#essaytwo

     Design is in everyday life, implemented into things all around us. With design, comes communication and working with all types of people in order to create a finished product. Human-centered design is the process of working with clients and figuring out what they like and implementing that into the final design. It starts with communicating with people and ends up communicating to a larger body of audience. It goes back and forth between people one is working with and the actual design itself. Human-centered design is needed to successfully capture what message a client wants the design to convey.

     The process of human-centered design is of three phases. The first phase is the Inspiration Phase where the designer is learning firsthand from their clients, hearing all ideas and what is needed. On Design Kit by Ideo.org, the Inspiration Phase is “learn(ing) directly from the people you’re designing for as you immerse yourself in their lives and come to deeply understand their needs”. The next step would be the Ideation Phase, where the designer will put together all their thoughts and what they’ve learned from the clients and start brainstorming. They will create many prototypes and work back and forth with the clients on ideas and how to improve until the implementation. This will lead into the Implementation Phase, the final step, where the designer will overcome obstacles and successfully melt together design and the client’s idea. The final design will be successful because the designer made sure to communicate what the people wanted by communicating with them.

     When human-centered design is used, it can appease to larger groups of people. More people like what they see, or they see ideas they would’ve had themselves on items or services. It draws the public’s eye and grabs their attention. Knowing what the market wants and giving them what they want by talking with them and speaking with them allows for a more prosperous outcome. In the article “Why Human-Centered Design Matters” on Wired written by Dave Thomsen, he states “a human-centered approach fuels the creation of products that resonate more deeply with an audience — ultimately driving engagement and growth”. Participation within the community and with other people allows for a more overall accepted work.

      Using human-centered design will have many benefits and advantages to a final product. Being involved with the users and clients increases sales and more attention. With communicating with clients, there is less of a high-risk human error, since everything was talked about beforehand, or is still being communicated with everyone on the project. Working with others, whether being other designers or clients, builds empathy. In the article “User Centered Design”, on the Interaction Design Foundation website, says that empathy is “essential in creating ethical designs that respect privacy and the quality of life”. One last advantage would be that when a designer is constantly meeting with people and building connections, they are also learning how to interact with different types of people. They can notice the diversity and learn new human values, which can be essential to designing and will be better people, nonetheless.

     Human-centered design is all about working with the people, communicating with others, in order to reach making a more profitable/successful endgame. Human-centered design is a process that starts with speaking with the client and gaining all the information in order to create a design that will meet their expectations and building relationships with the public through the design. Meeting people and staying connected allows the designer to become a better designer and let them reach their design goals. 

Dave Thomsen, Wanderful Media. “Why Human-Centered Design Matters.” Wired, Conde Nast, 7 Aug. 2015, www.wired.com/insights/2013/12/human-centered-design-matters/#start-of-content.

“What Is Human-Centered Design?” Design Kit, www.designkit.org/human-centered-design.

          Back in the days, books were considered something really important, because there were no digital devices that can disseminate knowledge and printing technique which can produce many copies at once. Books were the only way to spread knowledge. In the drama, Rookie Historian Gu Hye-ryeong (Gang Il-su, MBC, 2019), publishing business is highlighted in the first episode, but has some inaccuracies compared to the reality.

           In the late Joseon, the publishing business became blooming. Common people started reading books – in Hangeul – and publishers made profits. However, in the drama, it displays a book rental shop that is being managed by common people. According to Kim Young-jin, publishing business became prosperous or known to common people in 17th to 18th century (Kim 2010, 11). The first record is 1574 which is after Jungjong’s reign (Encyclopedia of Korean Culture, 1998). It shows that book culture has started flourishing after the drama’s background.

           Like the one in the drama, book rental shop means people can borrow books for a limited time instead of purchasing. In the late Joseon, people gave collaterals to borrow books (Jeon 2008, 365). On the contrary, the drama displays people purchasing books, and historian Gu has a fan meeting or a fan signing event for book readers. Thinking that the owners of books are not people but book dealers, it is highly likely that such event would have never happened. Damaging other’s items would have resulted being sued by publishers or book dealers.

