April 20, 2024

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[THE INVESTOR] One of the men behind the smashing worldwide success of Pokemon GO is Korean-American Dennis Hwang -- also known as Hwang Jeong-mok.

Hwang is a graphic artist and art director of Niantic, the creator of the virtual reality game in which players can “catch” characters from the popular Japanese animation Pokemon; the characters “appear” in the real world, via a mobile phone application.

Based on an unprecedented business model created by Niantic chief John Hanke, Pokemon GO sold more than US$600 million worth of paid game items in just three months since its launch in July. Downloads reached over 500 million. Hanke’s assets are now said to be worth up to US$18 million. His firm, Niantic, is valued at around US$4 billion. 

Google Art Director Dennis Hwang

Industry watchers say the intricate and vivid design of the Pokemon characters -- all overseen by Hwang -- played a significant role in boosting the application’s popularity.

Hwang was born in the US, but soon came over to Korea where he stayed until middle school. Afterward, he went back to the US to study fine arts and computer science at Stanford University. In 2000, he interned at Google. Later, he worked as a designer for the firm, making his mark with his work for Google Doodles.

The first Doodle was created by Larry Page and Sergey Brin, but the job was Hwang’s from 2000.

On Aug.15, 2001, he inadvertently caused an uproar by creating a Doodle decorated with the Korean national flower and the yin-yang mark to commemorate Korea’s liberation from Japanese colonial rule. Indians complained to Google, as Aug. 15 is also India’s Independence Day.

Between 2005 and 2011, Hwang worked as a webmaster for Google. Later that year, he joined an in-house game-developing venture called Ingress created by Hanke, who was vice president of Google at the time. Ingress later went solo and changed its name to Niantic.

Hwang’s net worth has yet to be computed, and he may be far off from being a member of the superrich yet. But his personal value creating Google’s festive logos that are seen by billions every day, and his most recent achievements for Pokemon GO have industry watchers predicting Hwang to eventually become an invaluable member of the global graphic design scene.

By Kim Ji-hyun, Min Sang-sik and Lee Chae-yoon

(theinvestor@heraldcorp.com)