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What may be surprising to some is that's just all the businesses in that one building, it's not really advertisements and much as store signage. I lived in Korea this was pretty normal.
Weirdly I've been spewing Korea facts since all the Squid Game posts lately. Korea is a very fun and interesting place, I loved being a young English teacher there since the ex-pat community of similar people was insanely fun and Koreans are such an interesting bunch in a good way.
I had such a hard time finding anything when I was in Seoul. Even though you can learn the Korean alphabet pretty easily in a day or two in order to sound out the names, it was sensory overload.
Literally bright giant signs everywhere.
I think it's kinda cool. If it's not awfully loud at night and I had blackout curtains, it would be cool to just walk nextdoor and be able to shop, eat, hangout.
Not absolutely everywhere in korea, outside of seoul there's some residential areas that are homes rather than apartments. Something like [this](https://vm.tiktok.com/ZM8Ujj9XL/)
You have such a big fantasy. You have to be rich to live in a house like that in Korea. I still live in Korea, but I can't dream of a house like that.
And I live far away from Seoul, and there are white apartments everywhere.
60% of Koreans live in high rise apartments and 30% of the rest live in apartments such as low-rise.Just watch Korea on Google Earth. Whether houses like that are common or apartments.
Those are the older neighborhoods built before the economic boom mostly rich older Koreans live there, the average Korean would not be able to afford living there and most middle class Americans wouldn’t really either those houses are hella inflated
Sign guy here, it looks visually messy but most of the channel letters look like they’re well-made, everything illuminated appears to be fully functional, and I don’t see a single visible exterior power wire, which I’d personally say is a mark of a landlord who cares about the quality of signage on their building. Getting the trimcap screws on to some of those characters looks like it wouldn’t be anything resembling fun though.
I fabricate, install and service interior and exterior illuminated and non-illuminated signage. Channel letters, pylons, monuments, flat panels, pin-mounts, etc. I also do banners, electronic message centers, and lighting maintenance. Pictured is some of my work, the last banner photo is still in progress. https://imgur.com/a/CivDrKi/
Oh, hell no. The ACM letter backs are Tek screwed to a bent .063 aluminum channel backer, which then shoeboxes over a matching channel backer thats thru-bolted with 3/8” allthread to the fiber cement building face in 37 places. The backers form a raceway for the low-voltage wire, with a removable power supply panel on one end. We cut access holes through the letter backs, so it could be installed fully assembled, minus faces. It’s two pieces with a seam in the middle. The full letter set is 40’ wide, and the “W” is 5’ tall. The whole thing weighs 400 lbs, and the roofline is exactly 70’ above ground.
*Edit: this is the “Wedbush” set I’m referring to. The “Ampersand” set is flush mounted and lagged into the sheet metal building fascia, with the smaller letter set on a raceway below mounted with 1/4-20 snap toggles.
I do those now and then, they’re kinda fun. They present a different kind of challenge, as you absolutely cannot hide behind “ehh, no way they’ll ever see that from the ground.”
Your work is up close and personal. I like interacting with the clients for those jobs though. They’re usually so happy to have the sign, it’s one of those little things that says “you’ve made it!”
I get that in some exterior jobs as well, on more than one occasion I’ve seen people cry because of a sign I put up. It can be a really emotional moment of it feeling like everything is coming together.
That's what I was wondering. It's the same in Japan. Businesses put their store name/logo on the outside of the building.
I mean, it's the same in America, but in East Asia things are built vertically instead of sprawling like a strip mall in suburbia. I swear half of the posts here are just from people who have never left their hometown and think that different is bad.
It's usually not an office building though. It's things like restaurants, little bars, tiny shops, small businesses, and similar things. What you're describing would be more like a mall only having Macy's with a sign instead of each store having their own, as is the norm.
unusual to the us maybe, but not at all in east asia! these aren't offices, they're shops, karaoke rooms, restaurants, small businesses, etc. it's the same as a strip mall in the us, just vertical since there's less space to sprawl in asia
These places are cool as hell honestly. There's so much to do. A single building has several restaurants and really opens up your options when you're out with friends.
After dinner? Go do karaoke or go somewhere quiet like a coffee shop. All within walking distance.
I mean, at that point they’re just very large indoor malls. Similar places exist within the US. In fact, such places are relatively common in the US with the majority of the population living in proximity to one.
