LAS VEGAS (Jan 7): Samsung Electronics Co Ltd is shifting towards a more human-centred philosophy in technology design as technology becomes more embedded in everyday life.
Minimalism dominated the design philosophy over the past two decades with clean lines, seamless surfaces, and interfaces that recede into the background being the go-to approach in an increasingly complex digital world, said Debbie Millman, host of Design Matters at Samsung tech forum entitled Tech beyond minimalism: Redefining design at CES 2026.
However, the limitations of this philosophy have become more apparent — as devices people rely on most have remained largely uniform and resistant to individuality.
Mauro Porcini, executive vice president and chief design officer at Samsung Electronics, said that minimalism — where the idea that form follows function — represents only one facet of humanity rather than its full diversity. Now, design should evolve from “form follows function” to “form and function follow me”.
Humans interact with products and brands in three layers: functionality; the desire to love an object beyond its utility; and, the semiotic dimension where the brand or that product says something about the person to the rest of the world, he said.
“[There is] minimalism and maximalism and everything in between. So, the language of humanity, the visual language, the language of humanity is a language that is diverse, is inclusive and gives the possibility to people to choose,” said Porcini.
“The other element is that there is a layer of functionality but there is also a layer of emotions where humans were made of rationality and emotions. And so, this idea of form following function, my vision should evolve in this new idea of form and function follow me, meaning that what is meaningful to me may be different than what is meaningful to you or to you.”
Samsung wants to bring back this diversity of expression with the design of its technology. For instance, the 130-inch Micro RGB television is designed to adapt to different spatial and aesthetic contexts, allowing the same display to take on multiple visual identities depending on how it is framed, mounted and integrated into its surroundings, he said.
“We presented it with multiple styles. You have this sculptural beautiful, iconic TV in the middle of the space where the frame is there with the functionality of hanging the TV but there are also speakers in it. There is the aesthetic functionality. There is the emotion of this beautiful object,” said Porcini.
“But the exact same display, the exact same TV has also a different design on the wall with aframe made of wood and you have different kinds of customisations of those frames.”
Designers have the unique ability to envision what does not yet exist and to bring it into reality, said Fabio Novembre, founder of Novembre Studio.
“Design must come back to the centre of the stage… I believe that happiness is the aim of design. They’re so connected to me, and it’s so important. If we really go to the Greek root of the word, it means bring to completion, basically blossoming,” he said.
Porcini added: “What we want to reintroduce in the world of tech, is the layer of emotion that goes beyond the functionality so they can fall in love with that TV, or refrigerator, or air purifier,
beyond the functionality. [There is a need the best functionality [and] Samsung will keep investing in technology [and] the role of AI.”
“But then there’s also this layer of emotions, of style, of language, that we need to reconnect the functionality.”
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