As Manager of Graphical User Experience for the Galaxy S8 project, I led all aspects of the device's visual identity. My responsibilities spanned the entire visual ecosystem: My hands-on approach ensured cohesive visual storytelling throughout the product, from the moment a customer first sees a marketing image to their daily interactions with the interface.
Overview
Design Revolution
Bezeless front panel The Galaxy S8 introduces the world’s first Infinity Display, which completely eliminates the bezel to provide an immersive viewing experience that stretches from edge to edge. We aimed to redesign the visual language along with the hardware design.
Elite Design Team
10 best designers
Our UX Lead team brought together ten of the industry's top designers across different specialties. I was honored to serve as one of these representatives guiding key aspects of the project.
4 UI designers
3 UX strategiest
2 GUI designers
1 Motion designer
Collaborated with Eddie Opara, Partner at Pentagram New York, to enhance the Galaxy S8's visual identity through world-class design expertise.
Research
Competitor analysis
Examined leading smartphones to understand UX patterns and industry benchmarks.
Visual trends research
Analyzed global design movements to align with emerging UI aesthetics.
User behaviour analysis
Collaborated with global teams to study interaction patterns and mobile usage habits.
Insights
Fast-Paced Multitasking
Gen Z rapidly switches between multiple apps, often multitasking across messaging, streaming, and browsing.
App Overload & Accessibility
Gen Z users have over 100+ apps installed, far exceeding previous generations.
Flat & Gesture-Based UI
Flat design, subtle shadows, and swipe navigation replaced traditional controls.
Mission
One Continuous Experience
Create a seamless connection between product and interface, ensuring consistent visuals that provide an uninterrupted, organic experience from start to finish.
Goal
Consistency throughout interaction
From powering on to shutdown, every interaction is designed to flow naturally in a continuous, frictionless experience.
Familiar yet distinctive visual
Building on Galaxy's heritage while introducing innovation to create an experience that feels simultaneously familiar and refreshingly new.
Strategy
We positioned our visual approach at the precise intersection where Samsung's established design heritage meets forward-thinking innovation—creating an experience that feels both reassuringly familiar and excitingly new.
New Visual Language
We crafted a design language tailored for the new Infinity Display, seamlessly blending simplicity with Samsung’s design legacy. Our visual approach is defined by the principle of Refined Simplicity.
Line & Light: A New Visual Language
Our newly defined Line & Light visual language brings a minimalist, airy feel to all elements. We carefully:
- Harmonized the display's curvature with the product's physical form
- Removed shadowed elements to maintain distinctiveness despite the simple design
- Created elongated fonts for clock and weather displays to complement the new screen ratio after removing physical front keys
Cinematic Wallpapers
These innovative wallpapers create a cohesive journey through the entire phone experience:
- Seamlessly connecting always-on display, lock screen, home screen and apps
- Capturing the sensation of traveling through the Milky Way in the galaxy
New Interaction
Key interaction between home & apps
Instead of pressing a button, we made it so that you access the Appscreens by swiping up on the screen. This more intuitive gesture creates the visual impression that the Appscreens are layered under the Home screen, but the Appscreens are visually darker, as if they are on a darker floor.
Quick Switcher Concept
Developed for Gen-Z users, the improved “Recents” navigation allowed for seamless multi-app switching. While it never made it to production for development reasons, it did have an impact on the current “Recents” design, and previewed the bottom tab navigation we now see in Chrome and Safari.
Impact
Samsung Galaxy S8 is the first phone with a full-front display and achieved great sales when it was released in 2017. The Galaxy S8 is still recognized as one of Samsung's successes and was instrumental in the company's recovery from the negative impact of the Note 7 recall.
Contribution
As Manager of Graphical User Experience for the Galaxy S8 project, I provided comprehensive leadership across all visual elements of this flagship device. My responsibilities encompassed:
- GUI Management: Overseeing the entire graphical user interface system
- Design Language: Establishing and implementing consistent visual principles
- App Icon Design: Creating distinctive, cohesive application iconography
- Signature Font Design: Developing unique typography that defined the S8 experience
- Cinematic Wallpaper Design: Crafting immersive background visuals that showcased the infinity display
- Bixby Logo Design: Designing the visual identity for Samsung's intelligent assistant
I deeply immersed myself in the design process while orchestrating the broader project, ensuring our visual narrative remained cohesive and compelling throughout the entire product experience.
This project was the largest I've ever starred in. From a macro perspective, I experienced a large cycle of product development and also experienced the joy of launch by participating in the unpack event. Since then, I have gained confidence that I can carry out large-scale projects.