Daily Activity Content
Daily Activities were essentially in-app slideshows outlining different areas of the Samsung product ecosystem - from features, to product launches, to selling strategies. Sales reps would view the slideshows and take quizzes on their knowledge to earn redeemable points.
The goal of Elite's training content as a whole is to provide conversational, easy-to-digest information for sales representatives to quickly and effectively build their product knowledge, enabling them to sell more Samsung product within their stores.
Samsung Elite Content
Samsung Elite is an app designed to give mobile sales reps at stores like T-Mobile, Verizon, and AT&T an edge when it comes to selling Samsung products. I was tasked with refreshing the design of the Daily Activities, Elite Pro Monthly Activities, and Bonus Activities, as well as continuously defining the Elite sub-brand through new in-app initiatives.
CONCEPT 2
Incorporated a masonry grid of images to show a variety of product angles, features, or details. Samsung was all about gradients at the time of making - it was a key proponent of their visual brand identity - so I included a gradient background to create a different experience than the all-white UI screens a user would have to navigate through to get to these activities. Those pages are navigational, these pages are purely content, the background color shift made this more easily discernable.
Why didn't it work? Same image availability constraints as Concept 1, just a different flavor. Even with the idea of using icons in place of images in parts of the masonry grid, we'd be in a tough spot for the content that went over budget friendly phones and non-mobile devices. Suddenly, everything felt too compartmentalized... It became harder to discern which image was corresponding to a certain line of text in the accompanying paragraphs.
CONCEPT 1
Incorporated full-bleed imagery and headline "tabs" leading users from one slide to another to prevent engagement dropping off after the first slide, so this aimed to gently lead users to completion of the entire activity.
Why didn't it work? While Samsung had many high-quality lifestyle images for it's flagship lines (The S Series or Z Series phones, for example) but not a whole lot for their budget-friendly phones or other devices. We'd be reusing the same imagery over and over, which could make for a visually bland and repetitive experience for the end user.
Ideation
I started with two concepts for the Daily Activity Content refresh.
WHERE WE STARTED...
The old design pictured here was visually flat, designed for efficiency's sake alone, and left little room for visualizing the concepts covered in the activities. For example, if we wanted to compare the specs of multiple devices (something we did frequently, as new devices came out every quarter) these comparisons essentially had to be written out in full sentences.
WHERE WE ENDED UP...
We decided on a blend of Concept 2 and the original design, incorporating Samsung's carefully thought-out color palettes & brand components with a variety of layouts that were still easily updatable for myself and the other designers. I worked with the copy team to develop new ways of visualizing some of the "meat" of the activities:
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Spec comparison charts that reps could easily refer back to when trying to explain the differences between similar devices (i.e. The Galaxy S21, S21+, and S21 Ultra)
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Pull quotes to easily show the reps "scripts" they can use while selling
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Step-by-step numbered lists for explaining functionality within the Samsung apps
Elite Pro Content
Reps who complete the most daily activities earned "Pro" status, which granted them access to exclusive monthly content that covers advanced selling techniques, early access product launch info, and industry news to give the most dedicated reps an even greater edge when it comes to selling Samsung products in their stores.
WHERE WE ENDED UP...
With Samsung imagery consistently being displayed either over black or white backgrounds (something called out in their brand guidelines), I saw the perfect opportunity to differentiate the two types of content by color - daily activities available to all of the users having a lot more white/lighter colors, and Pro content being more black/darker colors.
Additionally I wanted to include:
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Co-branded activities like the one shown here with Android. Samsung partners with a variety of different brands on a regular basis - it's always been a key selling feature in their devices, I saw an opportunity to help them stand out.
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More images and graphic elements to break up the text - Pro content could get pretty lengthy, and the visual aids help the content feel more bite-sized.
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Step-by-step numbered lists for explaining functionality within the Samsung apps
...in addition to creating a more visually appealing design that utilizes Samsung's carefully thought-out color palettes & brand components. The layout for Pro content could be a lot more complex as content was only updated weekly as opposed to daily, giving me more time to create the slides.
RESULTS
After implementing the new design changes, Samsung Elite was awarded Best B2B Educational Series by The Drum in November of 2021. The Drum Awards for B2B are global awards that recognize the marketers and companies behind the year’s most dynamic and effective business-to-business work. In 2021, there were 44 categories that reflect the advancing B2B industry and its business marketers who are continually adapting to a new and challenging world.
WHERE WE STARTED...
I wanted to give Elite Pro it's own identity within the Elite brand, and push the visual elements even further since the daily content now incorporated many of the elements of the old Pro content pictured here. With Pro content only being updated monthly, we wouldn't need to worry so much about creating a layout that can be produced quickly and efficiently - Pro users were special, they interacted with our Daily Activities more than any other user, so their own catered content should always feel bespoke!
