# Cyworld Minihompy & Minimi (Korean Mini-Homepage Culture)

> The personal mini-homepage of Korea's Cyworld: one fixed, framed template that every user decorated item by item with a paid currency of acorns (dotori). A title bar; a left column with profile photo, mood line and friend list; in the centre the miniroom, a small isometric room of bought pixel furniture where a small pixel-style avatar (the minimi) lives; a right-hand menu of tabs; and a visitor counter. Selfies, diary entries, guestbook notes and wistful captions made it, in Korean press words, the nation's collective diary and photo album.

- Period: 2001–2015
- Where: East Asia
- Origin: Cyworld, Seoul, South Korea: a company founded on 1 September 1999 by members of a KAIST graduate-student club and absorbed into SK Communications on 2 August 2003. A 2001 minihompy project turned it from a club service into personal homepages; Weekly Kyunghyang (2004) dates the minihompy's birth to September 2001, and it officially launched in September 2002. On 7 October 2015 the minihompy was merged with the blog into Cyhome (싸이홈), which ends the period; a retro relaunch followed in October 2018.
- Branch: Digital native
- Also known as: Minihompy, 미니홈피, Mini-homepage, Minimi (미니미), Miniroom (미니룸), Dotori items (도토리)
- Page: https://stylogeny.com/styles/cyworld-minihompy/

## Use it with care

Cyworld, minihompy and minimi are trade names of a company that has relaunched the service: draw new avatars, rooms and frames rather than copying Cyworld's own items, logo or interface art. Real minihompys hold private people's selfies, diaries and comments; do not reproduce or scrape them as examples. The palette is an evocation of the pastel skins and light frames, not a sourced record of Cyworld's interface colours; the orange is unsourced.

## How it works

- Keep every page inside the same small, framed window: title on top, profile column on the left, main panel in the centre, tab menu and visitor statistics on the right.
- Let the owner speak through bought items, not code: swap the background, banner, font, minimi clothes, room furniture and background music one purchase at a time.
- Put a tiny pixel-style avatar in a little isometric room of pixel furniture at the heart of the home view, as the owner's stand-in for visitors.
- Fill the panels with personal photographs, a diary and friends' short comments, written for close friends rather than the public.
- Make items temporary and cheap, so the page is redecorated with the seasons and the owner's moods.

## Its design choices

Defining choices make the style, characteristic ones are usual, occasional ones turn up now and then.

### Layout & composition
- [Framed panels](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/framed-panels/) (defining)
- [Column grid](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/column-grid/) (characteristic)
- [Isolated object](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/isolated-object/) (characteristic)

### Space & hierarchy
- [Horror vacui](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/horror-vacui/) (characteristic)
- [Layered information](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/layered-information/) (characteristic)
- [Illusion of depth](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/illusion-of-depth/) (characteristic)
- [Flat hierarchy](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/flat-hierarchy/) (occasional)
- [Repetition & rhythm](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/repetition-and-rhythm/) (occasional)

### Typography
- [Ornamented display](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/ornamented-display/) (characteristic)
- [Eclectic mixing](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/eclectic-mixing/) (characteristic)
- [Bitmap & pixel](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/bitmap-and-pixel/) (occasional)
- [Rounded sans](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/rounded-sans/) (occasional)

### Colour
- [Light ground](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/light-ground/) (defining)
- [Pastel](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/pastel/) (characteristic)
- [Full polychrome](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/full-polychrome/) (characteristic)
- [Flat fields](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/flat-fields/) (characteristic)

### Form & shape
- [Stylised figuration](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/stylised-figuration/) (defining)
- [Rectilinear](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/rectilinear/) (characteristic)
- [Rounded & pill](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/rounded-and-pill/) (occasional)

### Surface & texture
- [Flat](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/flat/) (characteristic)

### Ornament
- [Abundant decoration](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/abundant-decoration/) (characteristic)
- [Borders & frames](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/borders-and-frames/) (characteristic)
- [Emblems & badges](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/emblems-and-badges/) (occasional)

