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By News Reporter
Good product design is all about understanding and meeting customers’ needs. As a leader in the home appliance industry, LG integrates ‘customer-centricity’ into every stage of the design process to ensure its products deliver a more convenient and emotionally satisfying user experience. The company continues to show the way forward, making innovative appliances and smart home solutions for a better life based on its ‘3F’ design philosophy.
The Essence of 3F: Fit, Feel, Finish
“LG uses the term ‘3F’ to refer to the appearance, performance and other tangible and intangible qualities of its products experienced by the customer,” said Chung Wook-jun, vice president and head of H&A Design Lab at LG Electronics’ Life Innovation Design Center. “In essence, 3F is a set of principles that guides the company as it weaves the core values of completeness, ease of use and emotional satisfaction into each product it makes.”
3F stands for Fit, Feel and Finish. ‘Fit’ refers to seamless (zero gap) product design and overall design uniformity, while ‘Feel’ encompasses the smooth and resilient operation of moving parts as well as the satisfying feedback that interfaces, doors and other components provide when handled by users. ‘Finish’ focuses on matching the right colors with the right materials and achieving a clean, consistent aesthetic across product lines. The definition of 3F has gradually expanded over time and now extends to elements such as ergonomics, user experience (UX) optimization and user interface (UI) usability.
Officially introduced in 2001, 3F is now deeply ingrained in the way LG works. The company even formed a specialized organization to focus on 3F, which collaborates closely with several departments – including product planning, design, development, quality control and sales – to maintain a cohesive approach to customer-centric design.
Customer-Centric Design Research
The core aspect of 3F work is to guarantee the completeness of every product LG develops. Through securing a high level of completeness in the development phase, the company helps to prevent potential quality issues from arising during production.
At the concept planning stage, LG identifies and addresses any deficiencies or inconveniences associated with previously released models to prevent their recurrence in new products. Using its own internally developed ergonomic standards, the company thoroughly evaluates products for ease-of-use and to determine if further improvements are needed. Prior to finalization and mass-production, LG re-evaluates its products using up to 160 different criteria to assess whether completeness has been achieved.
When a prototype is produced at the design verification stage, it is tested under actual usage conditions. Data-driven feedback derived from these tests – such as the precise measurement of the force needed to open an appliance’s door – enables the relevant departments to make necessary adjustments.
Quality testing at LG involves extensive processes to ensure products meet usage and reliability standards. Should a product fail any test, LG carefully identifies and addresses the root cause of the issue. Subsequently, the product undergoes hundreds of additional tests until it meets the company’s exacting internal standards. Multiple methods are employed to confirm that each unit produced matches the usability and reliability standards set during the development phase. The data gathered throughout these various processes is meticulously analyzed to refine future designs.
Subtle Details that Reflect LG’s 3F Design Principles
The recently launched LG SIGNATURE washer/dryer exemplifies the company’s commitment to its 3F design principles. Manufactured using the same methods employed to produce luxury goods, the washer/dryer successfully delivers the ‘high-end’ aesthetic and feel of LG’s original design concept. The attention to subtle details that is so much a part of 3F design can be seen in the dryer’s filter grip, which has been designed in accordance with knuckle-width studies and numerous customer acceptance surveys to provide optimal usability.
To enhance the sophistication and operability of the control knobs applied to its washing machines, LG conducted a comprehensive range of 3F research initiatives and even developed its own custom measuring equipment. The company’s efforts led to the creation of a control knob reminiscent of the center-console control dials found in luxury automobiles, providing a pleasingly premium look and feel while also contributing to a better user experience in both a practical and emotional sense.
Introduced last year on select LG refrigerator models, the Auto Soft Closing System is another example of LG’s customer-centric 3F design. The system uses dampers to ensure that the refrigerator door closes softly and quietly, enhancing usability, convenience and customer satisfaction.
