Great brands come from good design

In 1996, Samsung was still a latecomer in the mobile phone industry, but 15 years later, it has defeated competitors such as Sony Ericsson and Motorola to become the world's second largest manufacturer. To catch up with the forerunners and establish their own unique competitive advantages, late-rising enterprises must choose the best time and path to break through.

In 2011, the global mobile phone market was going through an unstable and turbulent period. Due to the increased purchase subsidies by operators, competition among top manufacturers and the popularization of low-cost smartphones, the global smartphone market was rapidly expanding. "Global smartphone shipments reached a record 60 million units in the second quarter of 2011, accounting for 19% of the overall mobile phone market, and the smartphone market is growing faster than the average mobile phone market. ” Alex Spektor, an analyst at Strategy Analytics, a well-known market research firm in the United States, wrote in the report.

Hundreds of manufacturers from all over the world have poured into this market, and the fierce price competition has seriously affected the profit margin of enterprises. In order to stand out from the quagmire of price wars, mobile phone companies must break through from the level of function and design. "In the 21st century after the era of price and quality, design competitiveness has become the key to the success of business operations." Samsung Chairman Lee Kun-hee explained the key role of industrial design in building core competitive advantages. A recent survey of managers, engineers and buyers by CEConline magazine shows this trend: 68% of respondents agree that design has helped companies improve their competitiveness in the marketplace. 63.8% of the respondents believe that design plays a positive role in product innovation, 43.6% of the respondents highly agree that design has improved the profit of product sales, and 44.4% of the respondents suggested that companies should pay more attention to design.

“In 2007, when Apple mobile phones landed in the Chinese market, Chinese mobile phone manufacturers were still fighting price wars, but today, Chinese independent brands, such as Meizu and Yulong Coolpad, have begun to emphasize industrial design, appearance and user experience.”” Zhang Yubo, chief analyst of Electronic Engineering Album, commented, "It is an embarrassing reality that the industrial design level of domestic mobile phone manufacturers is still a long way from international companies, but we have a huge market. Even brand upgrades are still promising."

As latecomers in the mobile phone industry, Samsung and Yulong both choose to start with high-end products and position themselves as high-end brands. The former covers the international market and has a wider scope of competition, while the latter focuses on the domestic market and is also actively exploring the international market. How do they target the brand audience? How can industrial design help them build a core competitive advantage?

Samsung: Integrating life philosophy into design

In 1993, Lee Kun-hee found in an electronics store in Los Angeles that few customers were interested in the Samsung brand, and that Samsung was a cheap second-class product in the eyes of Westerners. In 2011, Samsung has surpassed Motorola to become the second largest mobile phone manufacturer in the world. The change of Samsung's brand image began in 1996, which Li Jianxi called "the year of the design revolution." Since then, Samsung has made design the core of its strategy. Li Jianxi emphasized that the design of the enterprise should take a step forward from the level of decoration only - into the philosophy and culture of the enterprise.

Leading industrial design for user experience. Liang Donghuan, director of Samsung China Design Research Institute, said that the company's cultural elements are integrated into product development and design strategies, so that the product design language and brand image fully reflect its consistency. Specifically, there are three points in Samsung's product design philosophy: first, a design that is in harmony with my life (Harmonious Comfort); second, a design that contributes to the environment and the future of human beings (Better Nature); third, an intuitive communication experience design (Easy Smart).

Samsung Galaxy S II is a representative product that embodies Samsung's design philosophy. Samsung's flagship smartphone, the Galaxy S, has sold 10 million units worldwide in seven months since its launch in June 2010. On this basis, the Galaxy S II, through hardware and software enhancements, allows users to operate faster and faster. speed, experience anytime, anywhere, and enjoy smart life. In the Samsung mobile phone group on Baidu Tieba, a netizen commented on this product with three great strengths: great hardware configuration, great screen, and great speed. The body size is 8.49mm ultra-thin body, using a 4.3-inch Super AMOLED Plus display, the display effect is more fresh and delicate, equipped with the most advanced dual-core 1.2G processor, equipped with dual cameras, which support photography and video respectively call function. It also scored significantly ahead in the speed test of the HTC dual-core Sensation, which was released at the same time.

Since its launch on April 29 this year, the Galaxy S II has achieved global sales of 5 million units in 85 days, market research firm Strategy Analytics analyst Neil Mawston (Neil Mawston) said. With the promotion of II, Samsung's smartphone sales in the second quarter will reach 18 million-21 million units.

“The Galaxy S II not only emphasizes portability, but also solves the contradiction between the large size brought about by the expansion of the screen and other functions. The super strong aspect reflects the uniqueness." Liang Donghuan said.

Design-first principles. Samsung's industrial design level is not achieved overnight, but has gone through a training period of more than ten years. Samsung finally formed a systematic ability in design strategy, design talent, and design concept.

