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In the Media · FastCo Design

Lynn Imai | Why Samsung design stinks

Feb 17, 2015

samsung tablet

Steve Jobs Syndrome: the Western designer's mentality of stubborn genius.

The former head of product strategy and user experience design at Samsung Design America, Kevin Lee, has watched countless Western design firms develop products for the Korean company. The ideas either get discarded entirely or get changed so much in production that they becoming meaningless and boring when produced.

Ivey professor Lynn Imai discusses how Korean culture feeds into a consensus-driven work environment, unlike Western culture.

"In a sweeping sort of way, the Korean culture in itself is hierarchical, Confucius-based, and group-minded rather than individualistic," Imai says. "That Apple kind of innovation, entrepreneurial culture goes against all of that."