How I Use Design to Make Korean Words Memorable

It all started with my struggle to learn languages.

Since school, I’ve never been the kind of person who could easily pick up languages. While others seemed to memorize words and grammar effortlessly, I always found myself falling behind. But despite the difficulty, I’ve always loved the perspectives and ideas languages bring—how they shape the way we see the world.

Growing up in a Chinese-speaking home environment, I was more familiar with pictogram-based writing, where I could associate characters with visuals to help me remember. But I struggled when learning non-pictographic languages like English. It got even harder when I started learning Japanese without using kanji.

Then came Korean.

When I began studying Korean, I hit a similar wall. Memorizing vocabulary was tough, and the Hangul system, while beautifully logical, isn’t based on pictures like Chinese. One day, while trying to recall a word, I started visualizing it as a picture—not just the meaning, but the actual Hangul letters. That’s when something clicked.

If I could find ways to turn Korean words into visual forms, why not design them that way?

So I started creating visuals—whenever a Korean word sparked a visual idea, I shaped it into a design. Not to teach, but to help myself remember—and hopefully, help others too.

👉 Learn more [picturetheklanguage].