Kim Geu-ryun, creator at Apple TV's content team
Motion graphics designer and AI creator
"To create good work with AI, I think it helps to combine the strengths of others and hold onto an originality that sets you apart."
That was the response Kim Geu-ryun, a creative at Apple TV's content team, gave Friday after presenting under the title "AI Game" at the Herald Design Lounge 2026 at Dongdaemun Design Plaza (DDP) in Seoul. An audience member had asked how to differentiate a yutnori game they had built using AI over the chuseok holiday.
Kim is a Los Angeles-based motion graphics designer and AI creator. He previously worked as a lead animator at Elastic, a studio specializing in global title sequences, contributing to the main title sequences of multiple films and drama series, including The Gilded Age. He also received an Emmy Award for his work on the main title sequence of The Last of Us.
At the Herald Design Forum 2024 two years ago, Kim shared his journey as a motion graphics designer through a 2D game format — describing how he cleared each "boss" and earned rewards at every stage, from breaking into the US market to winning an Emmy. At the time, he said he had recently grown interested in incorporating AI into his work.
Taking the stage at this year's Herald Design Lounge, Kim expanded from a 2D to a 3D game format to tell the story of his journey through the AI era. Both the form and content of his presentation conveyed a narrative of growth through AI. He said he had chosen to study AI and pursue a YouTube channel rather than chase more awards as a motion graphics designer. He stressed the importance of "originality" throughout.
Kim said he diagnosed the YouTube market as a "red ocean" when he first entered it. The game video he showed during his presentation depicted a reddish sea, with a character sailing across it and defeating a series of bosses, until the red ocean finally turned into a "blue ocean" — mirroring the moment he received YouTube's Silver Play Button in real life.
The video showed his character acquiring two items: a "telescope" and "paint." He said he had noticed that many YouTubers were crowding into the same space, and that grasping the broader flow of the market was essential — a skill he likened to a telescope. He used "paint" as a metaphor for originality, noting that most YouTubers lacked a distinct color of their own.
Kim also described how he became drawn to vibe coding — a method in which a user expresses intent in plain language and AI converts it into executable code — framing it as his character visiting an island called "Vibe." He said that as the AI era produces a growing number of similar products, what matters is holding onto one's own creative identity and producing original content.
He named the final boss in his presentation "the copycat." He said he was able to defeat it by moving beyond existing genres and creating a new one. "I realized that in the AI era, everyone is making similar products," he said. "When everyone was producing the same examples, I mobilized every skill I had. I researched beyond Korea into overseas markets and stayed true to my own color."
Having told his story as a designer through a 2D game two years ago and now through a 3D game to describe the AI era, Kim said his next challenge is to create "an even better new genre." He added, "If vibe coding let me create a new genre that didn't exist before, then going forward, the new genre is making something even better — something that has never existed."
bell@heraldcorp.com
