Reinventing the Smart TV UX
webOS for TV - LG Electronics
In the Fall of 2012, after 15 years at Microsoft, I felt like it was time for a change of scenery. I wanted to experience a different work culture and explore a different product space. While I enjoyed playing the hybrid studio manager/design lead role, I also felt that my passions lay in responsibilities more on creative direction versus operational side of design.
Accepting a position in the Palm OS division at HP as a Director of Design, I was drawn to the challenge of re-imagining the webOS mobile platform for a new set of connected devices and services. The clarity of vision the leadership team shared, made me want to be a part of the team.
In late February 2013, it was announced that LG Electronics would acquire the Palm business unit from HP in its entirety. All efforts moving forward would be directed towards developing webOS as a consumer appliance operating system for a broad range of products. My role transitioned into leading a multidisciplinary team tasked with designing the webOS platform experience for smart TVs for 2014.
It was immediately clear that existing “smart” tv platforms were anything but. TVs were difficult to setup and use, with confusing hierarchies of menus and feature overload. Putting content front and center, and minimizing the amount of UI presented to users was core to our intuitions and was supported in user research feedback to-date.
Over the next 9 months, my team worked closely with design and engineering counterparts both locally in the SF Bay Area and in Korea to prototype an interface focused on a stripped down presentation emphasizing simple setup, fast task switching, and easy discovery of content. My primary contribution was to act as a conduit between the local design and engineering teams, as well as with our design partners at corporate HQ in Seoul. Initially, it was a challenge to learn the intricacies of Korean business culture, and develop relationships with stakeholders. Through regular face-to-face meetings, workshops, and numerous reviews of designs, we began to make headway into changing the mindset of people clinging to the old designs and processes. People who were initially unsure of our team’s abilities started to become our biggest advocates after experiencing the more agile, iterative design process the Bay Area team embraced.
The cross-company design team locked around a simple model based around a timeline where recents, favorites, and apps were arranged horizontally on screen. The timeline was effectively the main menu for the TV experience that could be invoked via a wave of the gesture remote, or pressing the Home button. The simplicity of the structure combined with fluid animations was compelling and innovative. It also allowed content to be the main focal point for user attention.
While we were cautiously optimistic that the platform would be received well at CES 2014, there was a certain degree of trepidation since the future of LG's TV business success was hinging on this reimagined platform. The resurrected webOS for Smart TV platform quickly became one of the top stories of the show, winning numerous awards in the process. The long days and late nights with HQ were justified in the end.
After the show, attitudes towards the SF Bay studio changed greatly, with other business units within LG requesting time with the team to work on projects with the company. Teams wanted to learn our processes and methodologies, with the intent of adopting them for other initiatives. Ultimately, driving cultural and operational changes is the toughest thing to do in a large corporation. The experience I had with LG was rewarding because in a relatively short amount of time, the teams in Seoul and the Bay Area were able to deliver an innovative product using a design-led process based on iteration and collaboration.
