People read books for many reasons such as studying, idling hours, and cooking. However, they are not interested in the process of making books because they read books that already were made in the bookstore.
 If you only have a manuscript, you cannot completely make a book. To complete a book, you have to decide the size of the book, the paper and the cover’s design. The designer who makes the books' shape is an important person for the process of making books.
 The reporter met Oh Jin-kung, who is called the best book designer in her field. One of the office’s walls was filled with books and the designer’s draft proposals were sporadically stuck on her desk. The reporter heard about the book designer’s life in her office. -Ed
 
I have an accidental meeting with a book design
 I thought, ‘How can designers design this snack?’ while eating ‘Kkokkalcon’ in my childhood. Then, I hoped I could make snacks that many people liked. Ever since I was a little girl, I have had a variety of ideas about things. Those ideas made me become a book designer. My first step to become a book designer was a graphic designer. I have been more interested in communication with the public than pursuing my own art. After 5 years of working as a graphic designer, I went to work at Munhakdongne Publishing Group. I was asked to design a book’s cover when I joined the company. As soon as I read the manuscript, I had an inspiration. That first book design caused me to continuously make book designs.
 Although I began the book designs by chance, I liked this enough to be crammed with ideas about good book designs in my head. I have worked on over a thousand books. The book design, that l like and I did most recently, was KimHun’s ‘Heuksan’. I'm still improving my design skills, so l like my latest works. Furthermore, I hope I can make better works in the future.
 
The book designer is an attractive occupation
 The book designer is a person who makes the books. Most people think the book designer designs only the book covers. Of course, the book designer designs the book covers. However, the book designer should do many things such as determining the size of the book, the thickness of the paper, the color of the bookmark string, a headband, and dividing the chapters.
Book designs are always new because every time book designers work on a different manuscript, these designers can make their own work compared to other designer’s styles.   Other fields' designers make studio’s work, not their work. Thus, they can’t put their opinions in the work, while the book designer can make books that express an individual style. The book shows enough of the style of the designers for everyone to recognize the work’s designer. In addition, the book designer’s name is on the work as if it were a reward for the designer's labor. This is both a book designer’s strength and weakness. Designers can have their own works. This is a good aspect, but when designers don’t make a good design, it is a fault that other people know that they made a bad design.
 
The terms of a well-made book
 I think a well-made book is a book that has a structure. The book that has a structure is a book which has a clear intention. In addition, a well-made book is a magical mix of expression in design and the contents of the book.
 I was asked to redesign the novel of ‘Parade’, which was published a year ago. A designer made the cover that most people thought the overall tone of that book was romantic before I designed it. However, the novel is not a romantic mood except for the first part. Therefore, I made a new cover in black to emphasize the genre, and this cover was successful. Such as this, the combination of expression and contents is important in the design. It is not good that the book designs contain too much story or include some part of the story. People read a book and are impressed with the book, but they don’t get the feeling only from the writing. Even though they are unaware of the effect that the table of contents and a blank page give, they have been affected. I think the design has to give people a strong impression to the unconscious parts.
Furthermore, a well-made book should not get boring for years. Books don't have due dates compared to the design of a poster or an advertisement being used for a given period. Thus, book designers are important people who make the books' enduring designs.

 
To students who dream of becoming a book designer
 Students can’t become book designers just after graduating. There are no publishers offering training programs that give new recruits the knowledge they need to design in Korea. Thus, I want students to have diverse experiences and try to be book designers.
 Students should know things such as papers, printing, typography, and illustrations to be a book designer. They must possess knowledge and old professional skills which I got from many experiences. Therefore, the famous book designers are usually old. The experienced designer can make the book that doesn’t grow boring for five to ten years. The works of inexperienced designers are tacky. The experienced designer can know at a glance what was wrong in the inexperienced designer’s work, but the inexperienced designer doesn’t know what was wrong. I was told, ‘Your work doesn’t look like a book.’ I started as a book designer after being a graphic designer for 5 years, so I thought I had a good design skill. However, people said my works looked like magazines, posters or cheap pamphlets. When I started as a book designer, I thought the existing books were stuffy, so I wanted to make an unconventional design. Although it was hard to make an atmosphere for a book before, I try designing new things. I hope students who want to be book designers to try after developing a wide perspective and objective eyes.
 Attitude is more important for designers than skills. Looking at the design, we know the designer’s attitude while creating the work. If the designer thinks the story of the book is trite during the design of the book, the designer makes only a hackneyed design. When designers work for a long time, the most important thing is the designer’s attitude to make a better book than the technique of the designer.