▲ Lee Sung-min

It takes 3 seconds for others to perceive your image when first met. If this sounds curious to you, pay attention to what Image Mean CEO Lee Sung-min says “We call one’s own bodily color as ‘personal color’. Bodily color means the inherited colors of skin, hair and eye, and made up colors of make-up and fashion. Personal color is used as the base to improve one’s image through appropriate and agreeable colors and styles.”

Lee opened Image Mean in 2015. Its unique ‘Taste Image Scale’ course has fostered hundreds of personal image consultants. Lee has researched on color and its relation to individuals for the last 15 years. Her career expands to make up director of musicals, celebrity stylist, image director of entrepreneurs, and 6 years of extensive experience as a color specialist; not complacent, she is taking a doctoral course in chromatics at Hongik University at the moment to further deepen her knowledge. 

“Personal color is categorized into four seasonal tones like warm to cold. I put these colors into each person to find perfect color and image. The finding is then applied to one’s own make-up and fashion to create positive and agreeable images.”

It is notable that the bright color was preferable in the past while more people today tend to use colors that suit them best. This is the reason that many cosmetic firms are moving fast in introducing more colors options to meet the market demand. 

“I see more people recognize the important of ‘personal color’. Everybody can become more beautiful through finding one’s own color and it builds confidence in oneself and in interpersonal relations.”

“In fact, personal color not only applies to individuals but also to companies and even a nation in a way to create their brand or image more beautiful and attractive. I see this is highly proven at the classes I give to big companies such as LG, Amorepacific, Bobbie Brown, MCM and Samsung Life Insurance. I learned that how we use and apply colors greatly affect product images.” 

Image Mean is one of a few personal color education institutes in Korea. If you are seeking a career as a color imagist, you are highly recommended to pay attention to the Image Mean’s ‘Personal Color Specialist Course’. This 16 hour course provides you an image color marketer certificate (private) and a NPO International certificate if successfully finished. 

The ‘Taste Image Scale’ course aforementioned, on the other hand, trains you with 22 patterns of personality and fashion styles that are used to find just perfect color, pattern, material and style for each individual. The data was built by a famous Japanese chromatist through years of analysis on 80,000 Asians. This method is patented in Japan, Korea, China and the US. Just a few have this qualification in Korea and Lee is one of them.

“I strongly feel a sense of duty to foster talented future personal colorists in Korea since it is hard to find a place where you can learn personal color systematically. So the role of Image Mean has become more important than ever.”

Lee’s development of ‘Multicolor Arrangement Analysis Cloth’ in particular makes you understand about personal color faster and more accurate. Lee applied digital printing tech to the cloth which is unprecedented and its patented multicolor reflection light makes you free from using tens of clots to do the same job. She also developed a ‘lip analysis cloth’ which is being used in make-up stores in Lotte Department Store at the moment. 

In recognition of her achievement in the field, Lee received the 2018 Korea Education Industrial Awards held by The Herald Business in May.