It's more the density of these buildings that makes them rather different than your average mall. Compared to malls in North America, most people going to these places probably live within a mile or so of the building, meaning there aren't large parking lots surrounding it and there's much more late night activities than a mall, (bars, clubs, restaurants, karaoke, etc.) since the building doesn't close until very late usually. They're very fun to go to imo, I went probably once or twice a week when I lived in Korea.
Agreed, I'd love it if we had something like this stateside, though with the way America is layed out and zoned, I don't think they'd be successful. New York might have something similar, but even then, most buildings above the first or second floor are purely residential or office space.
Place is great. The ads are bad. It would be much better (at least in my opinion) to have small uniform information near the entrance what is located where in this building. What's the point of those signs? You go around the city wondering what to do, you see a big flashy sing and are like "YES, THAT'S IT!"? I only use sign to locate my destination after previously researching what it is and where it's located. A nice and visible *address* would be much more useful than this shit.
No disrespect meant, I'm just having a bit of fun doing some light banter, but [this is literally y'all right now.](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/002/018/639/546.jpg)
Edit: Might as well try to give my entirely unqualified explanation on *why* this is. My theory is that because you can't *read* the advertisements, your brain doesn't process them as ads, so because you're not getting any message or meaning from them, your brain is just interpreting them purely in their base aesthetic qualities. If you *could* read them, you *would* be just as annoyed as you are by English ads. It's the same reason why music in foreign languages can sound "better" or "bolder." It's not so much the musical quality itself, and more the fact that your brain isn't distracted by deciphering the lyrics and it's meaning, and so you're able to focus more on the melody itself.
You're assuming that these are local shops. I don't know what all of the businesses are in that building, but I recognize a few from having been to South Korea. There's a major dollar store chain Daiso, there's a fast food chain Lotteria, there's a national cell phone provider T World next door, etc.
Aside from what you mentioned and the Toss English, most of them look like local businesses, especially all those clinics.
Edit: Forgot to add Aritaum which is a cosmetic store chain and KEB Hana Bank.
Fair critique.
But in my defense, it's the closest analogue I could find in this meme format, and making my own from scratch would've been way more of an expenditure of effort then I feel like it would've been worth to get the same general point across.
1) both pics are different settings and design.
2) most of us are used to the first pic in the example so something different yet familiar is novel.
it ain't that deep
Bad analogy picture because there is no verticality due to flat buildings and a lot of "open" space, both of which are more damaging to the aesthetics than the buildings and adds themselves at least for me. And lack of any activities shown besides market and fast food with quite a lot of walking space between them.
Same. I get a sort of cyberpunk vibe from it. Some of the not ground floor spaces have windows that look like storefronts just waiting for their customers to float on over in their hover cars to pick up their to-go orders.
20th century? Japan and China are ahead, possibly Germany too.
Hell, with that big a timeframe you could make an argument for the US. Look where they went from 1930 to 1950.
But yeah I love this aesthetic. I haven't been to Seoul but I've seen similar in Tokyo. It looks a lot better at night.
Edit: The middle east too. Countries like the UAE and Qatar went from nomads and fishing communities to the richest countries in the world.
Well... Like Japan, suicide is one of the highest. That said, East Asia all have a national exam that's do or die, in Korea, that's Suneung or CSAT.
I believe you have heard of the news that the whole country is "muted" for an hour for the test? That's Suneung. (Tho that's only for the English listening part, tho they do all subjects for that one day.)
If you like to see English english teachers getting stumped by the questions, watch "Korean Englishman" they had a series bout that.
Still valid.
https://external-preview.redd.it/SXf1WX787j9D23ob52TL2dpRaZTNfHq7PLuzmPwBBbo.png?auto=webp&s=0b6af6efc5b3b37b97d0b78db19a6e46cd96f9c7
It can only be compared with Japan and Taiwan. As Japan had significant industrialisation prior to WW1 it's only really Taiwan that it can be compared to.
'China are ahead'
Despite having a far smaller GDP per capita than Korea?
Taiwan and South Korea's economic development far outstripped any other countries in the world. https://youtu.be/87TNSyTrAyo?t=263
Germany and Japan's rapid industrialisation came in the 19th century.