### Imagery
- [Straight photography](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/straight-photography/) (defining)
- [Comic & cartoon](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/comic-and-cartoon/) (characteristic)
- [Pattern & repeat](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/pattern-and-repeat/) (characteristic)
- [Icons & pictograms](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/icons-and-pictograms/) (occasional)
- [Found & vernacular imagery](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/found-and-vernacular-imagery/) (occasional)

### Medium & production
- [Web & CSS](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/web-and-css/) (defining)
- [App & OS interface](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/app-and-os-interface/) (occasional)

### Tone & intent
- [Communal & popular](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/communal-and-popular/) (defining)
- [Warm & approachable](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/warm-and-approachable/) (defining)
- [Romantic & sensual](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/romantic-and-sensual/) (characteristic)
- [Playful & witty](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/playful-and-witty/) (characteristic)
- [Nostalgic & retro](https://stylogeny.com/design-choices/nostalgic-and-retro/) (occasional)

Avoids: Dark ground, Fluorescent & neon, Glitch, Chrome & 3D render, Generous white space, Rebellious & subversive, Authoritative & institutional, Full bleed

Palette: #fbf7ee, #f58220, #a9cfe8, #f5c6d3, #c9e3b3, #5b5b5b

Typefaces: Gulim (굴림), the default Korean Windows system face of Korean web pages, Dotum (돋움), the companion Korean system sans, Decorative Hangul fonts bought as minihompy items with dotori

Known for: Cyworld minihompy home page (from 2002): title, left column with photo, self-introduction and friend list, centre with recent posts, minimi, miniroom and friends' comments (ilchonpyeong), right-hand menu of profile, board, photo album, diary and guestbook, far-right counter of visitors, scraps and gifts; Isometric minirooms furnished with bought pixel furniture and wall paintings and inhabited by the minimi, whose hair, face and outfit were styled with paid items (isometric view and pixelated furniture: English Wikipedia; paid styling: Lady Kyunghyang, 1 August 2003); Paid minihompy items bought with dotori (acorns, 100 won each): background screens, banners, fonts and background-music tracks, most of them time-limited; Rival minihompy services from Buddy Buddy, MSN, Dreamwiz and Nexon, which Weekly Kyunghyang (10 June 2004) called a 'warring states era'; Cyworld's foreign versions, among them the United States (2006 to February 2010) and China (from 2005); 'Mini Life' (July 2008), a 3D virtual community reached through a new tab beside the miniroom, with about 650 3D items at launch; The October 2018 redesign that brought back the guestbook, minimi, minihompy and diary with an old-days sensibility; The 2025 'pixel minimi' trend of pixel-style avatars composited onto one's own photos, recalling the Cyworld era (Hankyung, 7 July 2025)

## Where it comes from, and what it’s close to

- Grew out of: [Early Web Vernacular](https://stylogeny.com/styles/early-web.md) (1994–2004)
- Influenced by: [Bitmap & Pixel Graphics](https://stylogeny.com/styles/bitmap-pixel.md) (1977–1995)
- Alike in its design choices: [Japanese Dense Web Design](https://stylogeny.com/styles/japanese-dense-web.md) (1999–present), 62% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Isometric Pixel Art](https://stylogeny.com/styles/isometric-pixel-art.md) (1998–present), 58% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Kawaii Design](https://stylogeny.com/styles/kawaii.md) (1970–present), 51% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Purikura Photo-Sticker Decoration](https://stylogeny.com/styles/purikura-deco.md) (1995–present), 51% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Newtro (Korean New-Retro)](https://stylogeny.com/styles/newtro.md) (2017–present), 49% alike
- Alike in its design choices: [Showa and Heisei Retro Revival (Japanese Packaging and Kissaten Graphics)](https://stylogeny.com/styles/showa-heisei-retro.md) (2005–present), 48% alike

