design
Industry: Education
Colors: Light Gray, Gainsboro, Indian Red, Silver and Thistle
Images: 5
Client: MiraeN

The Recognition

Laureate: Kiwook Kim
Country: Republic of Korea
Recognition: Bronze A' Design Award
Edition: 2024 - 2025
Design ID: #167810

Credits

Team: Hyunji Son, byeongseog Kim, JiNa Kim and mmmeari

Design Details

Unique Properties: It is a design for high school geography subject textbooks, designed to provide students with visual pleasure and interest and to understand subjects intentionally, away from the framework of existing traditional learning textbooks. In addition, the detailed illustrations used on the cover contained a message that we should pursue the diverse appearance of the space we live in and the world of mutual coexistence, inspired by the characteristics of the subject called geography.
Inspiration: Textbook design is a genre with typical design of learning materials, and in this project, I thought it would be good to play a role in stimulating the creativity and curiosity of students who are users beyond the design of general textbooks. So, I was inspired by designs and pictures and videos in various fields. Also, the geography course is a book that contains the shape, climate, topography, and culture of the land we live in, and it was inspired by the appearance of the space we live in.
Research: After publishing textbooks in the United States, geographic bankruptcies accounted for nearly 60% of the entire market. As a result, it was chosen as the geographic bankruptcy for the most common geography subject that Korean high school students encounter. This is the result of showing design interest and subjective characteristics at a glance, and at the same time, we achieved our goal as a practical textbook along with design.
Challenge: It was difficult to escape from the purpose and traditional design of the learning textbook. At the same time, it was not easy to find an illustrator who could contain the purpose and message. It was meaningful to meet the artist ‘mmmeari’ while exchanging opinions with my colleagues and to talk about the characteristics, colors, and design directions of the subject. Rather than thinking alone, I think a story in a different direction from the collaborator is a way to overcome the challenge.
Realization and Technology: As a learning textbook, we focused on the physical properties of books that students encounter offline. For the author’s original work to be as lively as possible in color and subtle post-printing, we used color foil for 4th-degree color printing and post-processing of markers that were not easily contaminated and not spoiled by applying a strong coating on the hands.
Operation and Interaction: In the case of global citizens and geography subjects, we tried to help students learn as much as possible by using easy-to-learn books, light weight, and easy-to-write paper. In the case of geography books, we designed a slightly larger plate to make it easier to see various map materials, and rather than writing directly, we chose a little glossy or paper that could stand out the starting materials.
Project Duration and Location: The full-scale design and illustration work of the project began in Seoul, South Korea in April 2024, ended in Seoul in June 2024, and was reviewed by the Ministry of Education in September, before being available in South Korean high schools in March 2025.
Specifications: Global citizens and geography have a size of 220 x 285 x 8mm. The geographic map has a size of 290 x 280 x 9.5mm. As a tool for teaching materials called textbooks, we considered specifications and paper that were not too big or heavy for students to use.