I Went to Shinan’s Purple Island for Work And Ended Up Designing 80 Souvenirs

JAY PICKS · PLACES I ACTUALLY KNOW

There are places in Korea that everyone knows.

Seoul. Busan. Jeju.

And then there are places that make you stop and think:

“Why don’t more people know about this?”

Shinan was one of those places for me.

It has beautiful natural scenery, countless islands, quiet roads, small local communities, and a completely different atmosphere from the Korea most international travelers see on their first trip.

And I didn’t discover it from a travel ranking.

I went there because of my work.

I Didn’t Go to Purple Island Just as a Tourist

I travel around Korea quite a lot for work.

That means I often end up in places that aren’t necessarily on a typical foreign traveler’s itinerary.

I walk around.

I look at the shops.

I talk with people who live and work there.

Sometimes the most interesting information doesn’t come from a tourism brochure.

It comes from a conversation with someone running a small store.

Or from taking the wrong road and realizing there’s something beautiful at the end of it.

That is one of my favorite parts of what I do.

And when I spent time in Shinan, I noticed something.

The destination itself had such a strong identity and beautiful scenery, but I felt there weren’t enough designed tourism souvenirs that visitors could take home and immediately think:

“This is Shinan.”

So I decided to make some.

Not five.

Not ten.

Around 80 different items.

Yes.

Apparently I have difficulty doing things halfway. 😂

I Designed Souvenirs Here

I worked with characters and local visual ideas to create tourism souvenirs, then displayed and sold them there.

For me, that changed the way I looked at the destination.

When you visit somewhere for a day, you tend to look for the obvious things.

Where should I take a photo?

What should I eat?

What is the famous attraction?

But when you actually have to design something that represents a place, you start looking differently.

You notice colors.

Small details.

What makes one island feel different from another.

What visitors stop to look at.

What actually feels local rather than something that could be sold anywhere in Korea.

That experience is one of the reasons Purple Island stayed in my memory.

It wasn’t simply somewhere I visited.

For a while, it became somewhere I had to really look at.

JAY'S NOTE

Visiting a place and having to create something that represents that place are two very different experiences.

And This Is Probably Why I Finally Started This Blog

I have traveled to so many places around Korea.

I’ve spoken with people running local businesses, wandered around areas I had never seen before, and found small places that rarely appear on the usual travel lists.

And strangely enough, for all those years...

I never thought I would actually have the courage to open a blog and start sharing them.

Maybe I should have started sooner.

My phone is full of photos.

My memory is full of places.

And there are so many little stories that would otherwise just stay there.

So eventually I thought:

Why am I keeping all of this to myself?

Part of my work is already finding interesting places around Korea.

If international travelers don’t know they exist, maybe I can simply show them.

Not as a tourism office.

Not as someone trying to tell you that every destination is “a must-visit hidden gem.”

Just as someone who has actually been there.

Korea Is Much Bigger Than the Usual Tourist Route

I really don’t want JAY Beyond Seoul to feel like a catalog designed only to sell something.

What I hope happens is much simpler.

“Oh. I didn’t know Korea had a place like this.”

or

“Wait, I can travel like this in Korea too?”

That's enough.

Of course, Seoul is incredible.

Busan is worth visiting.

Jeju is beautiful.

Gangwon has some fantastic places too.

But Korea doesn’t suddenly end when you leave the destinations that appear on every international itinerary.

There are islands.

Tiny towns.

Coastal roads.

Local markets.

Villages.

Mountains.

Small restaurants that nobody is making TikToks about.

And landscapes that look completely different depending on which part of the country you travel through.

Some of them are famous among Koreans.

Some aren't.

And sometimes even I arrive somewhere and think:

“How did I not know about this place?”

That feeling is something I want to share.

Then There’s Purple Island

Purple Island is exactly the kind of place that fits what I want to do with this blog.

It has a strong visual identity, obviously.

There is purple everywhere.

You’ll probably take more purple photos in one day than you have in the rest of your life. 😂

But what interests me more is where it is.

You have to leave the usual Seoul-centered travel bubble.

The scenery changes.

The pace changes.

Even the feeling of traveling changes.

And that is what “Beyond Seoul” means to me.

Not:

“Seoul is boring, go somewhere else.”

Absolutely not.

I love Seoul.

It means:

“You’ve seen Seoul.
Now let me show you what else is here.”

JAY BEYOND SEOUL

That’s a much more interesting journey.

Would I Tell Everyone to Put Purple Island on Their First Korea Trip?

Probably not.

And this is something I want to be clear about on this blog.

Not every beautiful place is right for every traveler.

If you have only four days in Korea and it’s your first visit, I’m not going to tell you to throw away your Seoul itinerary just because I want to promote a remote destination.

That would be ridiculous.

PURPLE ISLAND MAY BE FOR YOU IF...

✓ You’ve already seen Korea’s major cities.

✓ You like islands and slower travel.

✓ You enjoy photography.

✓ You’re curious about places outside Korea’s usual international tourism route.

Then destinations like Shinan start becoming much more interesting.

That's where I want JAY to help.

Not by telling everyone to visit everything.

But by showing you enough of Korea that you can decide:

“That place feels like me.”

A Different Kind of Korea

When I look back at my time in Shinan, I don’t only remember Purple Island.

I remember working on the souvenirs.

I remember looking at the destination from a design perspective.

I remember traveling around the area and paying attention to things I probably would have walked straight past as an ordinary visitor.

And now I get to do something with those memories.

I can share them.

There are still a lot of places sitting in my photos that I haven’t written about yet.

Some famous.
Some strange.
Some beautiful.
Some that I probably wouldn't recommend at all. 😂

But that's the fun part.

I don't want to show you a perfect Korea.

I want to show you more of Korea.

And if one day you visit somewhere because you first saw it here and think,

“Wow. I didn't know Korea had places like this.”

Then opening this blog was worth it.

This is Shinan Purple Island.

And it's only one of many places I want to show you.

From Korea, with stories I actually lived.

— JAY