Left to right: Alexander Warr (Time Frame), Irem Deniz Akcam (Sphere), Matthew Cockeril (Kinetic Decor), Gerard Puxhe (Architectural Extension), Jianshi Wu (Bird Clock)

Samsung Electronics has teamed up with leading design and architectural magazine Dezeen in a competition to find the next graphic imagery for the QLED TV’s ‘Ambient Mode.’ Open to designers and creatives worldwide, the judges invited shortlisted entrants to the final round of the competition at IFA, with the grand prize winner announced on August 31 in Berlin. The competition saw a myriad of entries from all over the globe, but only five were invited to IFA to showcase their designs in full.

Ambient Mode is the innovative feature of 2018 QLED TVs that transforms the traditionally black display of the ‘off’ screen into a dynamic, animated interior design feature. Ambient Mode can mimic the appearance of the wall it sits on while also conveying chosen imagery or information, such as the time or the weather.

The judges of this contest to find the next Ambient Mode design, including esteemed designer Neville Brody and Serif TV designer Erwan Bourollec, and Dontae Lee, Head of Samsung’s Corporate Design Center, were looking for designs that fit Ambient Mode’s mission to echo its environment and blend seamlessly into the aesthetic of user’s homes. “We weren’t looking for a design that was going to dominate or be too overpowering,” noted judge Neville Brody (pictured below). “The most important feature for us was whether or not the design could really make any environment warm and relaxing, just like Ambient Mode has been designed to do.”

The competition elicited a diverse and exciting range of creative responses to Ambient Mode. “The great thing about all the designs is the potential they all had to be completely customizable,” elaborated Brody. “From the objects or animals involved to the background design, all had the potential to be as personal to users as possible.” Choosing a winner from the five dynamic shortlisted designs was no easy feat, but it was Swift Creatives’ design that “offered a level of detail you could get involved in, but at the same time stayed there as a very natural part of the environment,” explained Brody.

The judging panel believe that with these new designs, the QLED TVs and Ambient Mode offer users even more options to personalize and enhance not just their screens, but their living spaces, too.  “Samsung TVs today are truly beautiful,” affirmed Brody. “They are moving the display screen away from being just a piece of technology and towards something that fits more seamlessly into people’s lives. It is a tremendous opportunity for creatives and consumers alike.”

UK-based Swift Creatives, the team behind winning design ‘Kinetic Decor’, was inspired by the family connotation of the mobile design as well as their Scandinavian roots. “Our design taps into the fundamental Scandinavian pleasures associated with everyday living and the simple comfort of relaxing at home with friends, using technology to support, not intrude on, this experience,” said Matthew Cockeril (pictured above).

Take a look at the five shortlisted designs in full below.

“Kinetic Decor”, Swift Creatives, UK

This ‘mobile’ concept relies on light cues and motion sensors to determine the activity of the chosen objects or animals (completely customizable) on screen. Regarding the challenges of designing for Ambient Mode, Swift Creatives team noted that “treading the fine line between representing something physical and something digital – key to the Ambient Mode offering – required careful thought and conceptualization.”

“Sphere”, Doisign, Turkey

This ‘digital world’ design allows users to catch a glimpse of what is going on in the outside world of their friends and family around the world with this social media and local data powered cut-out design. “Our design has transformed the TV into a personal assistant by harnessing the QLED’s AI and IoT capabilities. The immediate personalized home interface Ambient Mode offers allows users to take their home to a new interaction level.”

“Bird Clock”, Jianshi Wu and Yitan Sun, USA

This whimsical concept showcases the time of day to users through the gentle flutter of birds; the number of birds on each level represents a different digit of the time, and background coloration showcases the time of day. “We wanted our design to make the act of checking the time on a device less of a mindless errand. It embraces how new technology like Ambient Mode can encourage new ways to interact with technology.”

“Time Frame”, Alex Warr and Zach Walters, USA

This design provides a portal into a desired location, be it your current one or somewhere further afield, with the shape of the portal’s frame adjusting to subtly indicate the time of day as a clock would. “Time Frame is a dynamic window, enhancing the user’s space by creating a virtual connection to another environment; it is designed to enhance and expand the possibilities of a user’s space.”

“Architectural Extension”, Gerard Puxhe, UK

This concept expands upon the design of a user’s existing furniture and interior aesthetic, taking on a ‘box’ shape that blends in with the room’s surroundings, while decorative elements subtly reflect live weather and time information. “With ‘Architectural Extension’, I aim to integrate the digital and the physical world in a believable way.”

Samsung Electronics and Dezeen, a leading design and architectural magazine based in the UK, announced the grand prize winner of the co-hosted ‘Dezeen x Samsung Ambient Mode Design Competition’ at IFA 2018 on August 31. “Kinetic Decor,” designed by Matthew Cockeril, Stephen Waller and Peter Hälldahl of UK and Denmark-based Swift Creatives, was honored with the grand prize and €8,000 prize money for best demonstrating how the Ambient Mode feature in Samsung’s QLED TV transforms the TV into something meaningful, even when switched off.

