Brand Transformation for Businesses Growing Across Asia • Up to 50% EDG Support for Eligible Projects. Limited Time Only

Brand Transformation for Businesses Growing Across Asia • Up to 50% EDG Support for Eligible Projects. Limited Time Only

Brand Transformation for Businesses Growing Across Asia • Up to 50% EDG Support for Eligible Projects. Limited Time Only

Brand Transformation for Businesses Growing Across Asia • Up to 50% EDG Support for Eligible Projects. Limited Time Only

Brand Transformation for Businesses Growing Across Asia • Up to 50% EDG Support for Eligible Projects. Limited Time Only

Brand Transformation for Businesses Growing Across Asia • Up to 50% EDG Support for Eligible Projects. Limited Time Only

Brand Transformation for Businesses Growing Across Asia • Up to 50% EDG Support for Eligible Projects. Limited Time Only

Brand Transformation for Businesses Growing Across Asia • Up to 50% EDG Support for Eligible Projects. Limited Time Only

Brand Transformation for Businesses Growing Across Asia • Up to 50% EDG Support for Eligible Projects. Limited Time Only

Brand Transformation for Businesses Growing Across Asia • Up to 50% EDG Support for Eligible Projects. Limited Time Only

Brand Transformation for Businesses Growing Across Asia • Up to 50% EDG Support for Eligible Projects. Limited Time Only

Brand Transformation for Businesses Growing Across Asia • Up to 50% EDG Support for Eligible Projects. Limited Time Only

Brand Transformation for Businesses Growing Across Asia • Up to 50% EDG Support for Eligible Projects. Limited Time Only

Brand Transformation for Businesses Growing Across Asia • Up to 50% EDG Support for Eligible Projects. Limited Time Only

Brand Transformation for Businesses Growing Across Asia • Up to 50% EDG Support for Eligible Projects. Limited Time Only

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Designing Tomorrow’s Fridge:
Samsung Product Innovation & Design Thinking Workshop Shaping the Future of Home Life

Business Design
Design Thinking
Sustainable Design
Side view of a person in a black shirt examining a wall of colorful sticky notes and design layouts.

{ Project Overview }

Creativeans partnered with Samsung to envision the future of refrigeration for modern Southeast Asian homes, transforming consumer insights into forward-thinking product innovation.

As lifestyles across Southeast Asia continue to evolve, refrigeration needed to be understood as more than a household appliance. Through ethnographic research and design thinking workshops, we explored how millennials live, eat, store, organise, and interact with their kitchens, uncovering real behaviours and unmet needs that could shape the next generation of refrigerator experiences

The collaboration brought together Samsung’s Singapore Product Innovation Team and Creativeans’ strategic design approach to translate research findings into tangible opportunities. From identifying user pain points to prototyping concept solutions, the project helped reframe refrigeration as an intelligent and adaptable companion for contemporary homes across the region.

A woman in a red plaid shirt smiling and gesturing toward a large wall covered in Samsung ethnography research sheets, user profiles, and colorful sticky notes.

{ Creative Challenge }

Understanding millennials’ evolving lifestyles to shape the next generation of home appliances
  1. 01

    Samsung sought to create refrigerators that go beyond functionality and resonate with how modern millennials live and interact with their kitchens.

  2. 02

    Traditional product research methods could not capture the emotional and behavioural nuances behind daily routines and food habits.

  3. 03

    The challenge was to uncover real, in-home insights that reveal unspoken needs, frustrations, and aspirations among diverse millennial households.

  4. 04

    The challenge was to uncover real, in-home insights that reveal unspoken needs, frustrations, and aspirations among diverse millennial households.

  5. 05

    Translating these complex lifestyle observations into actionable design directions required a bridge between research, creativity, and strategy.

  6. 06

    Samsung needed a design partner capable of guiding its Product Innovation Team through a structured yet creative process, from empathy to ideation to prototyping.

{ The Solution }

A design-led research process that transformed everyday insights into real, market-ready refrigerator innovations

  1. Conducted in-depth ethnographic research to observe how millennials live, cook, and interact with their refrigerators in real environments across Southeast Asia.

  2. Uncovered key behavioural patterns and pain points, from limited storage flexibility to aesthetic and lifestyle aspirations in compact urban homes.

  3. Facilitated Design Thinking Workshop with Samsung’s Product Innovation Team in Singapore, guiding participants through empathy, define, ideate, and prototype stages.