The 3F design principle, which reveals LG’s strong commitment to the pursuit of perfection, is intertwined with another uniquely LG concept: ‘Affection-ism.’ Affection-ism could be described as a ‘design mindset,’ centering on caring for customers via the delivery of ‘Uncompromising Customer Experiences,’ ‘Human-centered Innovation’ and the ‘Warmth to Power a Smile.’ By staying true to its core values and customer-first philosophies, LG will continue to provide products that exceed expectations and make everyday life that much better.
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By News Reporter
While the appearance of most appliances rarely changes, the television’s aesthetic is constantly evolving through its vibrant display. Positioned prominently in most people’s living rooms, the TV serves as a window to another world, transforming the space into a stadium one moment and providing panoramic views of the great outdoors the next. The atmosphere of the room often hinges on the placement of this essential device.
To ensure their design complements any room, LG’s latest lineup of TVs boasts a thinner form and slimmer bezels, providing complete immersion whether watching shows, films or playing games. These efforts extend to reducing the number of cables to eliminate clutter and visual distractions around the screen. Additionally, LG has paid close attention to the design of peripheral devices, such as soundbars, to ensure they harmonize with the room’s overall aesthetic. The driving force behind this new design direction is a deeper appreciation for people’s ever-evolving daily lives. Nowadays, people invest considerable time and effort into the layout and design of their homes, often seeking ways to place their TV in locations that better match their lifestyle, rather than simply following its conventional placement in the living room. The TV is evolving in response to emerging trends, more diverse lifestyles and consumers’ changing needs.
Photo credit (from left to right): the_starship from reddit (Model: OLED65G1), @zzomae_home (Model: OLED65A2MNA)
More Thoughtful Living Spaces
Naturally integrating a large TV screen into its surroundings can be challenging. While most large TVs tend to dominate the design of a living space, a large LG TV complements the interior, adding unique design elements that enhance depth and ambiance.
Photo credit (from left to right): @na.g__2 (model: OLED65B1VNA), Nice_Implement_2594 from reddit (model: OLED77G1)
The best decorated living rooms all have one thing in common: a TV that naturally integrates with the rest of the space under a unifying theme. To help home designers achieve this, LG OLED TVs fit flush to the wall like a picture frame, transforming the space to resemble an art gallery when placed centrally. These designs utilize the TV as a focal point to set the tone and evoke desired emotions, clearly emphasizing the TV as the ‘main character’ without compromising the room’s elegance and identity. This is why LG emphasizes the ‘essentials’ when designing LG OLED TVs, focusing on the inherent value of the TV in everyday life to create designs that bring people closer to their dream home.
Photo credit (from left to right): @twetwe_maison (model: OLED65G1), @today_daisy_ (model: 55LX1QKNA)
Seamlessly Blending into Living Spaces
Today’s TVs must be able to blend into their surroundings. While large-screen TVs often look best mounted on the wall, small and medium-sized TVs can be placed anywhere in the room to match the user’s lifestyle.
TV stands are providing people with the freedom to position their TVs where design and functionality are maximized. The simple yet elegant LG OLED Gallery Stand1 accentuates content by resembling a canvas on an easel. Similar to the LG OLED Objet Collection Posé, this design frees up space and can serve as a room partition, offering new perspectives on interior design with a back that doesn’t need to be hidden away.
Flawless Designs Pay Attention to Unseen Elements
As lifestyles diversify and spaces expressing individuality increase, LG is innovating TVs that consider every design element, even the parts that are normally out of sight like the back of the TV. This helps them blend naturally into any space and achieve an unmatched sense of ‘harmony.’ To strike the ideal balance between elegance and functionality, every ornament and piece of furniture, including the TV, must harmonize under one concept. This desire for ‘harmony’ in the home is bringing exterior elements, such as natural light and natural materials, into the home as if they were seamlessly flowing from the outside to the inside. This is known as the “biophilic” design trend.
