FORBES KOREA STARSRENEWAL PROPOSAL
A renewal proposal for the Forbes Korea awards site where fans choose the winners
Read case01 · VOTEOne vote is one small light
Fans in more than 160 countries each send one vote
02 · LIGHTToward the same name, the lights gather
Scattered votes flow to one place
03 · STARThe gathered light becomes a star
A star with its four points pulled inward: ✦
04 · FORBES ✦ STARSThat star links Forbes and STARS
The small star in the middle of the logo is made of fans’ votes
Forbes Korea Stars is Forbes Korea’s awards site, where fandom votes choose idols and celebrities. It runs MONTHLY VOTE every month; FKA, the K-pop awards held once in each half of the year since 2021; and FF, the celebrity awards that pick a celebrity every month and add up twelve months of votes at year end. Voting happens in the fandom apps IDOLCHAMP and CELEBCHAMP. The winners of MONTHLY VOTE and FKA appear in Forbes Korea magazine with an article and a special cover, and FKA winners and FF champions are honored together at the FORBES KOREA STARS ceremony.
사이트의 브랜드와 어워즈를 살펴보고 팬을 위한 경험을 어떻게 풀어낼지 고민한 기록입니다.
NOW · forbeskoreastars.krHOME2026.10
FKA
Twice a yearWinners of the K-pop awards are selected through preliminary and final rounds.FF
Monthly votes + year-end resultsCelebrities are selected each month, and votes are tallied for the year.MONTHLY VOTE
Once a monthIdols and celebrities are selected according to each month’s theme.Menu repeated for each award
The top menu shows four words side by side: FKA · FF · MONTHLY VOTE · NOTICE. That FKA is the Forbes Korea K-pop awards and FF the celebrity awards only becomes clear from the cards on the opening screen or the brackets on the about pages. Fans arriving for the first time had to work out which vote was open right now.
Each of the three awards repeats the same four pages, VOTE LIVE · ABOUT · HOW · WINNERS, on the same frame. A monthly vote, an award with preliminary and final rounds every half year, and a year-end tally of twelve months of votes all looked alike, so the differences between them never showed.
The D-day and clock on the voting pages count by the date and midnight on the visitor’s device. Fans from more than 160 countries visit the site, yet the screens are Korean only, and the same deadline can fall on a different day depending on the country.
The Forbes Korea special cover and the ceremony trophy that the winner receives appear only as a sentence in the introduction. The winners page, too, shows no more than a photo and a name once you pick a year and a round. The moment fans wait for most was nowhere on screen.
Read from the top, the logo says Forbes, a star on a horizontal rule, then STARS. Forbes is a business magazine founded in 1917, and it has published the Forbes 400 since 1982, which is why the list is the first thing that comes to mind with Forbes. If the numbers behind the Forbes lists are net worth and income, the numbers behind Forbes Korea Stars are fans’ votes.
✦ A fan’s voteWhere the side that records in numbers meets the side that cheers
In the logo illustration (272×162px), the star is 17.5px in diameter and the horizontal line is 1.6px thick. The four vertices are connected with an inward curve instead of a straight line, resulting in a shape that is sharper and more sparkly than a diamond. When adjusted to the area of the original picture, it was almost the same as a star with the control point of the curve pulled 24% from the vertex toward the center.
How far the curves are pulled in24%The star in the logo
As you scroll, the curves between the four points bend inward. You can also move the slider to explore the shape. The 24% point corresponds to the star in the logo.
The star that was once used in the logo was changed to a symbol that has the same meaning throughout the site. Wherever there are stars, there's always something to do with fans' votes.
It will slowly flash next to the name of the currently open ballot.
Only the first row in the list is given a star.
Like the logo, a horizontal line is placed in the middle to divide the chapters.
The star spins around while reloading the votes.
When you send your support, it spreads like a little star bursting.
It's placed small in front of lists such as voting rules.
Slicing the lettering of the three award name artworks (FKA · FF · MONTHLY VOTE) from left to right and measuring the colors gives almost the same values at five points: a gradient from red #FF2340 through pink #FD359D to violet #B533C9. In the banner, black takes up 55% of the screen, and these colors shine on top of it like stage lights.
#FF2340#FF2C6B#FD359D#D834B5#B533C9Try dragging or pressing the handle on the bar. It immediately calculates how clear the text written in that color is on a black and white background. The red side on a black background and the purple side on a white background exceed the text standard (4.5:1).
The short stretch between the two bands, where the gradient turns violet, never meets the body-text standard on either background. Its colors are kept for large headings and light.
#FD359D50%Vote for the artist you support
5.7:1 Pass throughVote for the artist you support
3.4:1 Below| Pair | View | Contrast | 4.5:1 based on text |
|---|---|---|---|
| Red letters, black background | Go to Vote | 5.2:1 | Pass |
| Pink letters, black background | Go to Vote | 5.7:1 | Pass |
| Purple letters, black background | Go to Vote | 4.0:1 | Undersized · Large titles only |
| Violet for black backgrounds | Go to Vote | 4.5:1 | Pass |
| Red letters, white background | Go Vote | 3.7:1 | Undersized · Large titles only |
| Pink letters, white background | Go Vote | 3.4:1 | Undersized · Large titles only |
| Purple letters, white background | Go Vote | 4.9:1 | Pass |
| Red for white backgrounds | Go Vote | 4.5:1 | Pass |
| Pink for white backgrounds | Go Vote | 4.5:1 | Pass |
The red to purple gradient is only used in bold titles of 24px or larger and in shiny areas such as ✦ and vote bars. The text and small labels are written in white or ink black.