In 1996, Lee Kun-hee launched several designs to drive Samsung's growth. Samsung specially invited Japanese design master Fukuda Minlang to inspect its brand positioning, production process and products. Fukuda Minlang found that the production process of Samsung products at that time was dominated by blind cost control and process imitation, and good design lacked creativity. Died prematurely in childbirth. He advocated that design should be regarded as an equally important link as production and marketing, and that all parties should work together to develop products that integrate appearance, texture and function. At the same time, it is pointed out that in order to win global recognition, Samsung must break through national boundaries and integrate global culture, lifestyle and design preferences into its own creativity. The proposals were soon launched under Lee's reform banner.

In 2001, Samsung set up a design center CDC (Corporate Design Center) directly under the top operator to report design decisions directly to the top operator. The department should work on the principle of design first.

At the same time, Samsung vigorously cultivates creative design talents. The "Innovative Design Laboratory" (IDS) in the company is headed by American designers Gordon Bruce and James Miho, which cultivates design talents for the company to meet the needs of globalization.

In addition to the "Innovative Design Lab", San Francisco, London, Shanghai, Milan, and New Delhi have established overseas design centers to build a global design network. These institutions are like Samsung's global cultural tentacles, feeding localized design and lifestyle trends to the Seoul headquarters, thereby producing localized products that suit different market needs and tastes. At the same time, Samsung's Korean designers are also sent to branches around the world to complete exchange projects with local employees that last from several weeks to half a year.

China has become Samsung's strategic market. The phased task of Samsung China Design Institute is to strengthen the research on user needs in the Chinese market and discover new concepts through graphic, physical, and usability. innovations to meet the needs of local consumers. Samsung's W799 and W899 listed in China are models specially designed for the Chinese market. In China Telecom's 2010 CDMA mobile phone selection, W799 became the most popular fashion mobile phone in 2010, and W899 won the 2010 Best Mobile Phone Design Award.

The development direction of Samsung China Design Institute will be independent research and development, and the design reflects "being an enterprise loved by the Chinese people and an enterprise product that contributes to Chinese society". Liang Donghuan said that this will be one of the fundamentals for Samsung's common development in the fast-growing Chinese market.

Coolpad: Industrial Design Focusing on Business People

In 2010, Yulong Coolpad launched high-end models such as N900+ and N930 for the telecom 3G market, which received good market response. Regarding the success of Coolpad, Zhang Yubo, chief analyst of "Electronic Engineering Album", believes that "Coolpad targets business people. Its success is due to its R&D team and technological innovation capabilities, and the second is due to Coolpad's precise grasp of customer needs. "

In China's 3G market, Apple, Samsung, Motorola and other international manufacturers are in the limelight. As a member of the domestic mobile phone camp, Coolpad chooses to do what it does best, that is, pay attention to the usage habits of Chinese consumers and serve the High-end business people, and gradually expand the product line to the mass market, providing ideal mobile phone products for business and fashion people.

“The Internet experience on Iphone4 is not very good. For example, the font size is relatively small. When viewing a web page, you usually have to slide your finger back and forth to turn the page, which is time-consuming and laborious for business people.” Chen Mingyong, director of Coolpad ID, said, “The advantage of Coolpad is that In-depth exploration of the needs of business groups. Business people are more concerned about whether smartphones can quickly access the Internet, whether multimedia application hotspots are complete, and whether they can quickly find and process various information."

Recently, Coolpad and China Telecom launched the Coolpad 9930 mobile phone , The exclusive use of a 5-inch 480 × 960 large screen, outstanding display effect, comprehensively enhance the mobile browsing experience of business people. The entire phone screen is designed in portrait orientation, which ensures that it can be easily held with one hand while maximizing the screen. "The 5-inch screen solves the problem of browsing, and the Coolpad Think Tank system improves the user experience for business users," said Chen Mingyong.

“Coolpad reflects brand value by providing differentiated products. For high-end business users, we will spend more time pondering products, such as material, appearance, and user experience. For fashion users, we will focus on color and material. , Do some youthful design in function, for example, young users like to browse the Internet and use chat software."

We attach great importance to the feedback from consumers and operators. "After the design department completes the appearance design, there will be prototypes and models, which we will send to various places for research. We attach great importance to the operator's feedback. We will hold a meeting with the product department and the company's top management to decide whether it needs to be modified. In addition, Coolpad collects customer feedback from directly-operated stores every week, forms a report and feeds it back to the R&D and design departments, and the company holds weekly seminars to improve existing defects." Chen Mingyong said.

From the design to the birth of a flagship product, Coolpad will have no less than 2,000 point-to-point interviews and interactions with consumers, including old Coolpad users and potential users, as well as users of other mobile phone products. These interactive surveys will form a complete data set as the basis for the design. In this way, it is ensured that the product can meet the expectations of the vast majority of consumers when it is launched.

While deeply cultivating the domestic market, Yulong Coolpad has also launched the layout of the international market. In 2010, through cooperation with operators, it entered the Taiwan market and the Indian market, and in 2011, it was actively approaching American operators. "For a brand to be successful, it must be internationalized. Coolpad uses industrial design to improve product adhesion, so that domestic business users like it, get used to it, and use it. In the future, we also hope to bring high-quality products to overseas users." Chen Mingyong said , expressing the vision of Chinese mobile phone manufacturers.