           Also, the drama displays book rental shops as something popular, but in fact, during that period, book rental shops were minor but government controlled bookstore (교서관, gyoseogwan) and personal publishing business (방각본, banggak edition) were major instead (Ryu 2006, 274). The first edition of this kind of book appears to be published for the first time during the reign of Seonjo (Ryu 2006, 274). For example, a book dealer leaves his address at the end of the book so that people can find the dealer or his house to buy another book later. It was more like a personal private business unlike a bookstore (세책점) back then.

           People could not really buy books because knowledge was like an exclusive property to yangban class, and that is how book rental business became popular to common people. The drama shows a little about the book culture of Joseon through only a few episodes, but it depicts some inaccuracies about that. Since audiences nowadays live in a modern society, people do not really understand or know about the late Joseon’s book culture. That is probably why the directors made these inaccuracies so that people feel familiar with the story.

                                                       Bibliography

김영진 Kim, Young-jin. “조선후기 서적 출판과 유통에 관한 일고찰 - 『欽英』과 『頤齋亂藁』를 중심으로 - A Study on Publication and Distribution of Books in the Late Choseon Dynasty - Focused on <Heumyeong(欽英)> and <Yijaenango(頤齋亂藁)>.” 동양한문학연구 Dongyanghanmunhagyeongu [Dongyang studies in Korean Classics] 30 (2010): 5-28.

류준경 Ryu, Jun-kyoung. “논문(論文): 독서층의 새로운 지평, 방각본과 신활자본 The new horizon in a class of readers - "Bangkakbon(坊刻本)" and "Shinhwaljabon 신활자본(新活字本)".” 한문고전연구 Hanmungojeonyeongu [Journal of Korean classical Chinese literature] 13 (2006): 271-302.

전상욱 Jeon, Sang-uk. “세책 대출장부 연구 1－세책 대출장부의 유형과 실상－Characters of Lending Library Users - A Case Study on the Tōyō Bunko Lending Account Books -.” 열상고전연구 Yeolsanggojeonyeongu 古小說 硏究 [The Research of Old Korean Novel] (2008): 239-274.

한국민족대백과사전 Encyclopedia of Korean Culture. “서점 Seojeom [bookstore].” http://encykorea.aks.ac.kr/Contents/Item/E0028163#self, 1995.

Rookie Historian Gu Hye-ryeong, is a South Korean drama based on the historical time period of the Joseon Dynasty. This drama production was in fact made in 2019, with a cast involving some of the most well known actors, and idols in Korea. This drama is a historical romance that doesn’t shy away from modernizing this forbidden first love, but also takes the traditional way of life that was once lived, and makes a twist to it. In Korea, the viewers demographic is teenagers to young adults who enjoy the cat mouse love game with fictional conflicts that are unrealistically conquered. With this, Rookie Historian Gu Hye-ryeong demonstrates a lot of historical inaccuracies in its fashion, and actions of the royals and women in this time. The historical inaccuracies might’ve been something the director/writer wanted to catch the attention of the young demographic.

The drama, Rookie Historian Goo Hae-yrung (Kang II-Soo, MBC 2019), is based in the time period of the Joseon Dynasty where traditional clothing, cosmetics, and accessories were taken very seriously, and even to this day impacts the Korean society. In this drama, the clothing and accessories were worn to represent what family you're in, where you work, your class, and most importantly to preserve the woman's body.In early Korean times, like the Joseon dynasty, women wore a chima, which translates to skirt, and jeogori which translates to jacket. Like the character in the drama, Goo Haeyrung, wears a long chima covering her legs down to her ankles, and a long sleeved jeogori covering her full chest up to her neck. As we see in the drama all women were covered this was even if they were in work uniform, like the other historian women Goo Hae-yrung worked with. Usually, the women had a belt or silk tied around their waist while the rest of the clothing were wide and long. For example, the historian women wore a very light baby blue, with a white collared shirt underneath, with a blue belt to accent. Because this drama is directed towards the youth, and people who know nothing of the clothing style back then, the director would have wanted designers to emphasis pretty colors to keep people interested, or in other words, not get turned off by dull colors. In reality the colors were fairly simple, brown or beige. This is one historical inaccuracy that is proven throughout the drama. 

