Dezeen Magazine

Dezeen and Samsung competition challenges designers "to think differently" says Neville Brody

Graphic designer Neville Brody explains what he will be looking for as a judge on the Dezeen x Samsung Ambient Mode design competition in this movie Dezeen produced in collaboration with the electronics brand.

Visual designer Neville Brody is one of the judges for the Dezeen x Samsung Ambient Mode Design Competition

The Dezeen x Samsung Ambient Mode design competition, which Dezeen launched last week, challenges designers to come up with new ideas for Samsung's newly introduced Ambient Mode feature on its QLED TVs.

The feature allows a television to blend into its environment when not in use by mimicking the look of the wall behind it. Other graphic elements can then be overlaid.

"The competition is really to look at what Ambient Mode can offer," Brody says in the movie, which Dezeen filmed at the British graphic designer's studio in London.

Ambient Mode is a feature built into Samsung's QLED TVs that allows it to mimick the look of the wall behind it to blend into its environment, when not in use

"There is an opportunity here to do something innovative and think differently about a home environment."

Brody will judge the competition, which has total prize money of €29,500 (£26,000) for the top designs, alongside industrial designer Erwan Bouroullec, Dontae Lee, head of the design centre at Samsung Electronics, and Dezeen's editorial director Amy Frearson.

Ambient Mode also allows for information such as the weather, the time and a news feed to be displayed on the screen, and the competition invites entrants to suggest new uses for the feature.

Ambient Mode also allows information such as the weather, time of day and the news to be displayed

"Samsung have built in a number of response mechanisms that can be shown on the screen. It might be the time of day, the weather or news headlines. So it actually acts like a live feed of fundamental information.", says Brody.

"We're  looking for people to enter new ideas about what opportunity this might provide within an integrated home."

Samsung and Dezeen are challenging designers to come up with new ideas to how Ambient Mode can help the TV integrate further

A key part of the competition brief is to create something dynamic that can change as the light in the room changes.

"What we're looking for is something that can respond to different times of the day," explains Brody.

The brief also specifies that designers not only consider what the Ambient Mode feature can do, but also the different kinds of home environments it might fit into.

"Specifically, what we're asking entrants to do is to think about different environments and the lifestyles of these environments, to do something that might flow with it or challenge it," Brody says.

The deadline to enter the Dezeen x Samsung Ambient Mode Design Competition is 3 August. Visit dezeen.com/samsung for more information on how to enter.