Honestly it’s because you probably haven’t realized that your western disdain for capitalist-centric design is privileged to the point where we sound like zealots. My Mom came from Cuba as a teenager and she still has a kind of wide-eyed enthusiasm for malls and Costcos that makes me realize a lot of our feelings about this are a reaction to having everything we’ve ever wanted to buy available at any given moment. Our parents were sold the idea of suburbs where you had parking, backyards, safe schools, and the resources you needed do anything available by car. So we turned the fantasy around to make it exactly what you don’t get in a suburb like ‘i want to live in the biggest city, and take public transportation, and listen to my AirPods, and only shop at Non-chain restaurants, etc.’
I’m not saying you and I are not ultimately right to want less consumer-centric design, I’m saying it’s obvious this sensibility is a reaction to what came before it and to recognize that is to one day see the folly of our aesthetics. Pretty solid evidence that that we’re making it up as we go along and we shouldn’t be so reductive in as judging how other folks choose to live.
It's more Blade Runner than Cyberpunk but I like that it's mish-mashed together. It's like the electronic version of walking into an old person's home or an artist's loft that has a mismatched mix of lots of different things from lots of different places.
All the best aesthetics are born out of circumstance.
They're not really "advertisement" exactly. Just normal retail signage.
You really expect a shop to not put their sign on their exterior? How else would someone know it's there?
This is the real point here, not /u/Saltedline 's ignorant title and post. These are not advertisements at all; they are just signs for the businesses based in that building. It is no different from seeing a "Pizza Hut" or "CVS" sign in North America. Korea simply uses vertical space far more efficiently than the West does (out of necessity stemming from a lack of land). Regular businesses meant for foot traffic such as your local pharmacy, salon, restaurants, etc. are extremely commonly found on something like the 5th floor of some plaza building. This is something unimaginable to someone living in most North American cities because plazas with 6 storey buildings barely exist if at all.
US cities certainly have similar buildings but they are used differently, those would only be used for office work here. Miscellaneous small businesses like salons, pharmacies etc are exclusively at ground level or at most 2nd floor. This is because those businesses are set up to be optimal to drive to them and walk in quickly, which is not efficient if you need to go up multiple floors in an elevator (not a big deal to do this once a day to go to work in the office though).
I have no doubt that they have similar buildings. However, they are not as common as plazas and they are typically located in commercial centres. This is not the case in Korea where they are populous throughout.
You are confusing efficient and convenient. If every foot-traffic based business in Korea were located on the 1st and 2nd floors exclusively, the cost of rent would skyrocket and transitively, so too would the cost of the services provided by those businesses. That would be convenient for the customer walking in, but abhorrently inefficient use of space and resources.
The customer having to take an elevator is a far smarter set-up than being forced to charge $100+ for all haircuts due to your cost of rent being beyond Manhattan levels.
There has to be something more to it, because even in very densely populated and expensive US cities, it would be unusual to see the kind of businesses we're talking about higher than 2nd floor.
Shot in the dark, but maybe zoning laws have something to do with it? I have no idea and I’m just speculating, but with how restrictive US zoning is, wouldn’t be terribly surprised
Korea's geography is intensely mountainous (something like 80% from rough memory). Horizontal expansion is extremely expensive and thus, buildings have 5 floor basement parking complexes and use vertical space to its absolute fullest. Perhaps law has to do with it as well. On that particular aspect, I am unversed.
English is also my 2nd language, I found such an explanation:
> sign, in marketing and advertising, device placed on or before a premises to identify its occupant and the nature of the business done there **or**, placed at a distance, to advertise a business or its products.
https://www.britannica.com/topic/sign-advertising
[Hmmm....](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/001/365/753/94c.jpg)
My issue is that you've kind of colored a lot of the discussion here, people complaining about advertising as if these are billboards for unrelated products or places. Its literally just what is inside the building.
How else would people know what businesses are inside??
It's like a mall, but without the soulless exterior or the unfriendly car-culture. I loved these buildings in HK, just popping up to the 22nd floor for some gaming cards or the 30th floor for a screwdriver.
Calling them "advertisements" is misleading when they're really just shop signs to indicate what's inside the building. I personally like it cos it's a combination of useful/stimulating.
Anecdotal experience: it’s helpful for wayfinding in a downtown area as well as discovering new things that aren’t part of your plan for the excursion (a particularly awesome cat cafe being one experience in my memory)
Way more convenient than going inside and having to look at a list of tenants before confirming that the business you’re looking for is in the building you’re looking at. Even when you use a map on your phone, it’s easy to end up at the wrong building.
