Samsung announced last year that, after negative reviews of the design of its Galaxy S5, its head of mobile design Change Dong-hoon was being replaced by then VP of mobile design Lee Min-hyouck. Today, however, it was revealed that the company is bringing in an outside designer to help refresh its product lineup. A report from the Korea Herald states that Samsung has hired Lee Don-tae to be its new head of design. Don-tae would lead design of all Samsung gadgets, including smartphones.
Lee Don-tae is most well-known as one the original four consultants of Tangerine, a British design studio originally home to Apple’s Senior Vice President of Design, Jonathan Ive. In the past, Don-tae has been a consultant of LG, Toyota, Samsung, and British Airways. He is also known for redesigning the business-class cabins of British Airway planes with a new “z-shaped” design that allowed for 20 percent more seats and increased profits.
At Samsung, Lee Don-tae is now the vice president and global design head of its Design Management Center. A Samsung official said that he “will work to elevate Samsung’s design prowess overall rather than focusing on a specific product.” The Design Management Center was created by Samsung in 2001 and employs more than 1,000 people. Don-tae will report directly to Samsung President Yoon Boo-keun.
Samsung has been harshly critiqued for its nearly all-plastic smartphone designs for several years, but according to several recent reports the company is looking to start fresh with the upcoming Galaxy S6, with which Lee Don-tae has presumably had a hand in designing. Don-tae’s experience working at Tangerine, the Jony Ive-blessed firm, certainly shows that he is more than qualified for this position at Samsung, but may not help claims that the company likes to get inspiration from Apple for its devices.
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Does he have an English accent and does he do that funny pronunciation of aluminum too?!?
Those were probably the two requirements Samsung demanded, otherwise it wouldn’t be Apple-like. Right Samsung?
you mean aluminium?
Aluminium / Aluminum both correct ;-)
Pierre, I know. ;)
Pierre, when language gets bastardiZ/Sed long enough it becomes common language.
This is a smart move for Samsung. They are very much struggling, with their falling sales and major errors in the design of the latest Galaxy devices. The more they can mirror Apple, the better they’ll do. They aren’t stupid, they’re just managed extremely poorly.
No, there are only so many customers. I think Samsung premium phones look great. The advantage Apple has is its eco system. Samsung is being squeezed by other Androids where Apple has no competitor IOS manufacturers. No, I think Samsung should lower its expectations. It will not come anywhere to close to equaling Apple’s sale volume. Samsung should find its niche and adjust its operations accordingly.
This is a smart move by Samsung. http://bit.ly/1IQ4yws
If Samsung thinks their problem is design then they really are clueless. They’re not getting beat in China because they don’t have a unibody metal phone.
Rumor has it that they’ll be significantly toning down TouchWiz to be more Nexus-like. TW is hands down the biggest handicap on Samsung devices.
It never let me enjoy iTunes movie freely, just like iPhone
Thank you so much, Samsung technology is a great combination with apple.