Background Building on the colloquial misunderstanding of South Korean album cover designs from 1994 to 2002 as mimicking American and Japanese visual styles, this paper examines the social, historical, economic, and technological contexts of that period. By expanding the design context to include political, economic, and technological dimensions, this research considers these factors as influential forces in the design process. The forces of globalization created a cycle of influence and export that shaped the design of this period.
Methods To identify the problem of album cover design and image productions from the period of 1994 to 2002 as imitations, historical research was conducted alongside a thorough examination of the development of the K-pop music industry during this period. The research was then organized into three distinct impact factors that influenced K-pop album cover design and image production: 1) sociopolitical and economic factors, 2) influence on and of the K-pop music industry, and 3) technological change and the impact of the digital marketplace. A cultural research approach was taken in order to connect broader factors to the process of designing album covers and creating images for the K-pop industry.
Results The results of this study create a holistic picture of the forces at work in the development of the K-pop music industry during the time period of 1994 to 2002. When considering the infrastructure of the K-pop music industry as a system of cultural production, album cover design and image production are heavily affected by the impact factors outlined in the research. The research reveals the push and pull of globalizing forces where the K-pop industry received influence from the United States and Japan, then exported its globalized image abroad to the rest of Asia. Conclusions This research allows for a deeper understanding of album cover design and image production as integral facets of the K-pop music industry. The study explains the specific influences, particularly from African American and Japanese sources, that shaped the industry as a system, as well as the resulting designs and images of artists. The conclusive aim of this research is to expand the scholarship on K-pop to include design and image production as significant areas of research.