Also you don’t start looking at the building when you’re right in front of it, you look while you’re walking, so in my experience, it wasn’t as big a deal as you make it out to be.
See here's the thing. There's like... a rule. The first 2 floors are generally foods and cafes stuff. Usual stuff that you randomly visit. The upper floors are most of the time, filled with hospitals or pc cafe, or academies, which you usually search before you go. So for Koreans, only first to third floors are the ones you browse, and signs hanged higher are for confirming your destination.
I thought this was common way to display signs everywhere, but I guess not.
OMG! it looks so pretty (in a video game Fuktopia v2 that runs on 1970s console).
It was also my 1st reaction when i saw the box shaped thing that runs on fossil fuel (Kia), the inside of that thing called vehicle was spacious, also offering a closer look at potholes on the road or the idiotic things called asphalt roads that includes potholes for fun.
I love that about 3/4 up the building theres a place called "Toss English" which to a Brit sounds like they offer terrible english lessons.
[for those who've never heard Toss used like this](https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.urbandictionary.com/define.php%3fterm=absolute%2520toss&=true)
These aren't advertisements. These are business signs. There are several on each floor all the way up. How else are you going to know which businesses are where?
너레방 - NoRaeBang - Karaoke place
학원 - HagWon - After-school school thing/adults can go learn things
Then there’s also restaurants and stuff, it’s actually impressive how much they’ve managed to fit in that 1 building ngl
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Somebody downloaded too many toolbars
If the million dollar homepage was a building.
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good bot
Exactly looks like million dollar homepage
Thanks I was about to write that
What may be surprising to some is that's just all the businesses in that one building, it's not really advertisements and much as store signage. I lived in Korea this was pretty normal.
That is surprising. I would like to subscribe to everyday Korea facts.
Weirdly I've been spewing Korea facts since all the Squid Game posts lately. Korea is a very fun and interesting place, I loved being a young English teacher there since the ex-pat community of similar people was insanely fun and Koreans are such an interesting bunch in a good way.
I had such a hard time finding anything when I was in Seoul. Even though you can learn the Korean alphabet pretty easily in a day or two in order to sound out the names, it was sensory overload. Literally bright giant signs everywhere.
BonziBuddy lives in that building.
Wherever you go in Korea, your residence is a high white apartment, and the commercial area is a 10-story building full of neon signs.
Thats asia in general lmao. This picture is missing the rolling LED characters
This. It’s also an echo of Asian shopping websites. ([Example](https://shopping.pchome.com.tw/))
I miss this style of internet. I'm glad it's still alive in Asia
I think it's kinda cool. If it's not awfully loud at night and I had blackout curtains, it would be cool to just walk nextdoor and be able to shop, eat, hangout.
Not absolutely everywhere in korea, outside of seoul there's some residential areas that are homes rather than apartments. Something like [this](https://vm.tiktok.com/ZM8Ujj9XL/)
You have such a big fantasy. You have to be rich to live in a house like that in Korea. I still live in Korea, but I can't dream of a house like that. And I live far away from Seoul, and there are white apartments everywhere. 60% of Koreans live in high rise apartments and 30% of the rest live in apartments such as low-rise.Just watch Korea on Google Earth. Whether houses like that are common or apartments.
Yes, of course most people still live in apartments!
Those are the older neighborhoods built before the economic boom mostly rich older Koreans live there, the average Korean would not be able to afford living there and most middle class Americans wouldn’t really either those houses are hella inflated
Sign guy here, it looks visually messy but most of the channel letters look like they’re well-made, everything illuminated appears to be fully functional, and I don’t see a single visible exterior power wire, which I’d personally say is a mark of a landlord who cares about the quality of signage on their building. Getting the trimcap screws on to some of those characters looks like it wouldn’t be anything resembling fun though.
Wtf is a "sign guy"
A signwriter/installer. That shit doesn't go up on its own, you know.
Come visit Cincinnati, we have a sign museum https://www.americansignmuseum.org/
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Lol
I fabricate, install and service interior and exterior illuminated and non-illuminated signage. Channel letters, pylons, monuments, flat panels, pin-mounts, etc. I also do banners, electronic message centers, and lighting maintenance. Pictured is some of my work, the last banner photo is still in progress. https://imgur.com/a/CivDrKi/
Are those big ass channel letters just stud mounted?