  4. Developed and visualised high-fidelity product design concepts such as modular storage systems, touchless access, and lifestyle-integrated forms.

  5. These ideas were implemented into actual product development, inspiring new refrigerator designs that moved from conceptual sketches to real, market-launched models in Samsung’s lineup.

A design-led research process that transformed everyday insights into real, market-ready refrigerator innovations

{ THE DIFFERENCE }

A hand holding a mechanical pencil sketching furniture concepts and product details on a white sheet of paper.
Four tablet screens arranged on a light background, showcasing different concept designs, technical layouts, and renders for modern furniture and cabinetry.
{ BEFORE }{ AFTER }

{ PRODUCT INNOVATION }

We partnered with Samsung’s Product Innovation Team in Singapore to uncover what Southeast Asian consumers truly need from modern home appliances, turning everyday behaviours into future-ready refrigerator concepts.

Through ethnographic research and design thinking workshops, we explored how people live, cook, store, and organise food within contemporary homes. These insights revealed real user pain points and aspirations, from space-saving needs in compact living environments to a desire for more intuitive, lifestyle-integrated appliance design.

The findings guided the development of clear value propositions and high-fidelity refrigerator concepts featuring touchless access, modular storage, and aesthetic adaptability. By transforming insight into implementation, the project helped Samsung shape meaningful product directions for modern living across Southeast Asia.

what is competitor analysis creativeans branding singapore

{ ETHNOGRAPHY RESEARCH & DESIGN THINKING WORKSHOP }

We translated real-world observations from Southeast Asian households into tangible design ideas through a collaborative design thinking workshop with Samsung’s Product Innovation Team in Singapore.

After completing the ethnographic research phase, the workshop turned user insights into quick sketches, concept explorations, and early product directions. Each idea was grounded in real consumer behaviours, from storage habits and kitchen routines to expectations around convenience, flexibility, and intuitive appliance use.

The hands-on sketching process allowed the team to rapidly iterate, discuss, and refine concepts in real time. These explorations became the foundation for high-fidelity prototypes, bridging the gap between human insight and product innovation while shaping refrigerator concepts with stronger market relevance.

A wall titled "VALUE PROPOSITION" covered in numerous hand-drawn design sketches and concept papers, categorized with sticky notes.
A group of people collaborating in a modern meeting room with sticky notes and design sketches on the walls around a long wooden conference table.
A man gesturing toward design sketches and layout sheets pinned up on a white wall.
A close-up of a designer's hands reviewing, annotating, and sketching detailed product layouts and diagrams on paper.

{ PROTOTYPING & CONCEPT REALISATION }

We transformed early workshop ideas into high-fidelity refrigerator prototypes, helping Samsung visualise how future product concepts could function, look, and feel in real home environments.

Building on the ideas generated during the design thinking workshop, the prototyping phase translated abstract concepts into tangible design directions. Each prototype was developed to evaluate how proposed features could respond to real user needs, from touchless access and modular storage to lifestyle-integrated forms that blur the line between kitchen appliance and living space.

These prototypes combined aesthetic form, material detail, and user interaction to support clearer decision-making within Samsung’s Product Innovation Team. By turning sketches into realistic visualisations, the project bridged creativity and engineering, enabling Samsung to envision the future of refrigeration with greater clarity, confidence, and purpose.

A woman in a red plaid shirt smiling and gesturing toward a large wall covered in Samsung ethnography research sheets, user profiles, and colorful sticky notes.
A presentation slide detailing the "Smart Handle" refrigerator feature with a fingerprint safety lock, antibacterial coating, and detachable smart controller.
A presentation slide explaining "Intuitive Storage" with ergonomically designed shelves, sliding dividers, and removable trays.
A presentation slide showcasing the "Secret Door" feature with biometric palm-scan security guarding a hidden compartment.
A presentation slide introducing "Window to the World," featuring a refrigerator door with a digital display that simulates scenic outdoor views.
A presentation slide highlighting "Living Decor," showing a refrigerator disguised within a sculptural, air-purifying facade that blends into modern home interiors.

Our collaboration with Samsung’s Product Innovation Team was a defining example of how design thinking can transform research into real innovation. By immersing ourselves in users’ homes and daily lives, we uncovered insights that reshaped how the refrigerator could fit into modern living.

The word "SAMSUNG" in bold, capitalized black letters against a transparent checkerboard background.
Kimming Yap
Managing Director, Creativeans Pte Ltd

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Yulia Saksen

Co-Founder of Creativeans
International Brand Consultant

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