Our Typeface: 20 Years of History of Hyundai Card Font UNI

'Our Typeface', an archive book covering the history of Hyundai Card's font Youandi, has been published.

Hyundai Card has acted more seriously than any other company, emphasizing the importance of design. Hyundai Card’s philosophy has had a great influence on the industry’s perspective on design. The Hyundai Card plate and beautiful mobile application, designed with a unique perspective, gave us the belief that Hyundai is different. From small posters to department stores, the sensitive design gave us the belief that Hyundai does not do anything half-heartedly.

Among the many design assets, the unique, exclusive font UNI is recognizable as ‘Hyundai’ anytime, anywhere, from very short phrases to huge performance placards.

Hyundai Card introduced U&I, the first corporate font in Korea, in 2003. Ten years later, in 2013, it introduced Hyundai Card U&I Modern, a refined version of the font. In 2021, Hyundai Card Design Lab renewed its English font and announced Hyundai Card U&I New. The number of English fonts increased from 5 to 22, and variable functions were also reflected. In collaboration with Yoon Design, we also refined the Korean font to create the first variable corporate font.

This time, the published 'Our Typeface' consists of 'Three Eras', a sample book that shows the characteristics of UNI, UNI Modern, and UNI New, 'Thoughts', which contains the thoughts of experts on corporate typefaces, and 'Expressions', which collects cases where UNI is applied. There are many cases where dedicated designs are not used well, but I was curious about the secret to it being applied well to all business areas like Hyundai, and I was able to get a glimpse of it in the book.

An exhibition where you can experience 'Our Typeface' through photos and videos is being held at the Hyundai Card Design Library in Gahoe-dong, Seoul until October 13. You can also read the book, so if you have time, be sure to visit.