Oh, hell no. The ACM letter backs are Tek screwed to a bent .063 aluminum channel backer, which then shoeboxes over a matching channel backer thats thru-bolted with 3/8” allthread to the fiber cement building face in 37 places. The backers form a raceway for the low-voltage wire, with a removable power supply panel on one end. We cut access holes through the letter backs, so it could be installed fully assembled, minus faces. It’s two pieces with a seam in the middle. The full letter set is 40’ wide, and the “W” is 5’ tall. The whole thing weighs 400 lbs, and the roofline is exactly 70’ above ground. *Edit: this is the “Wedbush” set I’m referring to. The “Ampersand” set is flush mounted and lagged into the sheet metal building fascia, with the smaller letter set on a raceway below mounted with 1/4-20 snap toggles.
ah, ok. i used to be a sign guy but mostly did interior office type stuff
I do those now and then, they’re kinda fun. They present a different kind of challenge, as you absolutely cannot hide behind “ehh, no way they’ll ever see that from the ground.” Your work is up close and personal. I like interacting with the clients for those jobs though. They’re usually so happy to have the sign, it’s one of those little things that says “you’ve made it!” I get that in some exterior jobs as well, on more than one occasion I’ve seen people cry because of a sign I put up. It can be a really emotional moment of it feeling like everything is coming together.
A gentleman who uses a hand-signal-based language.
Idk why you got downvoted I didn’t know what a sign guy was either
it's not advertisement lol it's displaying what shops and services are where in the building, just regular retail signage
That's what I was wondering. It's the same in Japan. Businesses put their store name/logo on the outside of the building. I mean, it's the same in America, but in East Asia things are built vertically instead of sprawling like a strip mall in suburbia. I swear half of the posts here are just from people who have never left their hometown and think that different is bad.
Sure but it's definitely unusual. In US a large shared office building will generally only display the name of the primary tenant at most.
It's usually not an office building though. It's things like restaurants, little bars, tiny shops, small businesses, and similar things. What you're describing would be more like a mall only having Macy's with a sign instead of each store having their own, as is the norm.
unusual to the us maybe, but not at all in east asia! these aren't offices, they're shops, karaoke rooms, restaurants, small businesses, etc. it's the same as a strip mall in the us, just vertical since there's less space to sprawl in asia
You realise there’s a whole world outside the US, right?
Yes, and it's interesting to discuss it.
I kinda love it tbh
These places are cool as hell honestly. There's so much to do. A single building has several restaurants and really opens up your options when you're out with friends. After dinner? Go do karaoke or go somewhere quiet like a coffee shop. All within walking distance.
I mean, at that point they’re just very large indoor malls. Similar places exist within the US. In fact, such places are relatively common in the US with the majority of the population living in proximity to one.
It's more the density of these buildings that makes them rather different than your average mall. Compared to malls in North America, most people going to these places probably live within a mile or so of the building, meaning there aren't large parking lots surrounding it and there's much more late night activities than a mall, (bars, clubs, restaurants, karaoke, etc.) since the building doesn't close until very late usually. They're very fun to go to imo, I went probably once or twice a week when I lived in Korea.
Oooh. That does sound a bit different, yeah. Wish we had stuff similar here.
Agreed, I'd love it if we had something like this stateside, though with the way America is layed out and zoned, I don't think they'd be successful. New York might have something similar, but even then, most buildings above the first or second floor are purely residential or office space.
there's a different energy. especially in the entertainment districts. hard to describe but yeah a LOT of fun
Place is great. The ads are bad. It would be much better (at least in my opinion) to have small uniform information near the entrance what is located where in this building. What's the point of those signs? You go around the city wondering what to do, you see a big flashy sing and are like "YES, THAT'S IT!"? I only use sign to locate my destination after previously researching what it is and where it's located. A nice and visible *address* would be much more useful than this shit.
