Following the October 2014 launch of the G2 smartphone, LG marked the biggest growth rate in the smartphone market during that quarter by shipping 12-million units, up 71,4% from the same period the previous year.
The G2 is the only device of its kind to place the power and volume buttons on the rear, something which allows users to control the device using only one finger without actually having to look at it. This deceptively simple change has been hailed as an evolution of intuitive thinking and ergonomic design by the press and public alike.
The phone represents a new approach to design from a major technology company. LG’s marketing campaign around the device showcased a design philosophy that was both welcome and unprecedented and took as its starting point the tagline, “learning from you”.
The handset’s designer, Minsun Park, says the radical idea for the phone came from one simple question: what do people want? “More than anything, the designers at LG focused on smartphone users. It is our priority to listen to their needs,” Park says.
By putting the user first, rather than bowing to conventional design strategies, LG demonstrated a willingness to take risks that has paid major dividends, re-establishing the company as a force to be reckoned with in the hyper-competitive smartphone market.
The “learning from you” campaign positioned the brand as unafraid to defy safe thinking in favour of innovation that puts the focus squarely on users’ needs. LG’s team of designers observed smartphone users’ movement, habits and behaviours during the early development phase to determine what their needs were and how phone designs could be altered to fit these.
The team determined that a new ultra-thin smartphone design that maintained powerful hardware performance was needed but, after extensive experimentation, determined that it was not possible within the traditional design framework.
Rather than abandoning the goals, they re-examined their studies on user behaviour until they came up with the innovative solution of the Rear Key. “We also put a considerable amount of thought into enhancing usability, so we made frequently used functions, such as the camera, able to be activated by pressing the Rear Key,” says Park.
Initially, during the testing phase, there was resistance to the unconventional new shape, but users quickly came to grips with the G2’s natural fit. The story of the G2’s design demonstrates something rare in the world of multinationals: a major company’s refusal to play it safe and its willingness to take the backseat and let customer-centricity inspire new ideas and inventions.
Deon Prinsloo, General Manager for LG Mobile sums up the company’s understanding of the link between innovation and consumer needs: “Our definition of innovation today is technology that truly resonates with consumers. We took these insights to new heights in developing LG G2, the most exciting and ambitious mobile phone in our company’s history.”
The G2 reaffirms LG’s longstanding commitment to the consumer. The phone is a culmination of a product design process that strives always to put a human face to new technology.
These efforts have been recognised by the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA), which awarded LG 15 prestigious International CES Innovations Awards in 2014. The G2 earned the CES Innovations distinction in the wireless headset category. This is LG’s latest distinction in a long history of excellence in the field of industrial and product design, having accumulated 145 CES Innovation Awards since 2004.
LG’s mobile division is set to go from strength to strength with the follow-up to the G2. The G3 will continue the legacy of consumer-first design by sticking to another key LG philosophy: “design should constantly progress”.