This image was created to aid understanding
A ‘biophilic’ décor incorporates natural materials like stone, wood and metal while utilizing nature’s most iconic colors and textures, appealing to our innate connection to the natural world. This emerging concept promotes the use of large windows to fill the house with natural light and the ‘planterior’ trend, which employs plants to elevate the ambiance, transforming the interior into a natural space for healing and relaxation. LG’s new design direction for its TVs aligns with ‘biophilic’ values, emphasizing visual comfort in a natural setting.
To keep pace with these trends and accommodate lifestyle changes, LG recognized the need to focus on details it had previously overlooked. This is why LG has redesigned the back panel of its TVs.
This image was created to aid understanding
Inspired by the tranquility found in nature, LG added a rustic sensibility to the LG OLED evo C4’s modern design with the ‘Statement Stone’ pattern. This feature mimics the look and texture of stone, adding depth and elegance to the space, while its natural ‘Umber Brown’ shade reinvents the back panel with a warm, nature-inspired tone. The emotions this design evokes harmonize with emerging trends, such as the ‘biophilic’ concept.
This image was created to aid understanding
The stand design, which has also evolved to suit different usage environments, is no different. With stands evolving with new TV designs, LG added a height adjustment function to some stands.2 Although this may seem minor at first glance, its impact goes beyond expectations by allowing nearby devices, such as soundbars, to be positioned in a way that harmonizes with the TV as well as users’ diverse lifestyles.
This image was created to aid understanding
The same principles have been applied to the LG OLED M, the world’s first wireless OLED TV.3 To conceal peripheral devices and neatly organize the device’s cables, LG has removed every wire except the power cable with its Zero Connect Box,4 which wirelessly transmits video and audio to keep the area around the TV simple and clutter-free. By implementing a design that considers hidden, easily missed design details, the LG OLED M gives homeowners the opportunity to curate a space for their distinctive lifestyles.
By aiming for design perfection down to the smallest details, LG is developing TVs that naturally merge with the interior design without losing sight of the essential elements that make a TV so important in everyday life.
To learn more about how the LG HE Design Lab is providing new experiences that fit unique lifestyle with only the essentials, stay tuned to
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1 LG OLED Gallery Stand requires separate purchase.
2 Applies to LG OLED evo G4 55/65 models.
3 The phrase “world’s first wireless OLED” refers to OLED televisions with 120Hz 4k connectivity.
4 The TV and Zero Connect Box both require a power connection during operation.
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By News Reporter
Milan Design Week, also known as Salone del Mobile, is the world’s preeminent furniture and design fair. Held in Italy’s famous fashion capital, it is a truly global showcase of innovation, creativity and luxurious style. Amidst this year’s celebration of inspiring and aspirational home living, LG presented its latest premium built-in products, including collaborations with renowned designers, at the Signature Kitchen Suite Showroom on Milan’s Piazza Cavour.
Open since 2020, the showroom artfully exhibits the sleek offerings of the Signature Kitchen Suite while introducing visitors to the brand’s True to Food philosophy. This stylish space, where tradition meets innovation, spans three levels – ground floor, basement and mezzanine – each featuring stellar Signature Kitchen Suite built-ins designed and made to the most exacting standards. The advanced appliances on display are complemented by a nature-inspired décor designed by Calvi Brambilla, an esteemed multidisciplinary design studio based in Milan.
One of the showroom’s special zones cleverly evokes the natural beauty of Italy through the use of Milano Pink, a warm, soothing color inspired by the pink hues that adorn the Alps when viewed from Milan at sunset. Visitors can experience the unique value of Signature Kitchen Suite and LG home appliances firsthand by exploring the showroom’s Food Academy and simulated domestic spaces, which include a kitchen, living room, bedroom and laundry room.
