Abstract
The role of design in the public sector has expanded in recent years, particularly in addressing intangible policy and service challenges. However, institutional arrangements and the design workforce in the public sector vary across countries, influencing how new design practices are diffused. This study examines design careers within Korean local governments, focusing on their horizontal and vertical positioning, the opportunities and barriers to career development, and the gap between current roles and the emerging expectations regarding design for intangible policy and service challenges. Conducted as an exploratory study based on interviews with designers working in local governments, the findings reveal that the design workforce is inadequately managed in both traditional and emerging design domains. This study offers insights for countries with public career systems similar to South Korea’s and sheds light on how government organizations can better manage the national design workforce.
Keywords
Design for policy; Public sector design; Local government; Career trajectories; Professionalization of designers
DOI
https://doi.org/10.21606/iasdr.2025.138
Citation
Kim, A.(2025) Understanding design careers in Korean local governments: Positioning and institutional conditions, in Chang, C.-Y., and Hsu, Y. (eds.), IASDR 2025: Design Next, 02-05 December, Taiwan. https://doi.org/10.21606/iasdr.2025.138
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Conference Track
Track 7 - Service Design for Public Services and Policies
Understanding design careers in Korean local governments: Positioning and institutional conditions
The role of design in the public sector has expanded in recent years, particularly in addressing intangible policy and service challenges. However, institutional arrangements and the design workforce in the public sector vary across countries, influencing how new design practices are diffused. This study examines design careers within Korean local governments, focusing on their horizontal and vertical positioning, the opportunities and barriers to career development, and the gap between current roles and the emerging expectations regarding design for intangible policy and service challenges. Conducted as an exploratory study based on interviews with designers working in local governments, the findings reveal that the design workforce is inadequately managed in both traditional and emerging design domains. This study offers insights for countries with public career systems similar to South Korea’s and sheds light on how government organizations can better manage the national design workforce.