"Let's Remove the Bu-eong-i," "Everything Else Is Good?"... Netizens Explode with Interest Over Hankuk University of Foreign Studies' New Student ID

Voting Underway for New Student ID Design
Negative Reactions Emerge Over 'Bueong-i' Design
Trending Across Multiple Communities... Views Exploding
Reactions Split Between 'Just Cute' and 'Dislike'

Controversial student ID card design of Hankuk University of Foreign Studies.
[Photo source=Online community capture]

At Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, interest is growing both inside and outside the campus as a vote is underway for a new student ID card design.

Hankuk University of Foreign Studies has shortlisted five design candidates for the new student ID card and is conducting a preference vote among current students until the 12th. Among some students, there have been criticisms that three of the designs featuring the school mascot, the owl, are "not very good." As this news spread, many online communities have been engaged in heated debates over the candidates.

On the 10th, a post titled "Please vote for any design except the student ID with the owl" was uploaded on the student community 'Everytime.' Student A, who wrote the post, appealed, "Please do not vote for the designs that include the owl" among the five design candidates.

A emphasized, "When you look at student IDs from other universities, the designs are really clean," and stressed, "The student ID serves as a kind of identification card." Then added, "But this is not some Kakao card with Ryan on it, and seeing that the university student ID designs are so poorly done with an owl included in almost all candidates is really frustrating." He continued, "Please don’t just vote because the owl is cute; please think carefully about the fact that this is an ID card when voting."

Finally, A concluded, "They say the owl is our school mascot, but our official school characters are the goddess Minerva and the owl, and the owl is not that stupid design. That dumb owl design hasn’t even been around for seven years."

The post received mixed reactions from students. Some agreed with the opinion that the owl design was inappropriate. They responded with comments like, "I wouldn’t want to carry it because of the owl," "Why is it included when it’s not even an official character?" "If it comes out like that, I won’t carry it," and "It seems like everyone is voting as a joke." On the other hand, some said, "I voted because the owl is cute, why not?" "Protect our owl," "There are complaints about everything," "If you don’t like it, cover it with a sticker," "It’s distinctive and good," and "Just because other schools have clean designs, do we have to do the same?"

Netizens also interested... tens of thousands of views in less than a day after posting

Korea University of Foreign Studies Seoul Campus view.

The post spread across various online communities and recorded hundreds of thousands of views in less than a day. The reactions of netizens who saw the design photos were sharply divided. The most notable comment was "Unique and nice." Many netizens agreed with this comment, leaving remarks such as "I thought so too," "I wish this was our school’s design," and "I envy Hankuk University of Foreign Studies."

Meanwhile, Hankuk University of Foreign Studies is holding a student ID design contest to celebrate its 70th anniversary. About 80 works were submitted from July 8 to August 25, and through preliminary judging, a total of 10 finalists were selected. The final vote is scheduled to take place over three days from September 10 to 12.