Design




In the early 1990s, Samsung began considering the importance of physical design in its products. When chairman Lee declared 1996 'The Year of Design Revolution', a comprehensive global design program was initiated with the goal of design being a strategic asset and competitive advantage for the company.Located in the company's high-rise headquarters in Gangnam (south of Seoul) the corporate design center includes more than 900 full-time designers. In 1971 there were only two designers in the whole company, whose number rose to 510 in 2005.citation needed In addition to the corporate design center in Seoul, there are design centers located in Tokyo, San Francisco and London.

The company overhauls its design over a two-year cycle. For the first year, it scrutinizes design trends of the world, followed by product strategies. It then maps out new design plans during the second year.

Since 2006, it has won as many as 210 awards from international design institutions.citation needed It received the iF (International Forum) and IDEA design awards. Working with partners, Samsung was the winner in eight categories in the 2009 IDEA awards, hence receiving the most awards.

In the 2010 iF Material Awards, the company won the Gold Award for five of its products including the external hard disk drive. The iF Material Awards are given by the International Forum Design GmbH of Hannover, a design award for design materials and process technologies. In 2010, the German company selected a total of 42 products in the areas of home appliance, furniture, and industrial design. Samsung won the awards in five categories including external hard disk, full-touch screen phone, "side-by-side" refrigerator, compact digital camera, and laser printer toner.

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