To begin the venture of manufacturing LCD TVs in India, LG wanted to understand the key requirements of the Indian market, come up with a new user segment and identify the need for a new and unique design feature. Hence, my project brief was to make a concept LCD TV for the Indian market based on premium segment customer insight.
The process was initiated on the basis of extensive research done in the Indian LCD TV market. I studied the history and evolution of LCD TVs and studied the technologies in use. The next step was to do a market study, look at the different products in terms of different manufacturers, their designs, marketing strategies, brand name, etc. and to understand what LG’s stand in the market was.
The most important part was the user survey, which I conducted in various cities across India, with the help of a questionnaire. The needs which were similar in most of the user research data became the keywords for starting concept generation.
The final concept was to design a TV which could be modified according to the needs of gaming and movie-entertainment enthusiasts, and the design problem was to design the base enhancement for the TV. A design direction was taken from the market and the user research done before. Then, new ideas were generated, for the form of the TV, aesthetics, features, bracket and stand mechanisms. Finally, two concepts were chosen for final detailing and development.
Since this was a research based project, I ended up learning a lot about research techniques and methodology, interacting with users, understanding their needs and requirements, and building a strong base of knowledge about the product and its user scenario before coming up with a concept.
