Fortune USA 201901-02

KEEPING IN TUNE WITH TRENDS
Samsung’s Corporate Design
Center oversees the promotion of
design innovation throughout the
company, but in order to keep up
with fast-changing consumer trends,
each business division has its own
dedicated design team. There are
seven design studios across the
globe, in San Francisco, São Paulo,
London, Seoul, New Delhi, Beijing,
and Tokyo, and the designers take
advantage of their various locations
by researching and delving into the
local cultures and values: It’s the best
way to incorporate these aspects
into product concepts and enrich the
consumer experience.
“We design experiences. Design is,
nowadays more than ever, a vehicle to
support local cultures, education, and
health at individual and social levels,
and in that sense, it is becoming a
critical function of our societies,”
says Federico Casalegno, head of the
Samsung Design Innovation Center in
San Francisco.
In fact, tracking the preferences
of diff erent generations is one of
the designers’ core responsibilities.
Millennials, in particular, have
emerged as an important
demographic to follow, because their
consumption patterns and design
preferences drive trends.

ONWARD AND UPWARD

While Samsung plans to focus on

improving its designs, the company’s

design teams acknowledge that they

will face challenges. The rise of a new

generation, ever-shifting markets,

and the global race for technological

superiority are creating a new

landscape that designers must factor

into their work.

To manage these changes,

Samsung design has recruited

experts in humanities, engineering,

industrial design, and other areas.

Samsung says that these experts and

their diverse backgrounds will enable

the company to think more creatively.

In addition to recruiting from outside

Samsung, the company runs various

training programs to help current

staff strengthen and build upon their

capabilities.

In the end, Samsung designers

are working to give consumers

enhanced integrated experiences that

go beyond simply providing a good

product.

“It’s more than just the hardware,

and it’s more than just the user

interface,” says Lee. “It’s about how

all of those come together to actually

create a product with a soul.” z

CONTENT FROM SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS

ABOUT

SAMSUNG DESIGN

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1971—it now has approximately 1,500.

About 40% of the designers at Samsung

have non-design backgrounds, including

engineering, music, the humanities and

social studies.

There are seven global design studios,

in Seoul, San Francisco, London, Beijing,

New Delhi, Tokyo and São Paulo.

For more information, please visit

design.samsung.com

Samsung One UI

(User Interface)