There’s a short but interesting interview in Business Week with Samsung’s Chung Kook Hyun, who is in charge of the company’s design center. Samsung has been sending its industrial designers to ‘exchange programs’ in other industries, like fashion or furniture, so that when they return they can approach the design on consumer electronics with a slightly different way of thinking. But it’s more than just new visual techniques for Samsung’s people—they are moving to incorporate their design teams into the entire manufacturing process, so the experience of product use extends all the way to feedback from the users themselves (information that often gets back to sales teams, but not product designers).
It’s an encouraging sign from a company already making lots of smart moves in its markets segments, especially since it seems that design is becoming one of the last ways to differentiate oneself from the hundreds of similar competitors.
Q&A With Samsung Design Boss Chung Kook Hyun [BusinessWeek]
Samsung Design [BusinessWeek]
