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SAMSUNG DESIGN CHINA

Local Sentiments
That Reach out
Globally

  • This is Xiangrong Zhang’s profile photo.
    Xiangrong Zhang

    Senior Designer, SDC

  • This is Liu Ye’s profile photo.
    Liu Ye

    Senior Designer, SDC

  • This is Qiawei Li’s profile photo.
    Qiaowei Li

    Senior Designer, SDC

  • This is Xinxiu Hou’s profile photo.
    Xinxiu Hou

    Senior Designer, SDC

  • This is Shen Jiang’s profile photo.
    Shen Jiang

    Designer, SDC

“ Elevating local emotions to globally significant designs. ”

  • These are photos captured by SDC designers.
  • These are photos captured by SDC designers.
  • These are photos captured by SDC designers.

I’d like to hear about the design trends that are popular in China right now.

Qiaowei Two trends coexist right now. One is a simple design style that can be easily found in Chinese mobile and IoT devices, and the other is a China retro style that is prominently expressed in textures and patterns. A simple style can easily fit any outfit or decoration, and a retro style expresses the interest and confidence that the younger generation of China has for their own culture. Before, Chinese people liked to follow western styles, but with the development of China’s economy, the younger generation now wants to express their individuality through China’s cultural elements. At the same time, they want to look modern as well, so this ‘new Chinese style’ has grown in popularity in recent years.

What do you focus on when you apply local trends and cultures to the designs?

Qiaowei Social media and UGC platforms are very helpful tools when it comes to understanding people’s tastes and ongoing trends. First, I collect information on social media and try to fathom what is going on, and then I think about the relevancy of it for design. When applying China’s local culture into design, we need to carefully understand the underlying cultural context in order to convey the right information to our consumers. Timing is also important. New trends in China come and go very quickly. I believe we need to discover the fundamental source of mainstream trends and make good use of it. Xinxiu & Shen On a similar note with what was said, we need to carefully examine the actual usage behaviors of Chinese customers. We also need to consider local social trends. Xiangrong Our designs are carried out based on in-depth research and analysis of lifestyles, interests, aesthetic preferences and so on.

I’d imagine this pertains to the areas of CMF design as well.

Liu Of course. To keep our product competitive, we have to maintain keen insight of local marketing trends. That is why we collect and analyze information on the lifestyles and behaviors of Chinese consumers. Due to the particularity and complexity of China’s market, Chinese consumers exhibit a higher tendency to accept novel concepts and do not hesitate to try out new things. They are eager to see more innovative products in the market. Additionally, they want to own products that are not only aesthetically appealing but also unique enough to express their individual styles. We forecast and propose color themes that fit current trends and try to cater to different consumer preferences. We also do our best to break through technological limitations and expand the possibilities for new colors and new visual effects to provide a fresh look for Chinese consumers.

This is an image of Samsung Galaxy A8S.

Galaxy A8s

The Galaxy A8s seems like a great example of using distinctive colors.

Liu Color has emerged as an important marketing tool in China. Based on market research and consumer surveys, gradient colors were predicted as the upcoming trend for 2018 in China. That is why we chose gradient color combinations as an important design element for the Galaxy A8s. Among the five different versions, we applied the pink-to-blue and pink-to-yellow dual tone gradations to two versions that targeted young women.

Tell us about the design process.

Xiangrong Applying the HID Display was the most important part in the process. The Galaxy A8s is the first smartphone in the world that applied HID technology. We ramped-up the display occupation ratio to 91.56% and created an innovative design that combined animation effects to provide a new visual experience for users. Another key point of the Galaxy A8s is the rear camera deco. In order to highlight the high performance of the main rear camera, we gave more emphasis to the main camera in the middle out of the three rear cameras to add a differentiated design element to the product. There were technical challenges to do so because it was the first time anyone did this in the world, but we ultimately succeeded. After the Galaxy A8s was released, local Chinese competitors started to imitate our design and applied this design into their new products.

This is an image of Samsung Galaxy A8S which the dual-tone gradation was applied.

Galaxy A8s

This is an image of Samsung Galaxy A8S.

Galaxy A8s

It must have been especially difficult when transitioning to mass production.

Xiangrong When the design mockup was first made, the feedback was great but there were aspects about it that made it difficult to mass produce. An example is the decoration design of the back main camera and the angle of transformation under light that showed different colors reflecting on the metal. I came up with six different implementation methods and went through countless sample tests to finally come up with the best solution. Liu It was the same for CMF. We attempted many different solutions in the process of anodizing aluminum to achieve the dual tone gradient and went through numerous films for testing. We wanted to find the best quality within the scope of what was possible.

This is an image of UI design of Samsung Assistant for China

Samsung Assistant UX

I’d like to know how you capture unique local qualities in UX design.

Xinxiu & Shen We followed Samsung Electronics’ UX standards while basing our designs on local users’ needs. It’s about instilling local culture within a consistent global brand identity. Samsung Assistant for Chinese users is a model case of that.

Please elaborate more on how you captured local culture for Samsung Assistant.

Xinxiu & Shen The Mall function would be a good example to share. We could see there was a crucial difference in mobile shopping mall designs Chinese users preferred compared to globally popular ones. While the global trend is more about a neat shopping mall style, Chinese people like styles that featured as much information as possible in a single screen. This difference is due to the Chinese people being used to obtaining information more effectively and their preference for acquire information as much as possible even in a quick glance. It is also influenced by the special crowd culture that is unique to China.

How was the local response for both the Galaxy A8s and Samsung Assistant for Chinese users?

Xiangrong They received great feedback. Many users praised the localization design of the phone. Liu We provided a wider choice of colors for the Galaxy A8s, and we think this effectively portrayed Samsung Electronics’ willingness to understand and respect Chinese consumers. Xinxiu & Shen Chinese consumers started to use the Samsung Assistant’s Mall feature to make actual purchases. It was a great result that was due to providing an interface they were familiar with.

  • This is photos of SDC designers.
  • This is photos of SDC designers.

Do you have any last comments you would like to add?

Qiaowei With government support and the efforts of Chinese enterprises investing in innovation, China has expanded the competitive level of its products, services, and technologies to global standards. On this basis, Chinese companies are continuing to expand to the global market. As a design studio situated in a highly competitive region, SDC will not only serve locally-minded designs but also continue activities to ramp up Samsung’s global competency by newly proposing sentimental products and services using the competitive strength of China. Xiangrong Consumer needs and standards for electronics will be increasingly challenging to fulfill, while our competitors will consistently improve through bold and experimental attempts. We will listen closely to the needs of today’s young consumers who desire unique and distinct design experiences and continue to strive toward strengthening the unique global capabilities of Samsung Electronics by focusing more on the lifestyles and trends of local users.

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