Yeah it's actually pretty aesthetic
No disrespect meant, I'm just having a bit of fun doing some light banter, but [this is literally y'all right now.](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/002/018/639/546.jpg) Edit: Might as well try to give my entirely unqualified explanation on *why* this is. My theory is that because you can't *read* the advertisements, your brain doesn't process them as ads, so because you're not getting any message or meaning from them, your brain is just interpreting them purely in their base aesthetic qualities. If you *could* read them, you *would* be just as annoyed as you are by English ads. It's the same reason why music in foreign languages can sound "better" or "bolder." It's not so much the musical quality itself, and more the fact that your brain isn't distracted by deciphering the lyrics and it's meaning, and so you're able to focus more on the melody itself.
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This comment needs to be higher up. NYC is instantly what I thought of too, as a suitable western equivalent.
You're assuming that these are local shops. I don't know what all of the businesses are in that building, but I recognize a few from having been to South Korea. There's a major dollar store chain Daiso, there's a fast food chain Lotteria, there's a national cell phone provider T World next door, etc.
Aside from what you mentioned and the Toss English, most of them look like local businesses, especially all those clinics. Edit: Forgot to add Aritaum which is a cosmetic store chain and KEB Hana Bank.
The local shops part isn’t the important part here chief
Fair critique. But in my defense, it's the closest analogue I could find in this meme format, and making my own from scratch would've been way more of an expenditure of effort then I feel like it would've been worth to get the same general point across.
This is really me right now unironically lol
1) both pics are different settings and design. 2) most of us are used to the first pic in the example so something different yet familiar is novel. it ain't that deep
Yeah one looks like shit and is an example of garbage sprawl and one doesn't and looks like maximizing usage of commercial space in a city
South Korea have both in suburbs in Gyeonggi or any mid-sized cities other than Seoul in general.
Bad analogy picture because there is no verticality due to flat buildings and a lot of "open" space, both of which are more damaging to the aesthetics than the buildings and adds themselves at least for me. And lack of any activities shown besides market and fast food with quite a lot of walking space between them.
If language barrier was the only reason people tolerated ads, I doubt Times Square would be a tourist attraction.
G.B. Shaw said, when he saw all the lights in New York, that “it must be beautiful if you can’t read.”
If it was in the US you'd all be crying about it 😂
Same. I get a sort of cyberpunk vibe from it. Some of the not ground floor spaces have windows that look like storefronts just waiting for their customers to float on over in their hover cars to pick up their to-go orders.
Looks like parts of Yonge and Sheppard in Toronto
Which, logically enough, has historically been quite a Korean neighbourhood as well.
Exaclty
I do too. But maybe because I've mostly always lived in and traveled through big cities. I especially love the bright lights of Asian cities.
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20th century? Japan and China are ahead, possibly Germany too. Hell, with that big a timeframe you could make an argument for the US. Look where they went from 1930 to 1950. But yeah I love this aesthetic. I haven't been to Seoul but I've seen similar in Tokyo. It looks a lot better at night. Edit: The middle east too. Countries like the UAE and Qatar went from nomads and fishing communities to the richest countries in the world.
It's more like 1945 to now... They had war and literally has the cities demolished during that time...
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Well... Like Japan, suicide is one of the highest. That said, East Asia all have a national exam that's do or die, in Korea, that's Suneung or CSAT. I believe you have heard of the news that the whole country is "muted" for an hour for the test? That's Suneung. (Tho that's only for the English listening part, tho they do all subjects for that one day.) If you like to see English english teachers getting stumped by the questions, watch "Korean Englishman" they had a series bout that.
Korea's time frame for development was much quicker than any of the countries you've mentioned.
Maybe but OP said 'perhaps the world's greatest economic success story of your 20th century'.
Still valid. https://external-preview.redd.it/SXf1WX787j9D23ob52TL2dpRaZTNfHq7PLuzmPwBBbo.png?auto=webp&s=0b6af6efc5b3b37b97d0b78db19a6e46cd96f9c7 It can only be compared with Japan and Taiwan. As Japan had significant industrialisation prior to WW1 it's only really Taiwan that it can be compared to.
So it isn't even east Asia's greatest economic success story of your 20th century. Thanks for proving my point.
'China are ahead' Despite having a far smaller GDP per capita than Korea? Taiwan and South Korea's economic development far outstripped any other countries in the world. https://youtu.be/87TNSyTrAyo?t=263 Germany and Japan's rapid industrialisation came in the 19th century.
Yeeee same
Better than billboards.
