POWERbot,
Commencing Transformation
We often find familiar ‘faces’ in the appearances of
random objects. The POWERbot Star Wars Edition
was also born from the interesting idea of imagining
the faces of Darth Vader and the Stormtrooper in the
appearance of an existing model. This idea further
developed to eventually merge the personality and
function of the POWERbot with the imagery of the
Star Wars universe, leading to a mass production
project. The POWERbot’s strong suction power and
its CycloneForce reminds users of a resilient
Star Wars character, and the Edge Clean Master’s
auto-shutter that sweeps edges with the precision
of a lightsaber serves as an allegory to an intense
fight scene in the movie. Our designers started to
transform the POWERbot through these common
elements between the POWERbot and Star Wars’
characters.
Design that Captures
the Essence of Star Wars
The POWERbot Star Wars Edition is Samsung’s first
attempt at featuring a character on a home
appliance. Since we were featuring a Star Wars
character, we needed to first understand and
empathize with the deep love fans have for these
characters that stood the test of time. Our designers
personally met with world-renown members of the
Star Wars fan community for interviews, and through
their feedback, imbued the unique sentiments of the
Star Wars galaxy into the product.
Color Detail that Vividly Portrays
the Force of the Characters
The previous POWERbot model had to undergo
partial color modifications in order to accurately
transform and depict the appearances of Darth Vader
and the Stormtrooper. For instance, the color
‘Death Black’ was a result of rigorous experiments
and analysis of countless black colors. This color fills
in the front exterior of the Darth Vader product and
exudes the powerful aura of the original character.
The transparent dust chamber and the red cyclone
cap were originally designed to give better visibility
of the suction process to users, but we applied darker
shades to these parts to convey depth in the eyes of
the character as an effort to reflect the feedback we
received from the fan community. Our detailed work
in color modifications helped the POWERbot take on
a much more accurate resemblance of the Star Wars
character.
Printing Illustrations
for Perfect Resemblance
The faces of Darth Vader and the Stormtrooper are
printed over the front portion and dust chamber
area of the POWERbot Star Wars Edition. Since the
POWERbot is a three-dimensional product, there
were some discrepancies between the on-screen
sketch and the actual printed illustration. To achieve
perfect actualization of the character, our designers
had to create countless mock-ups to finally discover
the most optimized line that helped the character
come alive and instantly recognizable. Also, to boost
quality even in the most detailed steps of the
printing process, we sent our printing expert to
foreign production sites to impart key techniques.
Mobility Accompanied by Star Wars Voices
Sound is another important aspect of the overall
product experience, and must properly convey the
story that the product is telling. The POWERbot Star
Wars Edition’s sound effects borrow from the voices
of the movie’s characters, giving users the stirring
impression of being in the Star Wars universe.
A product’s sound effects are usually designed to
properly transmit information to users, but the
POWERbot Star Wars Edition takes a metaphorical
approach that makes use of quotes from the movies.
The UX designer went on a Star Wars marathon
through the entire series and built a script using
quotes that match the functions of the product. We
then hired fan-favorite voice actors to record the
lines. Star Wars fans will be pleasantly surprised to
hear the <Star Wars> soundtrack and Darth Vader’s
heavy breathing coming out from the POWERbot as
it prepares to start its cleaning cycle.
Package as a Part of Your Collection
The packages of products that collaborate with
popular works of art often become collectible items
themselves. We focused greatly on elevating the
package quality to give our users the thrill of not
only opening the package, but owning the package as
part of their collection as well.
We overlaid Darth Vader and Stormtrooper
illustrations on the front side of the packages to set
the special edition package apart from the existing
package design, and also included a Function List
that keeps track of all the sound effects of the
product. In addition, as an extra step of being mindful
of our users, we wrapped the basic package in vinyl
and packed it again in a separate cardboard box so
that users can keep both the product and the original
package in individual full boxes.
Simply supplementing a beloved character from a
beloved series into a product design may sound like
an easy task. However, our designers worked
intensely and joyfully to maintain the integrity of the
wonderful story that the character belonged to, and
developed a product that could be understood with
the same sentiments fans have toward the movie
series. The POWERbot Star Wars Edition was
designed with the profound intention of providing
a cheerful cleaning experience to the everyday lives
of our users. This is the end result of first
understanding where our users’ joy comes from, and
then applying that understanding into the very
designs of the product.