In the drama Goo Hae-ryung, wore close to no makeup. In this period winged eyeliner was common, but in a traditional standpoint, as well as light lip color. This drama did not dramatize the makeup that was actually worn at this time. For a long time through the 16th century, women wore pale powder on their faces and necks to symbolize purity and cleanliness. Aside from the makeup, to accentuate their eyes they used a dark liquid to line the top of their eyes, and to top it off the two main colors were red and pink for the lips. Goo Hae-ryung, had the liquid eyeliner and very pink lips. In both reality and in this drama world makeup was not overly done except for Royals especially when there was a big event such as a festival or ceremony. In that case the women wore their traditional hanboks, that did have different colors, material and some had Buddhist symbols on them as well. The director might’ve been trying to stray away from the look of an actual woman in this time period but to keep it simple but also complementing. Although this is playing it safe, it is inaccurate in this drama.

In this drama, the Royals had a lot of freedom to do whatever they wanted, and go wherever they wanted, which is one of the most obvious historical inaccuracies in this drama. In episode six, Hae-ryung was completing her punishment, and Prince Maehwa came in the night to complete it for her, when in reality a person of that caliber would be closely watched throughout the day, let alone be allowed out to complete a punishment for someone else. The director obviously wanted the viewers to get hit with a major “Awe” moment, to build up more tension for this love story which is what I think the director wanted for this drama in the first place. Goo Hae-ryung also had the luxury most women could not posses in this day in age, such as making witty remarks, and even being a historian. I think in this case the writer wrote this to make the female lead daring, captivating, and relatable to get viewers to like her more.

This drama is under the historical category but by no means does this drama actually live up to it. I think the writer wrote this in the Joseon dynasty to make the forbidden love more forbidden, to attract the young teen and young adults who are consistent watcher of Korean dramas.                                                                      

                                                      Bibliography

Rookie Historian Goo Hae-Ryung. Directed by Kang II-soo and Han Hyun-hee. Seoul, Korea: MBC TV, 1961.

Rookie Historian Gu Hye-ryeong released in the summer of 2019 was about Gu Hye-ryeong becoming a scholar in the Joseon royal court meanwhile, women are being brought more to be in the government. This drama touches a lot on the lifestyle of the Joseon Dynasty. This drama was driven in a more main stream direction, meaning, driving away from its true face of reality. At this time men were the prime source of the Joseon government and education, women played their role as the honest and well kept and not outspoken. While watching this drama we can reflect on how women are kept obliged by their ideal mannerisms and also more outspoken and “dominant”. These manners of etiquette are something that the director of Rookie Historian made a way so that the audience could not take away factual pieces of knowledge but rather, a more digestible reinvention of the Joseon Dynasty but still a relevant factor in the Joseon Dynasty.  

This drama is targeted to a younger audience because of the stories within the main plot. The love story is very apparent and so is their choice of direction. The first episode starts off with Gu Hye-ryeong in class, she gets the answer right and is confident in her answer. The teacher states that “A virtuous women must hide their talents, and not speak about the things she knows. The Classic of poetry states, “women musn’t do anything bad or great”” (Ep 1,  16:10-16-50). This is what the standard women etitque was like in the Joseon Dynasty. I was glad to see a moderate accuracy in this drama. The director gave the viewers a really good sense of what this dynamic was like for women in this time period.