Structured around the theme of the Art of Precision, the showroom compellingly conveys the Signature Kitchen Suite design philosophy through a hand-picked selection of artworks and engaging experiential programs. Visitors can discover different examples of the ‘art of precision’ via the exhibit’s Master Craftsmen encounters, where a flavorist, a watchmaker, a baker and a glazier each demonstrate the level of care and skill that LG’s premium built-in brand has come to represent.
A delightful display of delicate origami decorations, which greets guests as they enter the showroom’s reception area, serves as another symbolic tie to the craftsman-like quality of Signature Kitchen Suite appliances. The origami pieces are accompanied by dozens of bottles containing artisanal vanilla essence, each with its own unique aroma.
Coinciding with Milan Design Week, LG showcased a variety of stunning appliances brought to life through its collaborations with high-end furniture brands and design groups. This year, acclaimed furniture designer and architect Patricia Urquiola, known around the world for iconic designs such as the Dudet Chair and Sengu Table, partnered with LG to create a new masterpiece for Signature Kitchen Suite. Visitors to the Signature Kitchen Suite Showroom have the privilege of seeing Urquiola and LG’s ultra-chic undercounter modular refrigerator in person.
A seamless fit for both kitchens and living rooms, Urquiola’s unerringly elegant creation aligns with the popular home and interior design trend of blurring the boundaries between living spaces. Resembling a sophisticated cabinet or set of drawers,the refrigerator offers custom size and color choices to suit the specific needs and preferences of each customer. Its upper compartment can be used for the efficient storage of bottled water, beer, wine (or other beverages) and even cosmetics, while its lower compartment functions as a convenient freezer.
Another aesthetically-unimpeachable appliance that debuted during Salone del Mobile was the Signature Kitchen Suite Wine Cabin. A collaboration between LG and m2atlier, a Milan-based architectural design group, this remarkable piece provides temperature-controlled wine storage in its lower compartment, storage space for wine glasses and bottles in its upper compartment, and a beautiful cigar box in between.
The Wine Cabin’s central rotating base supports a structure that can be customized with different finishes. Encased in micro-ribbed glass, the effortlessly luxe m2atlier design was conceived as a “precious container” for the Signature Kitchen Suite under-shelf wine cellar.
From creative collaborations with leading designers to carefully curated exhibits, the Signature Kitchen Suite Showroom in Milan celebrates the essence of design, technology and luxury living.
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By News Reporter
The harmonious marriage of minimalist aesthetics and functionality is a hallmark of some of the most successful examples of industrial design. Launched earlier this year, the link hidden, please login to view (model HU710PB) portable projector exemplifies the ‘less is more’ approach, shedding all superfluous design touches to achieve a timeless look and maximum usability. Since its global debut at CES 2024, the LG CineBeam Q has won a steady stream of praise for its practical, user-friendly features and distinctive yet understated style.
The LG CineBeam Q produces immersive large-scale pictures in ultra-sharp 4K resolution. In order to achieve this, the technologically sophisticated projector utilizes more components than a conventional model – an impressive feat considering its small size. To efficiently house all of the parts required – most of which are square in shape – the design team found that a simple square shape was the most ideal for the device itself. The result is an ultra-portable projector that pairs high-performance with a super-clean, minimalist design.
The ‘boxy’ form factor of the LG CineBeam Q is augmented by a sleek metallic look; something rarely seen in today’s projector market and a point of difference that further sets LG’s product apart from the competition. Typically associated with premium IT devices, the metallic finish enables the device to double as a stylish interior accessory while also providing a pleasing tactile quality.
Thoroughly minimalist in appearance, the LG CineBeam Q’s exterior does away with any and all non-essential design elements, leaving only that which is truly needed: the lens, handle, connection ports and power button. Even the information label on the bottom of the device has been streamlined, providing a selection of essential product data for the customer’s reference, and nothing else.
The handle of the CineBeam Q not only maximizes usability, but also helps to make the product instantly recognizable. The elegant simplicity of the CineBeam Q’s 360-degree rotatable handle belies the ingenious practicality of its design, serving both as a carry-handle and as an adjustable stand.