For dark backgrounds, red, pink, and bright purple are used, and for white backgrounds, purple and slightly suppressed red and pink are used.
Each fandom has a different color they cheer for. The site's colors are not the colors of any one fandom, but rather a band from red to purple that places all candidates under the same lighting.
When text sits on a stage photo, a dark gradient goes underneath to keep body text at 4.5:1.
The current banner scatters a crown, a trophy, a diamond, an AWARDS capsule above three stars and ribbons of running text like stickers. We turned these stickers from decoration into signs: each award gets one of the pictures, and new stickers show the state of a vote.
The winner of the month, chosen once a month. A crown sits inside a wave-rimmed badge.
The award whose winner receives a trophy at the FORBES KOREA STARS ceremony. The trophy sits inside a rounded square.
Fans choose the celebrity they love most, the FAVORITE CELEB. A diamond sits inside a flower-shaped badge.
The blurred picture behind is the current site banner. The sticker above was redrawn during this renewal.
MONTHLY VOTE runs once a month, FKA holds a preliminary and a final round in each half of the year, and FF picks a celebrity every month while adding up twelve months of votes for one more award at year end. Instead of twelve pages on the same frame, we drew the year as a single ring and laid the three clocks over it.
January
This month’s MONTHLY VOTE and FF votes open, followed by the first-half FKAOnce a month, we select the idol and celebrity of the month. That's twelve times a year.
There are preliminary rounds (SEMI FINAL) and finals (FINAL) once in the first and second half of the year. The top 5 from the preliminary round will advance to the finals.
Every month, the celebrity of the month is decided, and the votes from all twelve months are added up to determine the celebrity of the year once again at the end of the year.
Pages with the same name from the three awards are gathered together. Three VOTE LIVEs become one screen of “Vote Now,” and three ABOUTs become a page comparing the three awards side by side. A new “candidate/list” that was not present on the site has been added.
All open votes, regardless of awards, are collected on one screen. Deadlines and apps are also visible.
A ranking you browse by switching awards in tabs. The current site has no such section.
NEWCompare the cycles, nominations, and rewards of the three awards on one page.
This is an archive where each year's winners and special covers are stacked on one wall.
The guide is divided into two categories: Idol Champ and Celeb Champ.
Collect schedules and results notices.
투표 화면의 원리를 작게 만들어 보았습니다. 응원을 보내면 빛이 막대로 날아가 득표가 오르고, 순위가 바뀐 행은 자리를 바꿉니다. 시계는 방문자 기기의 자정이 아니라 서울의 자정까지 남은 시간을 세고, 그 시각이 내 시간으로 언제인지 함께 보여 줍니다.
MONTHLY VOTEIdol group · sample
아티스트는 실제 팀이지만 순위와 득표수는 시연용 예시입니다.
Until midnight in Seoul
00:00:00
In your local time—
Works out what time midnight in Seoul (KST 00:00) is in each city, using real time zones.
The winners of MONTHLY VOTE and FKA appear in Forbes Korea magazine with an article and a special cover. In the renewal, this cover is both the last scene of the results and the cover wall of the winners archive. With the cover layout fixed in advance, the announcement screen keeps the same quality whichever artist comes first.
아티스트는 실제 인물이지만 순위와 표지는 시연용 예시입니다. FF 위너는 표지 대신 FORBES KOREA STARS 시상식에서 함께 시상합니다.
SPECIAL COVERFORBES KOREA STARS
MONTHLY VOTE · September 2026FKA · H1 2026
Idol of the Month, chosen by fansCelebrity of the Month, chosen by fansMale idol of the first half, chosen by fansFemale idol of the first half, chosen by fans
FKA에는 160여 개국의 팬이 투표합니다. 서울이 자정일 때 뉴욕은 오전이고 파리는 오후입니다. 마감을 서울 시각으로 적고 방문자의 시각을 함께 보여 주는 방식을 살펴보았습니다.
Each dot is one 1.8° cell of land in longitude and latitude. Lights travel to Seoul from cities around the world (the number of lights has nothing to do with actual vote counts).
The next midnight in Seoul (KST 00:00), converted to each city’s time zone. Daylight saving time follows that day’s actual rules.
FORBES KOREA STARS RENEWAL PROPOSAL
Forbes Korea Starz Awards site renewal proposal
ISSUE2026.10
From the day voting opens to the day the cover comes out, we will design scenes one by one to capture the moments fans are waiting for.
Media · Publishing
Munhakdongne Publishing Group
A website renewal proposal for a publishing group. The brand reading starts from “dongne,” the word for neighborhood in its name. It includes colors from paper, ink and bookmark ribbon, four proposals, and experiences for browsing books and reading serials.
Finance
Hana Bank HANA THE NEXT Webzine
A renewal proposal for Hana Bank’s senior webzine. It starts from the logo: the E is three lines for life’s first, second and third acts, and a “⟩” hides inside the X. Reading standards are rebuilt from the daily schedule of (New) Seniors aged 50–64 and from the smallest type size, a date-ordered list is reorganized into three life acts and five topics, and two proposals follow: THE NEXT PAGE, which turns a cover every week, and MY NEXT ACT, which finds your act by birth year.
Media · Production
DOREMI ENTERTAINMENT
A website renewal proposal for a drama and OST production company. The teal trapezoid in the logo is read as projector light and the name as three notes, do, re and mi. It includes two palettes split from a single teal, an information structure written as a scene list, two proposals, SCENE & SCORE and STORIES THAT STAY, and two brand films.
Contact
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