Sources of Korean Tradition From Early Times through the sixteenth Century, stated that women had a certain way to act that was acceptable and idea. “My wife was pure and modest. She was literate and well understood in moral obligations.. Before marriage she ably served her parents; after marriage she was extremely diligent in wifely ways.”( Theodore de Bary & Lee 1983:184). Though this dates a few centuries back this showed the women, even in this time had an etiquette that was sociably acceptable. This drama being set in the 19th century gives the younger viewers who watch this drama, a fresher more 21st century style which to me drives the drama away a little. Though this drama is very binge worthy, being in this class made me very attention to historic detail in this time. This drama lacked in the reenactment of the lifestyle of women in Joseon Dynasty surrounding the main character, Gu Hye-ryeong. Her being so outspoken and very strong willed and will challenge you in a debate is the complete opposite of how history shows women in the Joseon Dynasty.  This is not helpful to the viewers who aren't aware of this history because younger viewers will believe that women did not fight to gain better treatment and not be treated as an ideal item when in reality this was a huge struggle women faced in the Joseon Dynasty. The director could have avoided this because reality because it could drive away the viewers who just want to escape and get their minds off of real life problems. I think the director wanted to push more towards female empowerment because women are standing up for themselves in this day in age.

In episode two Gu Hye-ryeong  speaks out and voices her opinion to Officer Min. In the scene she is upset and expressed her frustration by raising her voice to Officer Min, leading her to say “Even the king can’t always make the right decision”. (Ep 2, 20:40-20:50). Reading Duncan, Naehun and Politics of Gender gave me more assuring textual facts about the idea of manners and etiquette towards women. “Generally the mind of men move amid the broad flowing power and they develope their will from mysterious sources so that they can..distinguish right and wrong.”(Duncan 2004: 6). This is probably why the reaction of the people in the scene were so taken aback because at the time, they believed men's actions were right. Gu Hye-ryeong stood with her statement and her friend apologizes for Gu Hye-ryeong actions. This type of mannerism was not normal or acceptable in the Joseon Dynasty. One of the reasons why I believe the director chose to make Gu Hye-ryeong  so outspoken, was to keep people interested in the drama.In this era people love to see a beautiful outspoken women, so this is probably why they made this historic drama a little inaccurate.  

In conclusion, this drama gives a good deliverance of showing accuracy in the mannerisms of women though it did lack the accuracy in major aspects, in particular the main actress. Though we could learn a lot by the politics and who ran them; we can go deeper with the analyzation of etiquette with women in Rookie Historian but the drama and the choice of direction is driven to captivate the audience with its love story and well written characters, not depress the audience by its rather bold and harsh reality.

Bibliography 

Rookie Historian Gu Hae-Ryung. Directed by Kang II-soo and Han Hyun-hee. Seoul, Korea: MBC TV, 1961.

Lee, Peter H. and WM. Theodore de Bary. "Sources of Korean Tradition." Military Rule and Late Koryo Reform, edited by Peter H. Lee and WM. Theodore de Bary. 191-197. New York: Columbia University Press, 1983.

Rookie Historian Gu Haeryeong (Kang Il-Soo, NBC, 2019) displayed inaccurate etiquette for the Joseon dynasty when in regard to gender roles. It’s important to note the current feminism trend to explain some of the behaviors exhibited by the women in this drama. Contemporary audiences will connect with these women who disrupt the old-fashioned gender roles set in stone by Confucian philosophy. Yet, it’s equally necessary to ask if the producers of this drama included these inaccuracies for a reason other than appealing to today’s viewers.

In Joseon dynasty, it was considered wrong for women to pursue a higher status than men (Wikipedia: 2015). Namely, women didn’t have the chance to become historians or attend Sungkyunkwan—which would have increased their chances of passing the civil service exam (Lee 1983: 296)—due to Confucian values such as yeol. Yeol is a principle highlighting the distinction between men and women (Seth 2016: 167). Although it’s historically inaccurate for a woman to obtain such a high governmental position, it appeals to contemporary audiences since it was thought of as impossible. Perhaps the director and scriptwriters wanted to explore a what-if scenario and show a more accurate response from the men’s side of history.

