Next-Gen Shopping App Experience for LG

— Project Overview

LG came with the request for Huge to build the next generation shopping app, an end-to-end e-commerce experience. They wanted to cover their most target countries India and US.

Right now, there are many ways to purchase LG products, from lg.com to comparison sites and big box stores, many of which LG can’t compare with as a mono-brand seller.

Our challenge was to create the shopping app with the target audience in mind and meet LG's big expectations.

We worked directly with LG Korea; this added more challenges than we expected.
— Language barrier.
— Cultural differences.
— Education process regarding the design process.

— Client

LG Electronics

— Agency

Huge Inc

— My Role

Visual Design Lead

— The XD Team

Claudio Guglieri - Group Creative Director
Gigi Lam - Ass. Creative Director
Kelsey Cordutsky - Visual Design Lead
Jean He - Experience Design Lead
Mauricio Rojas - Senior UX Designer
Luis Lemus - Senior Visual Designer
Tu Vu - UX Copy Writer
Jeanne Storck -Content Strategist

— Project state

In development - LG team expecting to launch the app in early 2022.

— CREATIVE PROCESS
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The first part of the design process was to establish the app's features and develop the visual design. For the second part, we did a creative workshop with the client, setting the design principles of the app.

— DESIGN PRINCIPLES
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After the workshop, we took the key features the client highlighted they wanted for the app, and we created the following design principles the would be the core of the design moving forward.

— DESIGN DIRECTIONS
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After we had established the design principles, we started the fun part of explorations, and while we were doing that, we were creating the first two approaches the client would see as an approximation of their app.

DIRECTION 1 – ARCHITECTURAL UI

DIRECTION 2 – EXPRESSIVE UI

— A variant for every occasion
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One of the first components built in the project that set the design language for the app was the form field. At first glance, the form field is very simple. We needed to create a universal design in the beginning could adjust and flex throughout the rest of the app.

— Icons that are consistent with the brand
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We designed around +74 icons in three different sizes all according with the brand by employing the grid system and the geometric lines from the LG Motif guidelines.

— Finding the right balance
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The product card was a perfect design exercise for both us and the client. We went in depth, analysing how current brands were conveying condensed product information. Is the product card informative? Is it accessible? Does it represent the LG brand?

— Benchmarking success
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Every design decision was intentional and supported with references references and real world studies.

— Shopping with LG is fluid across digital and physical
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The purchase of an LG product can happen across digital or physical channels, and is often driven by availability and price/value. The online to offline connection is the key to a seamless experience.

— Convenience is key to the shopping experience
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Convenience is the reason people would use an app vs. visiting a store or using a website. Consumers can get convenient support on their own terms (e.g. app-native support functions like managing delivery, initial setup, and real-time Q&A).

— Enhance ownership with personalization
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The LG app was built to meet the user where they are at. There are moments throughout the app that allow for personalization, showcasing how LG products can fit seamlessly into the users life, and how they can make the most out of their membership.

— Diligent documentation

Our designs in Figma are living and breathing. With a clear structure set up, it allows the team to work collaboratively and iterate at scale.

“LG team isn’t a design team, and we don't know how to build [an] app service like this. You've created a gold standard design system for our teams.”

— Lessons
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The main thing that we learned was that working with these big companies and cultural differences, we needed a translator; the language barrier was a big challenge for us.

The organization in this type of project is essential; with the team, we create effective methods to manage the client's feedback and the design of each feature.
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It takes a village to build a big project, and this app is out because of the hard work of each member of the team. Being a good leader, embracing and listening to your team is essential, and that is why we manage to deliver everything on time.

I've learned how to negotiate with the client; even though they were afraid to take risks, we managed to respect the design principles we wanted to reflect in the whole system.