대한민국 정부상징문양의 활용상 문제점과 디자인 개선 방향

Background In recognition of the strong relationship between governmental identity and national image, countries have the impetus to develop their governmental identity. In 2016, upon the Republic of Korea's 70th anniversary of liberation, its government decided to have all governmental agencies use a new government symbol, "Tae-geuk." However, issues arose since each government agency used the symbol in a different way or perverted it. Therefore, this research sought to find a way to address the problems centered around the government symbol and suggest improvements. Methods An investigation of application through an on-the-spot, Web/Mobile, and internet investigation was executed for 960 government institutions that had applied the government symbol. Materials from the investigation of application were analyzed, problems were identified, and an improvement point was drawn after a comparison with foreign, advanced cases. Then, a modified design was proposed. Results The analysis results identified problems such as the distortion of the government symbol's shape, the distortion of the government symbol's spatial orientation, the exposure of the background color, the error of application in the use of a solid color gradation and solid color, the distortion of the border line's shape, and a invasion of clear space were found. It was found that the form of the governmental symbol needs to have "vertical and horizontal clarity" and a "closed shape." Conclusions It was suggested to use an intervening element as a design improvement direction of the government's symbolic mark to have "clarity of verticality and horizontality," a "closed shape," or close the opened part of the symbolic mark, and use the clear space of the white border line shape or white rectangle as the default. It was found that the greatest suggestion for improvement was to use the clear space of the white rectangle. The government's symbolic mark is used by a vast number of subordinate agencies. Thus, such agencies ought to exhibit uniformity in the usage of the symbolic mark through effortless application. This research is expected to be utilized as the standard for the identity development of institutions having a similar structure.