Another historically inaccurate moment within the drama was when Gu Haeryeong eavesdropped on the king’s private meeting. This would have never happened, as it’s a direct violation of being loyal to the king. To contemporary audiences this is extremely interesting and drives a new arch within the plot. To Korean people of the Joseon dynasty, this is contravening the Confucian principle known as chung, which defines the relationship of subjects showing loyalty to the king (Seth 2014: 167). It’s an interesting addition to the plot, since it violates Confucian principles denoting loyalty to the king; yet it also shows the integrity of the historians, who continued their duty based on written law despite this social violation. A question I’d ask to the director is: Was it intentional to include something so historically inaccurate to create this conflict between written Joseon laws and preconceived social norms based on Confucian philosophy?

In conclusion, there were many things within Rookie Historian Gu Haeryeong that brings up questions of legitimacy, especially ones regarding etiquette violations that were based upon Confucian principles. The directors could have created these inaccuracies to appeal to a contemporary audience solely, or maybe used these inaccuracies to start a new dialogue about the discrepancies in Joseon written law versus social norms created by popular Confucian philosophy. Regardless, the decisions made by the director and scriptwriters creates an entertaining drama to watch since the inaccuracies lead to some intriguing questions.  

 Bibliography

Rookie Historian Goo Haeryung (Kang Il-Soo, NBC, 2019).

Wikipedia. 2015. “Women in South Korea.” Last modified 3 December 2015.

Seth, Michael J. A Concise History of Korea: From Antiquity to the Present. 2nd ed. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2016.

   In the drama Rookie Historian Gu Hye-ryeong (Gang Il-su, MBC, 2019), women were presented as having equal opportunities. In reality, most women did not participate in society outside of home. Even if a woman were to have a job, there were social restrictions so the scope of the job was not wide. I will point out the incorrect historical facts of the drama one by one, related to women's advancement in society.

    Even though the main character Gu Hae-ryeong had a career as a historian, there were no women acting as a historian during the Joseon Dynasty. Status and occupation during the Joseon Dynasty was hierarchical and for men only (Choe 2003, 11). Women were often treated like men's assistants or supporters in the Joseon Dynasty. Women could only find their identity being a wise mother, which was considered one of the greatest successes for women during this era (Choe 2003, 19). While there were certain jobs for women, the variety of jobs was very limited and often considered unimportant.

    In addition, although there were some yangban women who had a chance to become highly educated and learn how to read and write, they still did not have a chance to use their knowledge to work for society. An interesting fact was that from specific regions, like the Hoseo area, we found more articles and poetry written by women. This is due to men being more open-minded about women learning the written language, which would make it possible for women to be authors because men allowed women to learn the language (Mun 2012, 65). Moreover, this opportunity was only limited to high-status women (Mun 2012, 67).

    If we think about this era more realistically, we would see that many ordinary women generally never had the opportunity to learn how to read or write. In particular, low-status women were often illiterates and could not get an education. (Park 2018, 411). As would be expected, it would have been a luxury to be educated as a lower-class woman because lower-class women were busy making a living. For these women, knowing either Hangeul or Chinese characters was not a reality within their actual lives, so they would have to ask others if they wanted to obtain this knowledge.

    Even though our drama shows women’s education and career during the Joseon Dynasty, women did not have the same opportunities men for either education or careers. Women were always considered subordinates and, unlike in dramas, they hoped to find their identity being an ideal mother rather than within their profession. Although the drama is historically inaccurate, it seems good to have the chance to test the limits of the Joseon Dynasty through the drama, and imagine what it would be like if it were a society free of discrimination.  

