Samsung Kohinoor
Engaging the Indian Youth with innovative mobile features
Digitalist, 2018-19
The team:
David Orridge: Senior Designer
Jessi Tabalba: Lead UX
Frans Henning: Project Manager
The Challenge
Samsung india’s mid range Mobile phone market lead was being eroded by the value for money Chinese mobile companies, companies like Oppo and Xiaomi.
Project Kohinoor’s focus was to create next generation mobile features for mid-range handsets, with a particular focus on appeal to young people aged 18 to 25.
Digitalist was required to use the Samsung “What, Why, So What” methodology. Translated to “Research, Insight, Opportunity”.
The output:
A new mobile product line
Samsung Galaxy M
A new lines of handset focused on india.
“Samsung has been struggling to fight back against the strong competition in India, and the gap between Samsung and Xiaomi is now starting to widen. Samsung’s Galaxy M Series is a strong attempt to try and regain the top spot in 2019 and beyond.”
Even though our job was to design new mobile features for our focus group, in every interview we hit a ‘hardware wall’.
Through all the research it became very apparent that young Indians were considering CPU/RAM specs, selfie camera quality and budget price when making their purchase decision.
The current Samsung Mobile phone hardware prioritised Screen quality, materials and rear camera at a premium price.
This disconnect between consumer values and hardware offering was the largest factor leading to Samsung’s degrading sales.
Along with the features we designed, we recommended a hardware hardware spec. Samsung would need to focus on the megapixel of the camera, ram numbers and price more than quality of materials and construction.
Insights leading to a new phone line
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“I want a Snapdragon, 6 gig and 64 storage, Samsung can’t offer me that.”
Most male interviewees said this even if they didn’t understand what it meant.
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"My male friend advises me on my phone purchase but I need to try the selfie camera."
Many female interviewees had their male friends advise them on the hardware aspect. The Selfie camera was very important to them and they wanted to “get a specific look’
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"I need the selfie camera to make me look beautiful, so people can see me living my best life"
Female interviewees, referring to the quality of the selfie camera in perceived megapixel and more importantly the skin toning algorithms.
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"Teenagers walk into the store, look at the spec sheet , try the selfie camera and walk out."
Observed behaviour and from design team and store staff/managers
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"I look too dark and my skin isn't glowing"
Female interviewees talking about the Samsung Selfie Camera.
The output:
Features for current mobile line
Feature:
Chat with friends while watching video
Chat with your friends without continuously stopping the video. A transparent version of WhatsApp and keyboard floats above your local or streamed content. Quickly interact with the chat and dismiss it to continue watching undistracted.
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‘What’ research:
“I like to relax after a busy day by watching video and chatting.”
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‘Why’ Insight
Users are forced to choose between chatting and watching video as to do both simultaneously is irritating.
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'So what' opportunity
Users are forced to choose between chatting and watching video as to do both simultaneously is irritating.
Feature:
Social Camera 2.0
Photos taken with a Social Camera 2.0 gallery shortcut get sent to a shared album in real time. To get over connectivity issues while travelling, data is sent via bluetooth, wifi direct or mobile network.
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‘What’ research:
“It takes a lot of effort to get your friends trip photos, I have to beg them. I need to post in right now!”
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‘Why’ Insight
“It takes a lot of effort to get your friends trip photos, I have to beg them. I need to post in real time!”
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'So what' opportunity
Send photos to friends as they are taken with minimal effort. Doing things in the moment was a high priority
Results
A new ‘Galaxy M’ series of mobile product focusing on the millennial market
Samsung produced a ‘made in China’ phone to compete with the competition.
4 New features launched on planned A & J series phones
Features Launched on Samsung J8, J6, A6 & A6+
Chat over video
Social Camera 2.0
Music Camera
Samsung Mall
50%
Samsung J series owners use chat over video regularly.
50 000
Samsung J series units sold daily.
The Process
Phase 1:
The research & “what”
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Ideated concepts
Ideated disposable concepts for based on the briefing and audience data.
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Store observations
Store visits to observe shoppers and interview staff.
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Group test
10 Triad user group testing with social groups of 3 people. Test sacrificial concepts to see which were well received. Gain insight from subjects into mobile device habits.
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Individual interviews
16 Individual ethnographic interviews, Visit subjects in their home to see how technology is used throughout their day.
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Focus area definition
Create ideation focus areas based on well received ideas, interview data, market data and uncovered insights.
Phase 2:
The research & “what”
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Ideate
Ideate 10+ directions, containing 40+ concepts. Use Phase one data and insights as a basis for daily ideation sprints
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Focus groups
18 Focus groups to test sessions with groups of 3 and single consumers. Gauge their responses to the designed features, why they respond and how they see themselves using it.
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Focus
Select top ideas based on consumer interviews, select the top features.
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Engineer workshop
Engineer workshop to refine selected features and look for opportunities within the Samsung ecosystem.
Phase 3:
The opportunity & “so what”
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Refine & prototype
Refine UI and prototypes, Iterate this design process until approved. Guide Samsung developer to create android app prototypes.
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Presentation
Create a presentation outlining the feature concepts with the “What, Why, So What” methodology.
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Create videos
Create videos to show users going through their daily lives while using the concept features we designed
Learnings
Diversity in the team is important
When working abroad in an unfamiliar culture, having a diverse team can be helpful in bridging cultural and communication divides.
Team members can often fill in the gaps for each other.
Results are more important than process
A process may have been proposed and signed off but there is no point in completing the process if it is not bearing fruit.
In the press
Samsung Launches Exciting New Galaxy J&A Smartphones
“..Galaxy J6, J8, A6 and A6+ debut Samsung’s brand new ‘Make for India’ innovation that complements millennial requirements of uninterrupted video binging. Chat-over-Video allows consumers to chat through a transparent chat window and keyboard, while a video is still running. This new innovation eradicates the consumer pain point of chat interruptions while viewing content on their mobile devices..“
Samsung Sells 2 Million Galaxy J8, J6 Smartphones
“..We are happy with the huge success of Galaxy J8 and J6 smartphones. Our philosophy of keeping our ears to the ground and incorporating consumer feedbacks into our products has paid off. Our recently launched Chat-over-Video feature in Infinity models has received an overwhelming response with more than 50% of consumers using it on a regular basis. Built for today’s millennials, ..“
The Galaxy M is Samsung’s answer to losing India’s top spot to Xiaomi
“Samsung’s new mid-range Galaxy M series will be launching in India on January 28th, the company has announced on Amazon India, via India Today. The lineup is expected to consist of three phones in total (the M10, M20, and M30), all of them featuring Samsung’s new “Infinity-V” teardrop display.”