Former Samsung Electronics Vice Chairman Jang Dong-hoon, Head of Galaxy S Phone Design, Passes Away

Joined Samsung Design Team as UX Part Leader in 2006
Key Figure Behind Samsung's 'Galaxy S Phone' Success Story

Jang Dong-hoon, former Vice President of Samsung Electronics who oversaw the design of Samsung's Galaxy S phones and Galaxy Tab until 2014, passed away from an illness around 6 a.m. on the 1st, the family announced on the 2nd. He was 66 years old.

Vice President Jang Dong-hoon

The late Jang graduated from the Department of Visual Design and the Graduate School at Seoul National University, and earned a master's degree in multimedia from the University of Chicago Graduate School in 1991.

While working as a full-time lecturer in the Department of Visual Design at Ulsan University in 1988, he planned and directed the laser show for the Seoul Olympics. In 1994, he developed the multimedia guidance system for the National Folk Museum of Korea. In the 1990s, he also designed corporate websites for companies such as Samsung Electronics and Hyundai Motor Company. In 2006, while serving as a professor in the Department of Information Design at Ewha Womans University, he joined Samsung Electronics as the head of the UX part of the design team (Senior Executive Vice President). His joining attracted attention as it came shortly after the late Samsung Group Chairman Lee Kun-hee held a design strategy meeting in Milan, Italy in 2005 and called for a 'second revolution.'

He oversaw the design and user experience (UX) of Samsung's first touch phone, the Haptic series, as well as the Galaxy Note, Galaxy Tab, and the Galaxy S3 smartphone. He worked as Senior Executive Vice President of the Wireless Product Strategy Team in 2010, head of the Design Strategy Team at the Design Management Center, and head of the Wireless Business Division Design Team, and was promoted to Vice President in 2012.

He was a key figure in the success story of Samsung's 'Galaxy S phone.' In recognition of his contributions, he received the Proud Samsung Award in 2010 and the Order of Industrial Service Merit, Bronze Tower in 2011. In 2013, he was ranked 2nd among the '100 Most Creative People of 2013' selected by Fast Company, a U.S. information technology (IT) magazine. The top spot that year went to Nate Silver, the election analyst for The New York Times. After stepping down in 2014 following controversy over the back design of the Galaxy S5, he served as the director of Samsung Art and Design Institute (SADI) from 2016 to 2018 and as the general director of the 2017 Gwangju Design Biennale from 2016 to 2017.