## Sources

- Wikipedia: 'Cyworld' (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyworld: EC club of KAIST students, August 1999; minihompy officially launched 9 September 2002; miniroom as a decorative room with virtual furniture, minirooms as apartment-like spaces in an isometric projection, pixelated furniture among the virtual goods; minime avatar; one dotori costs 100 won; background skins and songs bought with acorns; ilchon; US 2006 to February 2010; China from 2005)
- Korean Wikipedia: '싸이월드' (https://ko.wikipedia.org/wiki/싸이월드: company founded 1 September 1999 by EBIZ club members from KAIST; absorbed into SK Communications 2 August 2003; 2001 minihompy project turning the club service into personal homepages; minihompy and blog merged into 싸이홈 on 7 October 2015; 10 million members in 2004; background, fonts, banners and background music as items, most of them time-limited; ilchon rules)
- Korean Wikipedia: '미니홈피' (https://ko.wikipedia.org/wiki/미니홈피: small, cute (아기자기한) design and interface; layout of title, left photo, self-introduction and friend list, centre with minimi, miniroom and ilchonpyeong, right menu, far-right visitor and gift counter; items of background screen, minimi clothes, room interior, music, banners and fonts; October 2018 retro redesign)
- 'Tech Talk: Cyworld Key Features', Emergic, 21 November 2006 (https://emergic.org/2006/11/21/tech-talk-cyworld-key-features/: title and four main areas; miniroom where the mini-me lives; background music, banners and fonts bought with dotori; visitor statistics window)
- Lady Kyunghyang, 1 August 2003 (https://lady.khan.co.kr/finance/article/3268: minimi hair, face and outfit styled with paid items; the miniroom as a small room; background music as a paid item; Cyworld's jukebox for saving songs, 350 won a song)
- Weekly Kyunghyang, '지금 대한민국은 싸이에 접속 중', 10 June 2004 (https://weekly.khan.co.kr/article/7413: the minihompy born in September 2001 (미니홈피가 탄생한 것이 2001년 9월); dotori at 100 won; rival minihompys from Buddy Buddy, MSN, Dreamwiz and Nexon)
- Money Today, 19 October 2019 (https://www.mt.co.kr/tech/2019/10/19/2019101809525629656: skins, background music, minimi and miniroom as paid decorating items; dotori at 100 won; profile pictures, greetings and mood icons mixing 'gamseong' and showiness)
- Korea JoongAng Daily, 'Cyworld reopening excites some…', 21 July 2021 (https://www.koreajoongangdaily.com/lifestyle/cyworld-reopening-excites-some-but-leaves-others-worried-about-what-will-resurface/11270039: the miniroom as the front page; minihompys as the nation's collective diary and photo album; selfies with cheesy captions; peak of about 32 million users in 2009)
- Etoday, 8 July 2008 (https://www.etoday.co.kr/news/view/173684: 'Mini Life' 3D community launched via a tab beside the miniroom, about 650 3D items)
- Hankyung, 7 July 2025 (https://www.hankyung.com/article/2025070728427: the 2025 'pixel minimi' trend of pixel-style minimi characters (픽셀풍 미니미 캐릭터) composited onto one's own photos, recalling the Cyworld era)
- Korean Wikipedia: '굴림체' (https://ko.wikipedia.org/wiki/굴림체: Gulim preinstalled with Korean Windows 3.1 in 1992 alongside Batang and Dotum; still paired with Malgun Gothic in web font stacks for layout safety)

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From Stylogeny (https://stylogeny.com/), an atlas of graphic-design styles by Van Riel Online Services. How it is made: https://stylogeny.com/about/. Cite as: Stylogeny, “Cyworld Minihompy & Minimi (Korean Mini-Homepage Culture)”, https://stylogeny.com/styles/cyworld-minihompy/