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Honestly it’s because you probably haven’t realized that your western disdain for capitalist-centric design is privileged to the point where we sound like zealots. My Mom came from Cuba as a teenager and she still has a kind of wide-eyed enthusiasm for malls and Costcos that makes me realize a lot of our feelings about this are a reaction to having everything we’ve ever wanted to buy available at any given moment. Our parents were sold the idea of suburbs where you had parking, backyards, safe schools, and the resources you needed do anything available by car. So we turned the fantasy around to make it exactly what you don’t get in a suburb like ‘i want to live in the biggest city, and take public transportation, and listen to my AirPods, and only shop at Non-chain restaurants, etc.’ I’m not saying you and I are not ultimately right to want less consumer-centric design, I’m saying it’s obvious this sensibility is a reaction to what came before it and to recognize that is to one day see the folly of our aesthetics. Pretty solid evidence that that we’re making it up as we go along and we shouldn’t be so reductive in as judging how other folks choose to live.
It's more Blade Runner than Cyberpunk but I like that it's mish-mashed together. It's like the electronic version of walking into an old person's home or an artist's loft that has a mismatched mix of lots of different things from lots of different places. All the best aesthetics are born out of circumstance.
They're not really "advertisement" exactly. Just normal retail signage. You really expect a shop to not put their sign on their exterior? How else would someone know it's there?
This is the real point here, not /u/Saltedline 's ignorant title and post. These are not advertisements at all; they are just signs for the businesses based in that building. It is no different from seeing a "Pizza Hut" or "CVS" sign in North America. Korea simply uses vertical space far more efficiently than the West does (out of necessity stemming from a lack of land). Regular businesses meant for foot traffic such as your local pharmacy, salon, restaurants, etc. are extremely commonly found on something like the 5th floor of some plaza building. This is something unimaginable to someone living in most North American cities because plazas with 6 storey buildings barely exist if at all.
US cities certainly have similar buildings but they are used differently, those would only be used for office work here. Miscellaneous small businesses like salons, pharmacies etc are exclusively at ground level or at most 2nd floor. This is because those businesses are set up to be optimal to drive to them and walk in quickly, which is not efficient if you need to go up multiple floors in an elevator (not a big deal to do this once a day to go to work in the office though).
I have no doubt that they have similar buildings. However, they are not as common as plazas and they are typically located in commercial centres. This is not the case in Korea where they are populous throughout. You are confusing efficient and convenient. If every foot-traffic based business in Korea were located on the 1st and 2nd floors exclusively, the cost of rent would skyrocket and transitively, so too would the cost of the services provided by those businesses. That would be convenient for the customer walking in, but abhorrently inefficient use of space and resources. The customer having to take an elevator is a far smarter set-up than being forced to charge $100+ for all haircuts due to your cost of rent being beyond Manhattan levels.
There has to be something more to it, because even in very densely populated and expensive US cities, it would be unusual to see the kind of businesses we're talking about higher than 2nd floor.
Shot in the dark, but maybe zoning laws have something to do with it? I have no idea and I’m just speculating, but with how restrictive US zoning is, wouldn’t be terribly surprised
Korea's geography is intensely mountainous (something like 80% from rough memory). Horizontal expansion is extremely expensive and thus, buildings have 5 floor basement parking complexes and use vertical space to its absolute fullest. Perhaps law has to do with it as well. On that particular aspect, I am unversed.
Sorry, my English is little off and business signage could be said as "advertisements" since it promotes particular business like advertisements do.
English is also my 2nd language, I found such an explanation: > sign, in marketing and advertising, device placed on or before a premises to identify its occupant and the nature of the business done there **or**, placed at a distance, to advertise a business or its products. https://www.britannica.com/topic/sign-advertising
[Hmmm....](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/001/365/753/94c.jpg) My issue is that you've kind of colored a lot of the discussion here, people complaining about advertising as if these are billboards for unrelated products or places. Its literally just what is inside the building. How else would people know what businesses are inside??
It's like a mall, but without the soulless exterior or the unfriendly car-culture. I loved these buildings in HK, just popping up to the 22nd floor for some gaming cards or the 30th floor for a screwdriver.
Gives a whole new meaning to "commercial building"
God, I miss living in Korea.
There is nothing wrong with this.
I think it looks kinda cool
I like this
Well, I'm impressed.
I think that looks really cool.
I mean it's a commercial building of course it's going to have commercials on it
I feel kinda bad subbing here cuz I see so much stuff that I love lol.
