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September 12, 2024

Thoughtful Design to Shape Tomorrow

Advanced Design Concepts for Appliance Accessories
Appliance supplies of all sizes, shapes, and uses are arranged in a triangular grid, honeycomb filters, and more.
Appliance supplies of all sizes, shapes, and uses are arranged in a triangular grid, honeycomb filters, and more.

Lifestyle innovation begins with consistent research and contemplation. To present a vision for the future aligned with modern sensibilities, Samsung designers are exploring advanced design concepts for tomorrow alongside product designs released in the market, laying the groundwork for product innovation.

One of these efforts is advanced design concepts for appliance accessories. Designers from the fields of product, CMF, and visual communication collaborated for one year, sharing their respective expertise. Here are their advanced design concepts for improving our experience of appliance accessories maintenance and disposal, from a design perspective.

This content covers advanced design concepts that have not been released in the market. There are no specific plans for releasing these designs, which are early ideas without spec considerations for mass production.

“We assigned meanings to gray, green, and brown, designing to
make it easy for users to recognize the maintenance and
disposal methods, even if the products are changed.”
  • Black and white photographs of the faces of the three interviewed designers are lined up side by side. From left to right: Dahwe Park, Mina Kim, and Hyunbin Shin.
    Dahwe Park Product Designer, Design Team of
    Digital Appliances Business
  • Black and white photographs of the faces of the three interviewed designers are lined up side by side. From left to right: Dahwe Park, Mina Kim, and Hyunbin Shin.
    Mina Kim CMF Designer, Design Team of
    Digital Appliances Business
  • Black and white photographs of the faces of the three interviewed designers are lined up side by side. From left to right: Dahwe Park, Mina Kim, and Hyunbin Shin.
    Hyunbin Shin Visual Communication Designer, Design Team of
    Digital Appliances Business
It has a wide variety of home appliance supplies, including air purifier filters, water purifier filters, vacuum cleaner filters, and more.
It has a wide variety of home appliance supplies, including air purifier filters, water purifier filters, vacuum cleaner filters, and more.

How did the advanced design concept project come to fruition?

In many fields, people are actively working to create an eco-conscious world and we wanted to join this shift through a design approach. We believed it would be meaningful to present design directions for the future through advanced design concepts.

Why did you choose appliance accessories as the focus?

Even after buying products like air purifiers or vacuum cleaners, accessories like filters should be regularly maintained and replaced every few months. Since these accessories have a shorter lifespan than the main products, they generate continuous waste, so we thought it would be beneficial to make effective improvements through design. That’s how we started exploring advanced design concepts for appliance accessories that even consider disposal.

A series of bubbles with questions will appear. First, “Are air purifier filters considered regular trash ?” Second, “Should the dust bags from the Clean Station be thrown away separately from plastics?”. Third, “How should I dispose of a water purifier filter  after replacing it?”.
A series of bubbles with questions will appear. First, “Are air purifier filters considered regular trash ?” Second, “Should the dust bags from the Clean Station be thrown away separately from plastics?”. Third, “How should I dispose of a water purifier filter  after replacing it?”.
A series of bubbles with questions will appear. First, “Are air purifier filters considered regular trash ?” Second, “Should the dust bags from the Clean Station be thrown away separately from plastics?”. Third, “How should I dispose of a water purifier filter  after replacing it?”.
A series of bubbles with questions will appear. First, “Are air purifier filters considered regular trash ?” Second, “Should the dust bags from the Clean Station be thrown away separately from plastics?”. Third, “How should I dispose of a water purifier filter  after replacing it?”.
A series of bubbles with questions will appear. First, “Are air purifier filters considered regular trash ?” Second, “Should the dust bags from the Clean Station be thrown away separately from plastics?”. Third, “How should I dispose of a water purifier filter  after replacing it?”.
A series of bubbles with questions will appear. First, “Are air purifier filters considered regular trash ?” Second, “Should the dust bags from the Clean Station be thrown away separately from plastics?”. Third, “How should I dispose of a water purifier filter  after replacing it?”.
A series of bubbles with questions will appear. First, “Are air purifier filters considered regular trash ?” Second, “Should the dust bags from the Clean Station be thrown away separately from plastics?”. Third, “How should I dispose of a water purifier filter  after replacing it?”.

