Smart technologies encased in smart designs
Smart technologies are inseparable from smart designs. No matter how much cutting-edge technology a smart device is loaded with, the smart device will end up gathering dust on the shelf if its users interface (UI) leaves much to be desired. Likewise, no matter how fancy a smart device looks on the outside, it will not find favor with users if it is not functionally useful.
The perfect example of innovation coming out of the combination of smart technologies and smart designs is the iPhone. The first-generation iPhone that Steve Jobs unveiled at Macworld 2007 was an all-in-one device serving as a mobile phone offering Internet access and iPod functions. However, since a variety of personal digital assistants (PDA) were put on the market, such as the Nokia E6 (a PDA equipped with a wireless GPS system) and the Blackberry Pearl (the so-called father of smart phones), the first-generation iPhone’s offering of such functions was not impressive enough to describe the iPhone as “innovative.”
The iPhone’s genuine innovation came from the design side. Most of the PDAs available at that time were uniformly rectangular with the display on the upper half and the keypad on the lower half. However, the 3.5-inch iPhone showed off a new UI design: its virtual keypad allowed users to type directly onto the 3.5-inch display. Its simpler, smarter design ushered the world into an era of smart phones.
Aggressive support for design development makes the Korean economy creative.
With advances in South Korea’s smart device technologies, the development of innovative products embellished with stylish designs is increasingly deciding the competitiveness of large Korean companies, as well as Korean SMEs. Yet, Korean SMEs’ utilization of designs stands at a mere 12%, pretty much lower than 30-40% for developed markets, such as the UK and France.
Against this backdrop, South Korea launched the “SME Design Development Project” in 2011 in order to encourage companies to develop products featuring smart designs. The SME Design Development Project, backed by the Korea Institute of Design Promotion (KIDP)’s Good Design (GD) certification system, has been nurturing innovative design companies, which are expected to make a contribution to the creative economy agenda that the South Korean government is rigorously pressing ahead with.
Attention-worthy smart designs, developed under the project, include the USB doubling as a smartphone mount, high-speed chargers and USBs for smartphones, all of which were developed by Re:um, a Korean company founded in 2011. Re:um is a would-be social enterprise that tries to address social problems, related to children, elderly people and recycling, through social ideas and design products. The notion that it is deeply regrettable that old furniture is thrown away frequently when people move out led to the establishment of Re:um.
Re:um started out by making Lego-style furniture modules; modules that can turn old furniture into other design items; smartphone USBs made of recycled wood etc.
Re:um entered its carefully-designed USB doubling as a smartphone mount for the smartphone peripheral design development category of the SME Design Development and Intellectual Property Project. Re:um’ sales surged 8-fold, a first since its inception in 2011. Re:um’s versatile USB has been selected as one of the Hit 500, sponsored by Good Design and the KIDP. As a result, Re:um has shipped 300,000 USBs to overseas markets.
Technological advances lead to growing consumer demands for better designs. In addition, the design industry’s sale growth rates in proportion to investment in R&D (research and development) are much higher than other industries. The promotion of the design industry will lay the foundation for the materialization of the creative economy initiative and is the key to turning our imagination into reality.