Photo: Heji Shin
About Ji Lee
Ji Lee was born in Korea, raised in Brazil, and currently lives in New York.
His past jobs include Executive Vice President at Samsung Global Marketing and Creative Director at Meta, Google, and Droga5.
Ji works in various fields, including advertising, graphic design, marketing, product design, street art, animation, installation, and gaming. He is also a public speaker, teacher, and advocate for the "Power of Personal Projects." Some of his notable projects include the Bubble Project, Word as Image, and Drawings for My Grandchildren.
Ji has been recognized as one of the "50 Most Influential Designers in America" by Fast Company. His work has been featured in publications such as The New York Times, The New Yorker, Time magazine, Newsweek, BBC, ABC News, and The Guardian. His work has been exhibited in museums and galleries across New York, Seoul, Frankfurt, Amsterdam, Torino, and Lisbon. Additionally, his watch design is sold at MoMA stores.
Ji is the author of five books.
Instagram: @jileecious
jilee@pleaseenjoy.com
Jobs
Samsung, Korea, Executive Vice President, Global Marketing, 2022– Present
Facebook & Instagram, Palo Alto, Menlo Park, NYC, LA, Creative Director, 2011 – 2022
Google, NYC, Creative Director, 2008 – 2011
Droga5, NYC, Creative Director, 2006 – 2008
Saatchi & Saatchi, NYC, Art Director, 1999 – 2003
Tsang Seymour Design, NYC, Designer, 1997 – 1998
Frankfurt Balkind Partners, NYC, Designer, 1995 – 1996
Press
Fast Company, 50 Most Influential Designers in America
ABC World News, The Bubble Project
BBC, Korean grandfather’s long-distance Instagram story-telling
NBC News, Instagram Drawings Helped This Grandfather ‘Rekindle’ Passion, Keep Touch with Family
Today, How this grandpa uses Instagram, and art, to connect with his grandkids
Fantástico, Globo, Drawings for My Grandchildren
brand eins, Der freie Angestellte
Huffpost Live, The Man Behind Mysterabbit
Huffington Post, Mysterabbit: Public Art Project Leaves 10,000 Tiny Bunnies In Cities Across The World
Huffington Post, Hero Street Artist Puts Clown Noses On All Those Ads You Absolutely Hate
The LA Times, Every Writer’s Nightmare: The Wordless Web.
Wired Magazine, Designers Rejoice! A Plugin That Nukes All Texts from Web Pages.
The Guardian, Your Words in Their Mouths
Oprah Magazine, The 3-D Alphabet Way of Seeing the World
Wired Magazine, Behind the Memes: Ji Lee, Bubble Project Media Jammer
Wired Magazine, Univers Revolved
Fast Company, Ingenious Hack Turns Instagram into a Portfolio Site
Fast Company, Save the Twin Towers. Ji Lee Preserves WTC.
