Kyuha (Q) Shim

As a National Steering Committee Member of AIGA's Design Educators Community and the Education Director of AIGA Pittsburgh, I have made positive impacts in regional and national levels.

I initiated/directed
AIGA Design Educators Survey
a national survey to investigate the current landscape of design education from multiple perspectives, including the academic, economic, political, social, cultural, and technological spheres of design.

Computational Design Practices
a new publication series to explore the areas, concepts, skills, and perspectives of computational design through conversations with design practitioners and educators.

AIGA PGH Confluence 2021
An event intended build connections between design educators in the Greater Pittsburgh Area and to give graduating students the opportunity to network with local professional. Networking opportunites were particularly needed amidst pandemic-induced disruptions to the job market.

I co-initiated
Design+Writing Fellowship
a new fellowship focused on visual essays/narratives as a way for faculty members to build their case for tenure.

I participated
AIGA Wiki Scholar
an initiative to build and expand more comprehensive and diverse design histories, publicly available on Wikipedia.

Kyuha (Q) Shim, FRSA is a designer, researcher and Professor in the Department of Design at Korea National University of Arts. He was previously an Associate Professor of Design and Director of the Computational Creativity Lab at Carnegie Mellon University. He served as a National Steering Committee Member for the Design Educators Community (DEC) of the American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA) and Education Director of AIGA Pittsburgh. Recently, Shim collaborated on a National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) supported design research and publication, Code as Creative Medium (Levin and Brain, 2021), for which he also contributed an essay titled, 'Notes on Computational Book Design'. GRAPHIC #37: Introduction to Computation (ed. Shim, 2016), a collection of his conversations and interviews with graphic design practitioners and researchers on computation has recently been published.
          Prior to his current affiliations, Shim worked as a research fellow (Data Visualization Specialist) at MIT’s SENSEable City Laboratory in Cambridge, MA (2012–2013) and as a researcher at the Jan van Eyck Academie in Maastricht, Netherlands (2013–2014). Throughout his career, he has been awarded residencies and fellowships, including those at Frans Masereel Centrum in Kasterlee, Belgium (2017), Facebook's Analog Research Lab in Menlo Park, CA (2019), and Design Incubation: Research in Communication Design in New York, NY (2021). He also worked as a designer at LUST in The Hague, Netherlands (2011), and Vinyl-i in Seoul, Korea (2009–2010). He conducted a doctoral research in Visual Communication at the Royal College of Art, holds an MFA with honors in Digital+Media from the Rhode Island School of Design and a BFA in Digital Media Design from Hongik University.

          Shim works in the integrative and interdisciplinary realm of art, design, and technology, with a particular interest in the language of systems. Central to his practice and research is the use of computational thinking as a methodology for design in creating generative systems informed and driven by data. His work and research have been featured internationally (e.g., AIGA Eye on Design, Design Observer, GRAPHIC, IDPURE, Typeroom, Walker Art Center's Gradients, Wired) and he has received numerous honors from Adobe Design Achievement Awards, A'Design, The American Institute of Graphic Arts, core77, Graphis, red dot Design Award, iF Design Award, IEEE, International Design Awards, International Society of Typographic Designer, The Association of Registered Graphic Designers, The Society of Typographic Arts, Spark, Type Directors Club (New York & Tokyo) and Output Award. He has exhibited internationally in museums and galleries including Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum in New York, Miller Institute of Contemporary Art in Pittsburgh, National Museum of the Republic in Brasilia, National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Seoul, and ggg Gallery in Tokyo and in design festivals such as Open AGI, Beijing Design Week, Dubai Design Week, London Design Festival, Typojanchi (International Typography Biennial) and Seoul Design Olympic.
          A list of Q's project websites: Q's Classroom (2017–), GT by Q (2014), Visibl[e]co (2012) and Miscellaneous (2009–2013). To learn about my recent projects, say hello to Q~!

Code as Creative Medium. 2020. This is the first book published by MIT Press to be designed using code. It was supported by a Media Arts grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. You can learn more about the project in my essay titled, 'Notes on Computational Book Design' (Levin and Brain, 2021). You can order a copy of the book.

De+Composition. 2019. Designer-in-Residence at Facebook HQ (Menlo Park, CA) between July 1 – August 9, 2019. More info: Facebook Design

Raster. 2017. Sponsored by Carnegie Mellon University, Q worked as a research resident at Frans Masereel Centrum (May 15 – July 7, 2017).

The Art of Selection. 2016. Invited work created for the Cooper Hewitt National Design Triennial - Beauty (2016), and exhibited at the San Jose Museum of Art (2016-2017).

Formation. 2016. Commissioned by Alliance Graphique Internationale (AGI) for the Special Project Exhibition during AGI conference in Seoul 2016. A generative system that presents a critical view of responsive design through multitudinous transitions and scaling of graphic forms.

GRAPHIC #37, 'Intro to Computation'. 2016. Excerpt from Q's doctoral research in the form of interviews with practitioners and researchers. As special issue editor of the issue, he opened up discourse on the impact of computation in graphic design. Concept, Design and Edit by Q, Graphic Design in collaboration with Minsun Eo. You can find more about Propaganda, order a copy or read his reflective essay. (Winner of Type Directors Club 63 in 2017)

One Remix. 2015. Commissioned by Adrian Shaughnessy for the special exhibition at Typojanchi 2015 (Seoul, KR). A remix of all elements of the exhibition, including essays written by Shaughnessy and banner-posters created by six young graphic designers who are recent graduates from RCA. (Winner of STA100 by The Society of Typographic Arts in 2016)

G50 Wall. 2014. Digital installation created for GraphicsRCA 50 show, accommodating all works submitted online by alumni. It presents an aspect of the exhibition, as a continuous re-gathering and celebration of our past, present and future. (Winner of Graphis Design Annual 2016 Silver)