Case Study: Samsung

CHALLENGE

At first glance, designing products for a clearly labeled category — “rugged”, for example — should be pretty straightforward. After all, we all know what rugged means. Or do we? And, if you’re designing a rugged product in one country for use in another, does that understanding translate across borders? Oceans?

Samsung smartly questioned this notion. Before designing its next rugged mobile phone for the U.S. market, the company asked Lextant to create a more meaningful definition of “rugged” - and the key experience characteristics associated with it.

SOLUTION

Lextant used participatory techniques to allow consumers to visually define the concept of “rugged”.

We started by asking respondents to record situations when they wished for a more rugged phone, and provided currently available phones so they could demonstrate how a phone should express ruggedness.

Then we asked them to use images, words, and objects to show us what the ideal rugged phone would look like and how it would feel.  Pattern analysis revealed the most common words, images, textures, colors and materials that expressed rugged. Lextant then identified themes to identify and organize related experiential design elements.

RESULTS

During our research, consumers told us they desired a phone that both expressed their style and met practical needs for ruggedness. — and few choices existed in the market.

A design segmentation model was created to classify and express style differences and their unique expression of rugged. These models included material, application, and design detail that signaled rugged.

This information became the foundation for line planning. Currently three rugged phones based on these insights are slated for introduction in 2008–‘09.