Fast Company, Ji Lee Whips Up The Wordless Web
Fast Company, Google Exec’s Hobby: Installing Tiny Dioramas on Empty Ceilings
Fast Company, Check Out The Alphabet, Redrawn By Spinning Letters Into 3-D
Huffington Post, The Most Accurate Watch In The World (And It’s Not The Apple Watch)
Korea Times, Korean born artist challenges stereotype
Fubiz, Word as Image
D&AD, One Minute to Leave Your Mark
Creativity, Word as Image
Isto é Dinheiro, Coreano de Alma Brasileira Dá Uma Nova Cara da Empresa no Mundo
AIGA, The Bubble Project
Creativity Magazine, Ji Lee on working in a bubble
Books
Let’s Read Animal Words (Children’s Book), Harper Collins
Looking Back Life was Beautiful, Penguin Books
Word as Image Animated E-book, Perigee / Penguin Books
Word as Image, Perigee / Penguin Books
Talk Back: The Bubble Project, Mark Batty Publishers
Univers Revolved: A 3-D Alphabet, Harry Abrams
Books with Ji’s work
Please Make this Look Nice: The Graphic Design Process, Peter Ahlberg, Rizzoli International
Trespass, A History of Uncommissioned Urban Art, Marc and Sarah Schiller, Taschen
Making Ideas Happen, Scott Belsky, Penguin
The Art of Rebellion III, Ginko Press
Becoming a Graphic Designer, Steven Heller, Teresa Fernandes, Wiley Publishers
Precursor: The Creative Watchlist, Gestalten
Overcoming Creative Block, Alex Cornell, Princeton Architectural Press
Graphic: Inside The Sketchbooks of World’s Great Graphic Designers, Steven Heller, Lita Talirico, Thames & Hudson
Urban Interventions: Personal Projects in Public Spaces, R Klanten, M Hubner, Gestalten
Graphic Design: Now in Production, Andrew Blauvelt and Ellen Lupton, Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum
The 3D Type Book, Fl@33, Laurence King Publishing
Education
Parsons School of Design, BFA in Communication Design, New York
Speaking
MIT, Roflcon, Cambridge
MIT, Future of Entertainment Conference, Cambridge
MoMA, Public Art for Youth, New York
The Guggenheim Museum, Thinking Like an Artist Conference, New York
Harvard University, Cyber Activism and Culture Jamming, Cambridge
Stanford University, Ideas for a Better Internet Summit, Stanford
Columbia University, Creative Technologies Symposium, New York
Massachusetts College of Art & Design, Guest Lecturer, Boston
Seoul University, Guest Lecturer, Seoul, Korea
Hongik University, Guest Lecturer, Seoul, Korea
AIGA, Gain Conference, New York
AIGA, In-The-House III, Parsons Lecture Series, New York
The Art Directors Club, Designism, New York
Type Director’s Club, New York
99% Conference, New York
Creative Mornings by Swiss-Miss, New York
Festival de Criação 2017 / Clube de Criação, São Paulo, Brazil
Offset, Dublin, Ireland
Design Indaba, Cape Town, South Africa
The World Knowledge Forum, Seoul, Korea
3M, Inspiramov, São Paulo, Brazil
Pro Arte Russia, Workshop, St. Petersburg, Russia
FILE / International Electronic Language Festival, São Paulo, Brazil
Golden Tag, Oslo, Norway
Experimenta, Amsterdam, Holland
Creative Industries Conference, Berlin, Germany
FID, Costa Rica
Scuela Politecnica, Milan, Italy
Sofia Design Week, Sofia, Bulgaria
Dynamic/MTL, Montreal, Canada
Medellin Design Week, Medellin, Colombia
Design Camp Fest, Lima, Peru
Innovation Lab, Seoul, Korea
JWT, New York
Teaching
School of Visual Arts, NY, BFA Senior Class, 2008 – 2014
Parsons School of Design, NY, BFA Sophomore Class, 2001 – 2002
Exhibitions
Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum, Graphic Design: Now in Production, New York
Museum of Art and Design, Otherwordly, New York
International Design Biennale, Experimenta, Amsterdam
The New York Times Gallery, Word Play, New York
Frankfurt Museum of Applied Arts, Korea Power, Frankfurt, Germany
The Eisner – American Museum of Advertising & Design, Milwaukee
Boston Society of Architects, Stereotype, Boston
Murphy & Dine Gallery, Small is Beautiful, New York
Sangsangmadang Gallery, Picnic on the City, Seoul, Korea
Lisbon Design Biennale, Catalysts, Lisbon, Portugal
Jan van Eyck Academie, Latent State, Maastricht, The Netherlands
Anonymous Gallery, Joy Ride, New York
International Design Week, Icograda, Torino, Italy
Museum for Graphic Design, Dialogue, Breda, The Netherlands
Museum of Contemporary Art, The World's Peace Day, Isfahan, Iran
UICA, Art Prize, Grand Rapids, Michigan
Raduga Mall, Play, St. Petersburg, Russia