‘Major Convergence’ Achieves Success... Dongseo University’s ‘Capstone Design’ Wins Consecutive Awards at Domestic and International Prestigious Design Competitions

5 Consecutive Years Winning the Minister of SMEs and Startups Award at the Korea Design Exhibition

Achieving Historic Results Including Awards at the World's Top 3 Design Competitions

Professor Ryu Do-sang (from the left), who received the Minister's Award at the Korea Design Exhibition, students Kim Seong-min, Choi Su-jeong, Lee Yu-rim, Son Young-min, and Professor Moon Mi-kyung.

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Kim Yong-woo] The ‘Capstone Design’ at Dongseo University, created through the convergence of different majors within the university, is achieving unprecedented results.

The Capstone Design team, operated through the academic convergence of the Department of Software, Department of Advertising and Public Relations, and the College of Design, has won the Minister’s Award for five consecutive years.

Dongseo University LINC+ Industry-Academic Cooperation Leading University Development Project Group announced on the 19th that by operating the ‘Convergent Curriculum Capstone Design,’ a total of four teams won awards at the 56th ‘Korea Design Exhibition’ in 2021, including three teams selected as Winners and the Minister of SMEs and Startups Award.

The Korea Design Exhibition is hosted by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy and jointly organized by the Korea Institute of Design Promotion and the Korea Design Federation.

Since 1966, it has been held annually as the most prestigious design award in Korea. It is the largest government-certified domestic design competition judged on a fair platform where designs are evaluated solely on their design concepts without any prejudice.

This year’s exhibition introduced public participation judging for the first time to enhance fairness. Additionally, outstanding award-winning design ideas were connected to commercialization through a pitching competition at Design Korea 2021.

The Minister of SMEs and Startups Award was awarded to the ‘VR Dental Treatment System for the Hearing Impaired’ by Im Hye-jeong (Department of Software), Son Young-min (Department of Advertising and Public Relations), Choi Su-jeong, Lee Yu-rim, and Kim Sung-min (College of Design).

This work addresses the fact that hearing-impaired individuals often suffer more from tartar and gum disease than the general public due to lack of oral movement, and feel fear during treatment because their eyes are covered.

Therefore, it enables dental treatment using an app connected to VR during the procedure.

The Winners included ▲ ‘Smart Label Package’ by Lee Young-jun (Department of Advertising and Public Relations), Jo Dong-ha and Park Jun-hyuk (Department of Software), Lee Seo-young and Ha Eun-byeol (College of Design), ▲ ‘Headrest Oxygen Mask’ by Kim Woo-ri (Department of Advertising and Public Relations), Shin Dong-ju and Lee So-yeon (Department of Software), Hwang Chae-young and Lee Chi-su (College of Design), and ▲ ‘Delivered After 500 Years’ by Han Se-jin, Han Ye-ji, and Hong Hyun-gi (Department of Advertising and Public Relations).

Im Hye-jeong said, “I am very happy that the first work I submitted achieved such good results, and through this work, I learned the importance of consideration and empathy for people with disabilities,” adding, “I will become someone who pays more attention to social issues.”

The selected works are the results of the LINC+ Project Group’s Capstone Convergent Class ‘Ideation Convergent Practice,’ and besides winning the Minister’s Award for five consecutive years, they have also won major awards overseas.

This year, they won the ‘Best of the Best’ at the Reddot Award, one of the world’s top three design competitions, along with two Winner team awards, the Silver Award at the CLIO Award, one of the world’s top three advertising competitions, two ‘Finalist’ awards at the New York Festival Award, and a ‘Finalist’ at the Cannes Lion Futures, achieving record-breaking results.