“The best design experience begins in the mind,” said Celia Hodent, former director of user experience at Epic games, which produced the popular online game Fortnite. “It all starts with the senses.”
Hodent’s insights came in the first part of a three-week series of online conversations that form the core of this year’s Wired25 celebration. The Wired25 celebrates 25 innovators who are using technology to lead society through a period of deep and wide-ranging global uncertainty. The ultimate goal of the discussions, said Editor in Chief Nicholas Thompson, is to “look at problems and then see how we can use tech to help solve them.”
The role of design in this sense is clear: understand the user’s problem, make assumptions about how to solve it, test those solutions through quick prototypes, and use an iterative process to learn and improve. This requires understand a deep understanding of the user’s needs, frustrations, and goals.
Solutions to these issues must be reflected in the feature set of the product, and you don’t often get it all right the first time. Good design becomes great design by carefully listening to the feedback of early adopters. “The second generation of a product is always exciting to work on,” noted Drew Blackard, VP of Mobile Product Management at Samsung Electronics America. “The first iteration is built on an insight or an idea, but the second generation incorporates feedback based on the product being out in the wild and seeing if it resonated with people in any way.”
Samsung’s new Galaxy Z Fold2 5G, for instance, is the company’s updated version of a foldable phone that can be expanded into a tablet. At the core of its innovative design is a 7.6-inch OLED (organic light-emitting diode) screen that folds vertically to close like a book. Folded, it’s a phone. Open it up and you’ve got a tablet-sized display, ready for work or gaming. The two sizes make it a perfect multitasking device, a critical digital tool for those faced with a future of extended remote work.
For this iteration of its foldable phone, Samsung integrated extensive feedback from the field. Users wanted an even bigger screen on the tablet, as well as the ability to bring up multiple apps on the home screen at the same time. Done. The camera, too, brought in features inspired by user needs. The Galaxy Z Fold2 5G employs AI software that keeps the subject in the center of the frame and can zoom in and out, following the subject within a certain boundary.
The power of second-generation products, Hodent noted, is that they incorporate viewpoints that may not have been considered at the initial launch. “We don’t all see the world in the same way,” said Hodent, who holds a Ph.D. in psychology. “Sometimes the things designers create aren’t perceived the way we intended.”
Blackard noted that there is always a learning journey for designers. Discovering how consumers interact with a device can chart the evolutionary path of its features for generations. For instance: “Many people care about how much time they’re spending on these devices and worried that their smartphones could disrupt their sleep pattern,” said Blackard. Samsung was sensitive to these reservations, which led to the integration of features that ranges from reminding users of how much time (or how long) they’ve spent online to even setting limits on use time. A built-in blue light filter, too, may help ease sleep concerns.
The ultimate goal of every UX designer is to delight people. “You can produce something that feels like magic, so in this way you’re a magician,” Hodent said. “Ultimately, you want the happiness of the user to be at the center of everything you’re doing.”
This story was produced by WIRED Brand Lab for Samsung.
