ALWAYS ON DISPLAY
Customize your display
Users habitually turn on the mobile screen to check information.
Think about how often you check the information on your mobile device. There's a decent chance it's a lot.
Now, think about why you are checking and what kind of information you want to monitor.
What if we can do the tasks without doing anything?
What if we be able to do the tasks without doing anything?
My Role
The taskforce team on the new function of the next device participated as a representative of the design team and discovered the new service. I was responsible for determining the overall design direction of the project while collaborating with the rest of the team on ideation.
I reported to C-level for the final approval, I was in charge of designing the whole process.
What I do
- Product vision & Strategy
- Conduct Research
- Defining Design Principles
- User Key Value & Scenarios
- Executive Presentations
- Wireframe & Information Architect
- Visual & Interaction Design
How it all started
During the Task Force meeting for the new service, the hardware team mentioned that additional work might be possible on the off-screen. After hearing this comment, our team began to think about whether we could provide something meaningful to users on the off-screen.
Similar functions have already been supported in the market, so it has been necessary to analyze and identify the exact needs of users. The first step of this effort was market research to gauge user needs around the world.
What opportunities exist for us?
There are 3 primary use cases we believe to make off-screen useful to users.
Basic Information
Screen Saver
Wakeup the device with gestures
"With touch and other ways"
"Check the clock"
"Display background image"
Understand Competitors
Upon competitive analysis, the existing functions were not very frequently used by users. After reviewing the feedback of the actual users, there was negative feedback on the information that was recognized by sensors and temporarily displayed. If we reviewed this feedbacks very deeply thoroughly, providing more meaningful data than existing functions and modifying scenarios to meet user needs, we could predict the possibility of this function becoming a new flagship function in advance.
Understand user Journeys
We conducted over 100 interviews globally(Seoul, London, New Jersey), which allowed us to go deeper to understand their personal thoughts.
We aimed to research the information users want to see and the way they control this.
According to the results of the research, users thought it would be useful to see time information, notifications, images, and music controllers all the time. We also inquired about which part of the screen we were most concerned about using as always on.
First, it was a privacy issue. Information related to security had to be excluded because it was a screen that could be viewed without having to put the terminal on the table or open or shut down.
Secondly, it was pointed out that it would not be visually burdensome to look at this screen in a dark environment.
Music controller
Time & Date
Time & Date , Notification
Image (Shuffle)
Background image
What valuable things do users want?
Cloud information
- Cloud usage, Storage, Downloaded status, Detail settings
Synced contents
- Calendar, Contacts saved in Samsung account, Samsung Internet browser, Samsung Keyboard data
Backup and restored contents
- Calendar, Contacts saved in Device and SIM, Call logs, Home Screen Layout, Apps, Device Settings
, Messages, Files
Learning from our users
Substitution of a lock screen
If users don't need to turn on the device and provide the information you want, AOD screen can replace some features of the lock screen.
Variety of customization features
Users want to display and see their data at any time. But, they worry about the privacy issue when the phone is put on unprotected status.
Anxiety about additional battery consumption
There was concern that the battery would be used quickly if the information on the screen continued to be shown.
Rebuild User Journey
Based on the design insights, we constructed the information architecture such that the overall user journey of AOD and the content to be represented are summarized.
Challenging our assumptions
The first thing to be sorted out was how to express information on the screen. Since this was linked to battery issues, it was necessary to consult closely with the QA team internally as well as user usability issues. To this end, the design team developed various drafts based on the same content and conducted tests with the hardware engineer team.
Also, the design team reviewed the use scenario in detail, found a situation where the user could turn off the AOD function for a while and reflected it in the user flow. UX designers consider scenarios for turning off in unnecessary cases, while visual designers consider color and animation frames.
Drafts for testing battery consumption and brightness in dark environments
The finished designs
Display your AOD
Display clock, calendar, and image(background). AOD displays a relatively small amount of information compared with the phone’s normal mode. Nevertheless, designers determined an optimal number of frames to ensure that there is no compromise in display quality.
Galaxy S7_AOD setting
Galaxy S8_AOD setting
Powerful customization features
After launching GALAXY S7, most feedback was more customization (color, clock style, and images).
By reviewing these user feedbacks, the following models added functions such as customizing the components directly by the user and various preset contents.
Screen off memo
With the new Screen Off Memo function, users do not need to launch an app to view notes.
Memos can be pinned to the Always On Display. This allows users to check them at a later time by simply double-tapping the Memo icon. Users can also store these memos in the Samsung Notes app directly from the Always On Display.
Samsung Theme store
Downloaded from Samsung Themes
The growing demand for content from users has led to more work for designers internally. To solve this problem, we had many internal idea meetings and got the great idea to upload and share content created by releasing AOD API to existing Samsung theme stores so that users can use a lot of content in the end.
Initially, users could only choose from a few different clocks, add a calendar, and a few other things. Also, though, users have the entire Samsung theme store to choose from.
Guided to interaction design
Learn from the project
Always on Display project was applied to Galaxy S7 device for the first time, and value-added to the next devices. As a result, this feature became a major feature of Galaxy devices. It was a project that listened to users' opinions while designing four terminals and realized once again that feedback from colleagues working together was vital. The process of other team members concluding was complicated, but it was a project that made me realize what I didn't think and consider, and felt like I had grown up as a designer.
Galaxy S20 Always on Display
Press & Mentions
https://www.androidcentral.com/how-customize-galaxy-s8-always-display
...continues to show you useful information that's available at a glance so you don't always have to turn on the whole display just to check the time or see if you have notifications.
https://www.forecovery.com/android-tips/screen-off-memo-on-samsung-galaxy-note-9.html
...To set screen off memo in always display, create the memo and then tap on the pin icon at the top left corner of the screen.
https://www.androidcentral.com/do-you-use-always-display-your-phone
... Having an always on display can be a great benefit to stay in touch with what's going on while working away at the office or running around the house...