The remarkable LG CineBeam Q delivers moving cinematic experiences in almost any setting, indoors or out. Due to its exceptionally light weight – only 1.49 kg – the CineBeam Q is easy to pick up, and can be conveniently carried to wherever it is needed. Along with prioritizing portability and performance, Lee Eun-bong, the lead product designer on the CineBeam Q, sought to create an intuitive design that users could instantly understand and feel comfortable with – even those who had never owned a projector before.
A great choice for anyone seeking a stylish, take-anywhere* projection solution, LG CineBeam Q offers a unique combination of modern minimalist design, stellar portability and stunning 4K image quality.
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* The projector operates solely through external power sources and does not feature a built-in battery. It necessitates connection to a power cord or external battery.
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By News Reporter
Milan Design Week, the world’s largest and most well-known design and furniture fair, is a mecca for the aesthetically-inclined. At this year’s event, the biennially-held EuroCucina exhibition put the spotlight on the latest trends in kitchen appliances and furnishings, with many of the industry’s major players taking part. A regular at Milan Design Week, LG delivered a stunning showcase of premium built-in kitchen appliances at a booth designed by GamFratesi, the acclaimed architecture and design studio co-founded by Italian Enrico Fratesi and Denmark’s Stine Gam.
To highlight both the ultra-premium Signature Kitchen Suite and LG’s built-in appliance lineups, the diverse range of built-in products on display clearly reflected the company’s dedication to promoting an inspired culinary lifestyle centered around the joy of sharing and savoring quality food.
“One particularly memorable episode during our collaboration with LG was the differentiation strategy for Signature Kitchen Suite and LG built-in appliances,” said GamFratesi. “This differentiation strategy was well reflected in the booth design.”
The coming together of Signature Kitchen Suite’s True to Food philosophy – founded on the importance of preserving the original flavors of fresh ingredients – and GamFratesi’s design ethos revealed a new vision for kitchen design. LG’s emphasis on quality natural ingredients was echoed by the natural materials and design elements incorporated into the exhibition booth itself, which also reflected the impact of environment and culture on different cuisine traditions. GamFratesi’s subtle use of wood and stone accentuated the beauty of the natural world while simultaneously drawing attention to the connection we form with the planet when cooking and consuming real food.
“The key points to pay attention to are the design of each island and the materials used,” noted GamFratesi. “Each island represents an independent piece of furniture that reflects our design aesthetic.”
Within the booth’s Signature Kitchen Suite zones, GamFratesi complemented the built-in brand’s gorgeous kitchen appliances with natural materials and finishings. Each display kitchen represented a seamless harmony of appliances, cabinetry, counters and décor, highlighting the transformative power of design to create special sanctuaries that celebrate authentic cooking and nature’s beauty.
Evocative, entertaining, yet entirely elegant, the Signature Kitchen Suite wine cellar zone made a lasting impression on visitors to LG’s booth. Here, GamFratesi drew inspiration from the wine-maturation process to craft a calm, almost-meditative space with a ‘cave-like’ sense of depth and a rich, atmospheric mood.
Although the synergy between LG’s built-in appliances and GamFratesi’s kitchen designs is undeniable, the process of smoothly integrating the two for the Milan Design Week showcase was not without challenges. However, through the thoughtful and purposeful placement of appliances with distinct functionalities, and via the introduction of LG’s panel-ready concept, the two innovative companies achieved the ultimate union of form and function. The results, as one can see from the images, speak for themselves.
Through the unprecedented fusion of design, technology and space, the compelling collaboration between LG and GamFratesi presented a new kind of value and a refined kitchen lifestyle. As demonstrated at Milan Design Week, and at other major exhibitions around the world, LG is committed to partnering with like-minded innovators who share its passion for pushing boundaries and elevating everyday life.
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