Design Principles: Making Simple is Very Complex

One of the important concepts of design is to make things relatable. The consumer should be able to relate or associate himself to the product. Imagine, if the consumer does not find anything common with the product, he would either work hard to change himself or be compelled to dislike the product. Many gadgets we see these days incorporate sleek, thin and simplistic designs. Many companies try, but only a few succeed in making products which are simple in design, meaningful and speak to the consumers.

There is a thin line between a simple design and stupidity.More often, this thin line of distinction is not visible to the design heads or executives of great companies. When trying to make a product more simple, they usually end up making a mockery of a product. Sometimes, these products end up looking like garbage. Here, I would present you a few examples of how product design can fail terribly.

Samsung Mobile Phones:
Samsung has brought out some great phone, with their galaxy line. S1 was the first Galaxy phone brought out by the company, which featured pretty trendy design for its time. The phone was received well the world over, and it paved way for what was the real big thing in Samsung's Galaxy line-- Samsung Galaxy S2. S2 not only featured great specs, but also sported a great design. This phone placed Samsung as the biggest rival of Apple, and paved way for its bright future. See the designs below:

Samsung S1(Above) sported a very good design. It was flanked by smartphone users all over the world.

Samsung S2(Above). It took Samsung to Number 1 position among the Android Brands.

After Samsung S2, Samsung adopted a different design for all the subsequent phones. All these phones sported a Poly-carbonate(a hip name for plastic) back panel and a metal-like side rim. The poly-carbonate could have been used to decrease the weight of the phone, and make back panel more suitable for a wear and tear of having a removable battery. But, the phones ended up looking cheap and flimsy. Samsung, in order to get a simple looking, practical phone, got themselves a cheap looking phone that didn't feel premium. Look at the design below:

A Blunder in Design?

Even though S3 had a very ordinary design, it worked due to Samsung's marketing blitz and reputation. Next came, Samsung S4, which looked exactly similar in design to Samsung S3 -- the same old cheap plastic back panel and metal-like side rims. When placed next to iphone, S4 looked very cheap, and gave a feeling that it was some mid-level phone with low specs.

How cheap does S4 look when beside iPhone 5S? A LOT!

Resting on the past laurels is what Samsung seems to be doing, and this was made apparent when it released Samsung Galaxy S5! The same old Plastic back panel, and even worse design. Just have a look at it below:

Yes! It looks like Band aid 

More on this in Future.