Samsung has unveiled a new product design identity for its products. “Samsung Design Identity 5.0 (DI 5.0): Essential∙Innovative∙Harmonious” will define the future of the Korean firm’s product design. The new design identity applies to its smartphones, TVs, refrigerators, and other products through 2030. The company will showcase its vision at the Milan Design Week 2024 on April 16.
Samsung redefines its design identity to reflect a changing consumer lifestyle
In a recent editorial on Samsung Newsroom, the company’s head of mobile business, TM Roh, who is also the head of its Corporate Design Center, discussed the firm’s design evolution over the years and its vision for the future. According to Roh, the Korean tech giant employs more than 1,500 designers across its seven global design studios. They come from different cultures and backgrounds have have unique preferences and tastes.
These designers work to solve everyday design problems faced by a wide range of customers globally. At the core, they all follow Samsung’s years-long design philosophy, “Inspired by Humans, Creating the Future” — which has not changed since its inception in 1996. However, as consumer lifestyles change, it changes the way they use products. The company continuously refines and evolves its design identity to reflect that.
Samsung has employed four different design identities between 2001 and 2022. DI 5.0 came into effect in 2023 and will guide its product design through 2030. Essential, Innovative, and Harmonious are its three pillars. Samsung says designs should be optimized for user experience without any unnecessary elements, bring valuable changes beyond novelty, and “unify products and people with society, the environment, and other human values.”
“If we look more closely at the product development process, design makes innovative technologies shine while technology makes design dreams a reality. Only when design and technology are in perfect harmony can we develop a product that provides genuine value to our users,” Roh said. “Samsung Electronics excels at balancing design with innovative technology, and we continually strive to create products that blend seamlessly into our customers’ lives.”
Samsung has hired a design expert from Mercedes
You may have noticed that Samsung’s smartphones launched in 2023 and 2024 have all looked similar. They feature an identical design language. Rumors say the company will further evolve its smartphone design in the future, with a major change expected on the Galaxy Z Fold 6 and Galaxy Z Flip 6 later this year. These changes are seemingly part of its new design identity, under the leadership of its new design head Hubert H. Lee.
Lee joined Samsung at the end of 2022 as the executive vice president and head of design at its smartphone experience division. He brought more than two decades of experience in the field of product design. Before joining the Korean firm, he occupied multiple design-related leadership roles at German luxury carmaker Mercedes. It remains to be seen how Samsung products evolve under Lee and the new design identity.