How did the idea evolve?

When first purchasing a product, it can be hard to understand how to maintain and dispose of the accessories while getting to grips with the main functions. For example, even among vacuum cleaner filters that look similar, some are designed to be washed and reused semi-permanently while others should be replaced periodically.

Therefore, we refined the advanced design concepts to have an appliance accessory design system with consistent colors and messages, no matter the type of appliance. We proposed a design concept that helps users intuitively understand how to handle accessories even if they purchase different products.

  • Images depicting the colors of consumer electronics supplies. First from left, a mountain ridge is centered over a gray color block. Second, an image of a lush forest over a green block. Third, an image of a grainy old rock wall on top of a brown color block.
  • Images depicting the colors of consumer electronics supplies. First from left, a mountain ridge is centered over a gray color block. Second, an image of a lush forest over a green block. Third, an image of a grainy old rock wall on top of a brown color block.
  • Images depicting the colors of consumer electronics supplies. First from left, a mountain ridge is centered over a gray color block. Second, an image of a lush forest over a green block. Third, an image of a grainy old rock wall on top of a brown color block.

How did you categorize the accessories?

We designated three colors according to the maintenance and disposal methods. Accessories that can be used semi-permanently are marked gray, those that should be replaced periodically but can be recycled or reused by the manufacturer are marked green, and those that should be thrown away with regular trash are marked brown. We hoped that through consistent application of these colors, users would easily understand the methods for maintenance and disposal, even if the product they use changes. Additionally, we engraved icons indicating whether accessories are washable/non-washable to prevent confusion about maintenance methods.

A green consumable and a gray consumable are facing each other.
A green consumable and a gray consumable are facing each other.
Iconic image of an air purifier filter being collected by the filter manufacturer when it is replaced after purchase. The actual release schedule for accessory packaging  made with this advanced design concept is to be determined. Release schedules may vary depending on the type of accessory.
*Images simulated for illustrative purposes. Actual UI may be different.

I know you’ve also thought about reuse methods for some accessories.

We fine-tuned advanced design concepts like accessories with reusable parts so only the core parts are replaced, and changing to materials that decompose faster. We also mapped out a scenario where the manufacturer collects the used accessories, disassembles them, and then reuses the parts.

For example, when throwing away an air purifier filter, the plastic frame around the filter has to be discarded with it because it’s difficult and dangerous for users to remove the plastic by themselves. But what if you could switch to having the manufacturer collect used filters when you buy a new one after getting a filter replacement reminder from the SmartThings app? And what if the manufacturer collected the accessories and disassembled reusable parts? We thought it would make it easier for users to dispose of used accessories, and manufacturers could produce products in a more eco-conscious way.

The vacuum cleaner’s Clean station dust bag with a paper top.

We also contemplated changing the top of our vacuum cleaner’s Clean Station dust bags from plastic to paper, since it’s disposed of as regular trash.

A package of supplies made of paper boxes. The brown box has an image of each consumable printed in white on it.

I heard you also designed an accessory packaging concept.

We redesigned the packaging to be a self-sealing structure without adhesives and plastic for easier waste sorting. We also minimized graphic elements by only including the essential information on the packaging and suggested soy ink single-tone printing. This simple design with only the essentials reduces ink use and increases product visibility. We’re currently undertaking several processes towards mass production to release the actual concept.

The actual release schedule for accessory packaging made with this advanced design concept is to be determined. Release schedules may vary depending on the type of accessory.

Finally, please share your thoughts on the project.

As we were developing various ideas into concepts, our focus was on ease and simplicity to encourage user participation. Being advanced design concepts, there’s still a long way to go, and more practical solutions will be necessary for actual mass production. We hope this project can be a valuable inspiration for future products.

The top of the green appliance consumable is labeled “Replacement”. The top of the gray appliance is imprinted with “Washable”. The gray appliance on the left has a water drop imprinted in the center of the right border, which is a washable to water.
Appliance supplies sorted from left to right: gray, green, and brown.
Appliance supplies sorted from left to right: gray, green, and brown.

Advanced design concepts for appliance accessories stem from the designers’ meticulous passion for creating solutions that consider the accessories as well as the main product from the user’s perspective. We hope this project will help expand the possibilities of appliance design.

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