Design 22
Bootlegs

Seoul National University
College of Fine Arts, Department of Design

Fall 2025
Sept 1 → Dec 14, 2022
Thurs 2:00pm-5:50pm
Building 49, Room 115

Instructor: Chris Hamamoto
Office hours: Fri 10am – 2pm, building 49 room 207 and by appointment
Contact: chamamoto@snu.ac.kr

TA: Dong Gun Kim
Contact: donggunkim93@snu.ac.kr

Identity is a key component of graphic design. Much effort is spent to define a brand's character, lore, and touchpoints, in order to create "value". However, in a globalized world, the ability to control the boundaries of brands has rapidly dissolved. In the mid-2010s in particular, we saw a self-conscious and pronounced questioning of brand value and a brand's tenacity.1 With the rise of drop-shipping, fast-fashion, digital mockups, and a movement against "gatekeeping", the artifice of "brand-value" had never been easier to create.2

The value (or lack thereof) of branding was laid bare during the first wave of Web3. As digital "assets" were combined with manufactured scarcity and branding to create unmatched speculative value.3 Now with the rise of AI, its reasonable to expect that these lines between what is authentic and what is simulacrum will only increase.4

It seems the discourse around branding has reached a plateau.5 The once-energizing collision of high and low culture has lost much of its spark. Does this suggest that branding has proven resilient enough to endure these shifts6—or has disillusionment with branding simply metastasized into design practice?7

Yet, the creative potential for transgression between the authentic and inauthentic, original and cover, still remains. The foggy barrier between what is real and what is a "bootleg" offers endless room for creativity.

Given these conditions, this studio will engage with bootlegs as a subject matter. Considering what value is there in a knock-off (or a knock-up), from a social, formal, and graphic design perspective.

  1. Bernie Sanders Got a Tribute at Paris Fashion Week
  2. #gatekeeperssuck
  3. Justin Bieber purchased Bored Ape #3001" for 1.9 million dollars in 2022 which within 2 years lost 95% of its value
  4. OpenAI CEO Responds to ChatGPT Users Creating Studio Ghibli-Style AI Images
  5. ‘Kamala IS brat’: Harris campaign goes lime-green to embrace the meme of the summer
  6. Crunchbase profile for MSCHF
  7. Labubu yantra for wealth: ignore the spiritual-drama crowd queuing up for tattoos, highlighting soft power that Chinese people love
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Learning Outcomes

  • Enable personal, graphic, expression through bootlegs
  • Explore the creativity in remixing, copying, cover-ing, and appropriation
  • Observe and develop a point of view on branding today
  • Get experience circulating our ideas in a variety of contexts
  • Linking personal research to a variety of formal and experimental outcomes
  • Tags: Graphic Design, Identity Design, Visual Communication, Speculative Design, Bootlegging

Requirements

Students should be comfortable using design software and producing graphic outcomes (these can range from digital outcomes like webpages or videos, to physical materials such as books, posters, textiles, etc.)

  • Personal Laptop
  • Phone, digital camera, scanner, screen capture etc.
  • Access to printers and other means of production

Readings

  • There will be routine readings with discussions taking place in class and occassionally online. All students will be required to pose one question and respond to another students question about each reading.

Class Activities

The following activities will take place in-person and online via a number of platforms:

  • Reading discussion
  • Topic lecture/discussion
  • Project critique/discussion
  • Group exercises
  • A Weekend Workshop
  • One-on-one meetings
  • Group meetings

Grading

  • 70% ... Projects (There will be 2 individual projects and a group project this semester: individual projects = 50%; group project = 10%)
  • 15% ... Assignments (Exercises, readings, etc.)
  • 15% ... Attendance + Participation/Attitude (Being present and active in class via discussion, and preparation)

Letter grades represent the following:

A = excellent;
B = good;
C = satisfactory;
D = unsatisfactory;
F = failure.

Grading Criteria

Individual project grades and final course grade takes into consideration:

  • Participation (attendance, engagement in critique, pro-active involvement through the demonstration of discussion and inquiry)
  • Process (exploration, iteration, research)
  • Concept (thought, originality, creativity, and criticality)
  • Design (does the work function as intended, does it communicate, is there clarity of information and intent)
  • Presentation (quality of craft, attention to detail, professionalism)

Attendance

Students who are absent for over 1/3 of the class will receive a grade of 'F' or 'U' for the course. (Exceptions can be made when the cause of absence is deemed unavoidable by the course instructor.)

Plagiarism

Students are expected to generate their own work and ideas. Since, this class focuses on a range of ideas including appropriation, there can be some gray area about originality in this context. If you are concerned about the authorship of your work, please discuss with chris.

Submitting your work and Class Archive

As a final deliverable, please send a .zip file with documentation of your work over the semester and send to chris via wetransfer by Sunday Dec 21.

Credits

This website runs on Kirby and was adapted from a site developed by Laurel Schwulst.