How Design Agency 'd'strict' Brings Art to the General Public

Have you ever seen the giant digital screen on the side of COEX called WAVE? Or visited the immersive light museum Arte Museum, located in Jeju, Yeosu, Busan, Las Vegas, and beyond? Anyone who has traveled to Seoul or Jeju Island has probably come across one of these mesmerizing art spaces. The creative agency behind both of them is d’strict — a Korean design studio that has redefined digital art experiences worldwide.

What’s surprising, though, is that d’strict’s journey wasn’t always glamorous. Before achieving international fame, the company faced several major failures that almost destroyed it. Let’s take a closer look at those early struggles — and the turning point that transformed the company’s path.

d’strict began with its members’ fascination for technology — holograms, media façades, and 4D screens. Thanks to this experimental spirit, the agency quickly rose to prominence as one of the best web design companies in Korea. However, their attempt to create an original intellectual property through a 4D art museum ended in disaster.

The idea was ambitious: to let visitors experience cutting-edge technology so vividly that they would feel as if living creatures were right in front of them. But vague storytelling and poor circulation design left audiences confused about what the exhibition was really about. The daily visitor count averaged only 1,100, and the show closed after 100 days — resulting in a staggering deficit of 10 billion won.

From this painful failure, d’strict learned a critical lesson: when introducing art through advanced technology, the flow of experience must be carefully structured, and audiences need clear and empathetic storytelling to truly connect with the work.

Applying this lesson, d’strict launched “Play K-Pop” in Jeju — a more audience-centered project with a specific concept and clearly targeted consumers. Unfortunately, external political tensions between Korea and China disrupted tourism, preventing the success they had hoped for.

After these two major setbacks, the head of d’strict opened Arte Museum Jeju, now the largest media art exhibition in Korea. This time, the company applied three key strategies to redefine their creative approach.

First, they focused on the most universal and approachable theme — nature. They realized that to reach a broad audience, they needed a concept that everyone could instinctively relate to. Nature’s beauty, they found, is direct, timeless, and emotionally resonant.

Second, they expanded beyond visuals. To create a truly immersive environment, d’strict collaborated with sound designers and scent specialists, allowing visitors to experience the rhythm, sound, and atmosphere of nature with all their senses. This added a sense of 여백 — a Korean aesthetic concept meaning “meaningful emptiness” — so that visitors could slow down and fully absorb the art.

Through these strategies, Arte Museum quickly expanded worldwide — to Hong Kong, Las Vegas, Dubai, and New York. It became a global phenomenon by blending artistic sensibility with digital technology in a way that was both accessible and emotionally engaging.

After the success of Arte Museum, d’strict took another step toward connecting with the public. They noticed how people were becoming desensitized to the overwhelming flood of outdoor advertising in city spaces. Instead of selling products, they wanted to offer a moment of calm and beauty — art as urban healing. That’s how the WAVE installation at COEX in Gangnam was born.

This monumental public artwork gave d’strict a new mission: to bring art out of museums and into everyday life, transforming ordinary cityscapes into spaces of shared emotion and wonder.