How Samsung turns weeks of design testing into minutes | Federico Casalegno, VP of Design, Samsung
What changes when designers can test an idea in minutes rather than weeks? And which decisions should stay firmly in human hands?Federico Casalegno, Executive Vice President at Samsung Electronics and Head of its Design Innovation Centers and Global Studies, joins Randy Silver to explain how Samsung combines human research, machine learning, digital twins and robotic testing to improve its products.
Using examples from earbuds, watches and rings, Federico walks through the process of collecting body-scanning data, defining measures for comfort and fit, and testing variations before putting physical products in people’s hands. He explains how some design tasks have moved from weeks to minutes, while real-world testing and expert judgement remain essential.
They also discuss building small, multidisciplinary teams, hiring for curiosity and collaboration, and keeping people’s needs at the centre of product development as the tools become more powerful.
Key takeaways
Define the problem before choosing the tools. Teams need a clear understanding of what they want to improve before building or applying AI systems.
Set meaningful measures. Comfort, fit and sensor performance give teams specific goals to optimise against.
Combine simulation with physical testing. Samsung iterates across digital twins, robots and real users.
Keep experts accountable for decisions. Data supports designers and engineers; they remain responsible for making the call.
Hire for curiosity and collaboration. New kinds of work require people who can apply their skills to unfamiliar problems and learn together.
Give faster production a clear purpose. The goal is to improve people’s lives through useful products and experiences.
Chapters
00:00 Introduction
01:01 Federico’s journey from social sciences and MIT to Samsung
04:42 Introducing computational design at Samsung
07:40 From body-scanning data to digital twins and robotic testing
12:23 Taking some design tasks from weeks to minutes
13:47 Giving designers better data for complex decisions
15:42 Hardware timelines and designing for a wider range of people
18:13 Generative data and the limits of synthetic research
21:20 Balancing automation, optimisation and creative judgement
24:11 Building tools around the problem
26:19 Prioritising requests and discovering new problems
28:18 Building multidisciplinary teams
30:57 Small teams and the value of creative friction
33:41 Why faster production still needs meaning
35:44 Keeping people at the centre as tools evolve
37:03 What leaders should ask before pushing teams to ship
38:43 What computational design could make possible next
40:56 Credits
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Our Hosts
Lily Smith enjoys working as a consultant product manager with early-stage and growing startups and as a mentor to other product managers. She’s currently Chief Product Officer at BBC Maestro, and has spent 13 years in the tech industry working with startups in the SaaS and mobile space.
Randy Silver is a Leadership & Product Coach and Consultant. He gets teams unstuck, helping you to supercharge your results. Randy's held interim CPO and Leadership roles at scale-ups and SMEs, advised start-ups, and been Head of Product at HSBC and Sainsbury’s. He participated in Silicon Valley Product Group’s Coaching the Coaches forum, and speaks frequently at conferences and events. You can join one of communities he runs for CPOs (CPO Circles), Product Managers (Product In the {A}ether) and Product Coaches. He’s the author of What Do We Do Now? A Product Manager’s Guide to Strategy in the Time of COVID-19. A recovering music journalist and editor, Randy also launched Amazon’s music stores in the US & UK. Receive SMS online on sms24.me
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