                                               Bibliography

Park, Jun-ho [Bak Junho]. A Female Commoners Writing of Soji in the End of the Joseon Era. 409-441. 2018. [박준호. 조선 후기 평민 여성의 한글 소지 글쓰기. 국학 연구 36권, 409-441. 2018.]

Choe, Mi-jeong [Choe Mijeong]. The Methodical Study of Women Having Occupations in the Joseon Period -Focused on the Occupational Consciousness of the Gisaeng(妓女)-. 6-47. 2003. [직업을 가진 조선시대 여성에 대한 연구 방법 고찰 -기녀의 직업 의식을 중심으로-. 한국 고전 여성 문학 연구, 6-47. 2003.]

    During the period of Joseon Dynasty, education showed great importance in the society combined with the influence of Confucianism. At that time, girls from wealthy family could have access to the education and learned about how to perform in virtue for future life. However, the director of the historical drama Rookie Historian Goo Hae-Ryung made mistakes that Gu Hae-ryung is depicted as an affectionate historian which is inappropriate to the Confucian women. But what the director did that is to increase the cognition of the status of women in the modern society, the past in Korean history and make the audience enjoy the drama.

    In the drama Rookie Historian Goo Hae-Ryung, the scene happened as Gu Hae-Ryung felt asleep on the shoulder of the prince and stuck with the prince closely which made the prince feel scared about that. (Ep 9, 23:27-24:40). At that time, a woman should perform in virtue and falling in love with the prince was impossible. As Seth mentions, “Yet the concern for status meant that marriages remained confined within a social class” (Seth 2016: 169). This can be shown that marriage was a connection at that time among families within the same social status. Although Gu Hae-ryung was born in a higher social status family and could get education at that time, the gap between her family and the royal family was still large and what she performed with the prince would make herself get penalty if her events were transferred to the society. After that, her family would lose everything and her family members might get huge penalty and could not find ways to become successful later in the future in Joseon Dynasty.

   However, the director of this drama made mistakes in order to make the public know more about the importance of women and changed the original thinking of women. For example, when it comes to what the life of women was in Joseon Dynasty, Seth says that “they lost the rights to divorce, remarry, and inherit property; and they found themselves increasingly segregated from males” (Seth 2016: 195). This truly depicts the life of women in Joseon Dynasty and women’s condition was terrible at that time. On the contrary, the director made the drama inaccurate to the audience is to tell the audience that women now could not be disregarded and they played an important role in the modern society. In this way, the drama shows that “If he likes you, he should be straightforward about it” (Ep 9, 49:00-49:10). This drama indicates that that falling in love with the prince is not an issue and shows freedom for the female. After this kind of design in the drama, the women in Korean society would gain more confidence and they will follow the step of Gu Hae-ryung of get what they want and achieve their own goal in the future.

   Also, in this historical drama, Chinese scripts are found everywhere and historians used Chinese to record historical events. As Duncan mentions, “One is idu, a script which used Chinese characters for both their meanings and for phonetic values in transcribing vernacular Korean” (Duncan 1998: 203). Idu truly used in Korean society and contributed to the huge development of Korean society. Currently, Chinese characters are not used in Korean society and many people do not know that. The director’s mistakes can not only make the audience laugh and raise the status of women, but also make the public know more about their past to increase their confidence of being a Korean.

   Joseon Dynasty marked great significance of the Korean development and Chinese characters were used widely in Korean society. In the drama Rookie Historian Goo Hae-Ryung, although the director made it inaccurate for the audience, his aim is to increase the confidence of women and the cognition of being a Korean. On the other hand, adding the scene of love outside Confucianism makes the audience enjoy that and have a desire to watch it for a long time.

                                                 Works Cited

Seth, Michael J. A Concise History of Korea: From Antiquity to the Present. Second Edition. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield, 2016.

Duncan, John. "Proto-nationalism in Premodern Korea". In Perspectives on Korea, edited by Sang-Oak Lee, and Duk-Soo Park. 198-221. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1998.