The Dezeen x Samsung Ambient Mode Design Competition, held from June 25 to August 3, focused on the evolving usability of the Ambient Mode, a new feature on Samsung’s QLED TV which blends the TV into the living room and the surrounding space by mimicking the wall’s color and displaying desired content and information such as the news, weather, photos and music. To enter the competition, entrants submitted their best Ambient Mode designs using static or animated images.

“Now in its second consecutive year, the Dezeen x Samsung Ambient Mode Design Competition provides the perfect opportunity to honor leading designers from around the world while acquiring graphic designs that reflect the premium quality of our TVs,” said Jongsuk Chu, Senior Vice President of the Visual Display Business at Samsung Electronics. “The opportunities to increase the usability of the QLED TV’s Ambient Mode is endless. The designs are reflections of how we imagine the Ambient Mode – as a feature that enriches the everyday lifestyles of our consumers across the world.”

The contest awarded €29,500 in total prize money, reflecting Samsung’s ambition to celebrate talented designers and acquire premium concept and design quality from all around the world. The judging panel this year included esteemed designers, Neville Brody and Erwan Bouroullec, who selected the winner based on a complex set of criteria – a full understanding of the Ambient Mode, as well as overall design, originality, usability and seamlessness with the surrounding space and user lifestyle.

The winning design “Kinetic Decor” is a digital re-staging of the ‘mobile’ concept, with the live movements of the design’s fish becoming more animated as a room’s lighting increases or a user approaches. The submission especially received high marks for its connectivity with Ambient Mode content that is already available today.

“Our design aims to bring calm and a beautifully dynamic structure into the living space,” said Swift Creatives team member, Matthew Cockeril. “We were motivated to apply because of the unique way Samsung’s display technology supports designs that are responsive and sensitive to the people within the space it sits.”

Alongside the grand prize winner, four finalists were shortlisted with their designs exhibited as special displays within the Samsung Electronics booth at IFA 2018. The designs include “Time Frame,” displaying the outside scenery on the TV; “Bird Clock,” picturing birds sitting on a power line to indicate time; “Architectural Extension,” a virtual space like the balcony that creates the illusion of extended space; and “Sphere,” displaying graphics of the Earth’s rotation matched with relevant content and data, including photos, news and friends’ social media posts.

To extend the ecosystem of Ambient Mode, Samsung Electronics will roll out a Software Development Kit (SDK) in beta version later this year.

Samsung Electronics announced a partnership with Dezeen, a leading design and architectural magazine, inviting designers to create graphics for the Ambient Mode feature on Samsung’s QLED TVs. Held from June 25 to August 3, the contest will reward 29,500 euros in total prize money. To enter the contest, designers need to submit their best Ambient Mode designs using either static or animated images.

Samsung’s Ambient Mode does away with the mundane black screen that dominates a room when the television is not in use. Built into the 2018 QLED televisions, Ambient Mode makes the screen appear transparent by mimicking the appearance of the wall behind it, while also enhancing its environment by overlaying additional imagery and information – such as the weather – if desired.

“Ambient Mode creates a useful and innovative experience for users, even when their television is turned off. Knowing that this experience is unique to every user, the Ambient Mode design competition is meant to develop imagery that resonates with each of our consumers,” said Jongsuk Chu, Senior Vice President of Visual Display Business at Samsung Electronics. “We hope that designers will take this opportunity to show off their creativity and help us grow the library of designs available to consumers on Ambient Mode.”

To enter, contestants must pick one of the four backgrounds provided by Samsung and develop concepts that build on both the television’s environment and the time of day in which the feature would be utilized. Designers can base their entry on one of Samsung’s existing Ambient Modes – décor, information or personal photos – or they can propose a completely novel mode. Further, as Samsung and Dezeen are looking for concepts that highlight how Ambient Mode can mirror the environment and blend into the aesthetic of consumers’ homes, entrants will need to specify a particular lifestyle for their design.

The competition’s judging panel includes esteemed designers Neville Brody and Erwan Bouroullec, as well as members of Samsung’s and Dezeen’s design teams – Dontae Lee, Executive Vice President and the Head of the Corporate Design Center at Samsung Electronics and Amy Frearson, editorial director of Dezeen.

The competition will reward 29,500 euros in total prize money. The grand prize winner will receive 8,000 euros while two runners-up will receive 3,000 euros, respectively. 1,500 euros will be awarded to the other seven shortlisted entrants and 1,000 euros will be given to five longlisted designers. Dezeen will interview the finalists and publish a story about each of them.

The competition entry is free of charge. However, entrants must be over 18 years of age with the ability to present their work to a panel of English-speaking judges. For more information on how to enter, please visit dezeen.com/Samsung.

This is the second contest in which Samsung and Dezeen have partnered to organize. In 2017, the two companies cooperated to host a TV accessory design competition for Samsung QLED lineup’s TV stands and received a total of 1,200 works from 83 countries. The contest participant Fulden Denheli received a grand prize and later was also named the winner at IFA 2017 for her adaptable, Scandinavian-inspired concept.