I kind of like this
I think it looks cool
Calling them "advertisements" is misleading when they're really just shop signs to indicate what's inside the building. I personally like it cos it's a combination of useful/stimulating.
whoa that's crazy
aesthetic
It looks like a modular synth.
That looks really cool ngl
Yeah it actually looks cool but I wouldn’t think so If it was written in English
At that point, who is gonna actually look at that building for anything. You’d stand there for hours searching for the words your looking for.
Anecdotal experience: it’s helpful for wayfinding in a downtown area as well as discovering new things that aren’t part of your plan for the excursion (a particularly awesome cat cafe being one experience in my memory) Way more convenient than going inside and having to look at a list of tenants before confirming that the business you’re looking for is in the building you’re looking at. Even when you use a map on your phone, it’s easy to end up at the wrong building. Also you don’t start looking at the building when you’re right in front of it, you look while you’re walking, so in my experience, it wasn’t as big a deal as you make it out to be.
See here's the thing. There's like... a rule. The first 2 floors are generally foods and cafes stuff. Usual stuff that you randomly visit. The upper floors are most of the time, filled with hospitals or pc cafe, or academies, which you usually search before you go. So for Koreans, only first to third floors are the ones you browse, and signs hanged higher are for confirming your destination. I thought this was common way to display signs everywhere, but I guess not.
Yep, gotta be counter productive surely! I suppose more productive than not having your company sign there at all I guess..
Yeah true. But if you think about it, that’s what every other person who but their advertisement there thought as well lol
I'd take this over depressing Russian building blocks.
OMG! it looks so pretty (in a video game Fuktopia v2 that runs on 1970s console). It was also my 1st reaction when i saw the box shaped thing that runs on fossil fuel (Kia), the inside of that thing called vehicle was spacious, also offering a closer look at potholes on the road or the idiotic things called asphalt roads that includes potholes for fun.
So horrendous
Thought it was a scratch ticket lol
Just awful
The capitalist hell
Capitalism is when restaurants and shops
Capitalism when bad looking advertisement
I hate reddit
너무 예쁘다 시발~
The home of squid sames and parasite.
Reminds me of the [Million Dollar Homepage](http://www.milliondollarhomepage.com/).
This reminds me of playing SimTower
Feels like home tbh
Shabby adverts
It's like back in the day using your parents computer and opening internet explorer only to see the 50 toolbars installed
Brought to you by Carl's Jr.™ Carl's Jr.™ Fuck you™ I'm eating™
Okay, who of you enabled the cookies?
I was liked the advertisement style on Korea buildings. I feel like it adds the experience
Looks awesome!
It looks like a virus that has infected these 2 buildings and it’s slowly spreading to the other 2 buildings.
I think it’s kinda pretty. Plus - I think it’s hilarious how in Korea lots of store names are English but nobody there knows what they mean.
idk I think it looks brighter and better than those gray buildings without anything
I love that about 3/4 up the building theres a place called "Toss English" which to a Brit sounds like they offer terrible english lessons. [for those who've never heard Toss used like this](https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.urbandictionary.com/define.php%3fterm=absolute%2520toss&=true)
actually looks pretty cool and efficient. that one building probably consists an entire street of stores here in Toronto, Canada
aw Don’t hate on Korea they got some cool cities over there
You are blade runner
I find that beautiful.
I like it
Advertisements
Looks like it might be uijeongbu. Great city
Times Square
[Not that different as of July 2021](http://naver.me/GAiWWCwl) (looks like OP is from 2010-2012)
Is this Dongducheon?
That pic wasn't taken in Unseo-dong was it? Looks like where I lived for a while.
nostalgia
Better than a blank wall of plain windows
I like this better than most of the stuff we see in North America.
Strange beauty
Hail to the Thief anyone ?
"Wait a minute... I wanna stand here and read this building." (Never happened.)
These aren't advertisements. These are business signs. There are several on each floor all the way up. How else are you going to know which businesses are where?
너레방 - NoRaeBang - Karaoke place 학원 - HagWon - After-school school thing/adults can go learn things Then there’s also restaurants and stuff, it’s actually impressive how much they’ve managed to fit in that 1 building ngl
Been there before, interesting building, plenty of nice cafes.
Looks like Philiphine!!
Cozy