The context
SCADpro is the Savannah College of Art and Design's industry-collaboration program: 10-week sprints where multidisciplinary student teams work on real briefs from companies like Samsung, Coca-Cola, IBM, and Microsoft. Each project is sponsored, scoped, and reviewed by an executive at the partner company.
In Summer 2025, our team worked with Samsung MX (Mobile eXperience) under the sponsorship of Henry Hongmin Kim, VP of Design Strategy at Samsung (and a former SCAD Associate Chair). Henry's published "Enterprise Design" framework, the synthesis of Pure Experience (PX), Customer Experience (CX), and Brand Experience (BX) with Essential Design and Disruptive Design as the two poles, was the lens we operated under.
Henry framed it best in his iF interview: "Exceptional design is the synthesis of pure experience and brand experience, both quintessential and disruptive at the same time." Our project was about decoding the "Essential Design" half of that synthesis.
The question
Specific brief, deliverables, and findings live under NDA. The framing below is the public-facing version.
The question we were given was, at the public level: what makes a piece of Samsung hardware feel essentially Samsung? Not a feature checklist, not a brand-guideline page, but the deep-tissue sense that something belongs to the family. The kind of recognition that doesn't depend on a logo.
Decoding that meant developing a research methodology rigorous enough to convert a felt sense into a defendable design language. Methodology was the deliverable, as much as findings.
How I worked
The work spanned 10 weeks. My role on the team was UX Researcher, owning the methodology-development arc.
1. Methodology research
The first month was reading and stress-testing methods: semantic differential studies (Osgood-style bipolar adjective scales), image-stimuli analysis, brand-attribute mapping, design-language audits across category leaders. Each method got a "what does this measure, what doesn't it measure, what's the bias" worksheet before we committed.
2. Semantic differential study design
We landed on a bipolar adjective semantic differential as the core instrument, paired with image-stimuli analysis. I owned the adjective-set development, multiple iterations of categorization, opposite-pairing, and translation review. The set went through several revisions to balance discriminating power against participant fatigue.
3. Stimuli analysis + survey
Image stimuli were curated to span Samsung's hardware ecosystem and a benchmark set from comparable global manufacturers. The survey instrument went through pilot testing, refinement, and translation review before wider deployment.
4. Synthesis + final delivery
Findings were synthesized into a methodology document and a final presentation delivered to Samsung MX leadership. The methodology itself, independent of the specific findings, is a portable deliverable; the findings are confidential to Samsung.
The contribution
What I owned, methodology-side, included:
- The semantic-differential adjective set (development, categorization, opposites, translation review)
- Image-stimuli categorization and analysis structure
- Survey design and pilot iteration
- A repeatable research instrument that Samsung MX can re-run on future hardware lines
What the team owned collectively included stakeholder interviews, comparative brand audits, the synthesis frame that linked findings back to Henry Kim's PX/CX/BX model, and the final 10-week deliverable.
What I can share
The NDA runs through June 2027. Until then, I can talk freely about:
- Role and methodology at the level shown above
- My research contribution (semantic differential, image stimuli, survey design)
- The public framework (Henry Kim's PX × CX × BX, the iF Design Award context)
- Working in the SCADpro model with a Tier-1 industry partner
What lives under NDA, and stays there:
- Specific findings, design recommendations, and product directions
- Internal methodologies, data, and Samsung's confidential frameworks
- Future product roadmap or anything tied to unreleased hardware
If you'd like a deeper walkthrough of the methodology and my contribution (particularly relevant for hardware UX, brand-experience research, or design-strategy roles), use the email button above. I'm happy to talk you through it under standard recruiter-channel confidentiality.
A few pages from the process book
Curated thumbnails from the 180-page Samsung Process Book, the public-facing snapshot. Specifics, findings, and product directions remain under NDA.