Heejin Suh

Samsung Art Store · Digital Art Marketplace · Concept Exploration

What if your TV wasn't just a display, but a living gallery?

Art Store 1.0 let users browse and display. But the experience was broken, and digital ownership was evolving fast. I helped define what came next.

ROLE

Senior Product Designer

PLATFORM

Samsung Smart TV

TIMELINE

2021

Heejin Suh

About

Resume

Overview

Problem & Opportunity

Research Insights

Design Principles

Exploration: Immersive Discovery

Exploration: Effortless Flow

Exploration: Expanding Ownership

Impact

00 · Overview

What is Samsung Art Store?

Art Store is built into Samsung's Frame TV. When the TV is off, it displays art instead of a black screen. Browse, subscribe, display, that was the 1.0 experience. I joined a small New Concept Development team to explore what comes next.

My Contribution

Senior product designer on a small NCD(New Concept Development team led by a Design Director

Turned shared brainstorms into fast PoCs for key flows and visuals

Grounded concepts with PM and engineering early

Project scope

Concept exploration (separate from the shipping team)

6 exploration directions designed and demoed to leadership

Editorial layout concept later reflected in product updates

01 · Problem & Opportunity

Art Store 1.0 was beautiful. And broken.

The subscription experience was failing at every step. The data was clear.

43%

Art Mode users didn't even try the free trial

48%

tried to subscribe failed mid-flow (Samsung Account + Checkout friction)

Only 2.5%

users spent more than a minute in the Art Store in a given week

Only 1.5%

Art Mode users ever searched for art in a given week

"I use the free version. The paid version,
I don't think it's worth it."

— Chris, 39, Frame TV owner · Art Store Barriers Study

02 · Research Insights

And the market wasn't waiting.

Meanwhile, digital ownership was accelerating outside Art Store. NFTs were exploding. Collectibles were becoming identity and investment. Samsung had the screens, but no experience to match.

02 · Research Insights

And the market wasn't waiting.

Meanwhile, digital ownership was accelerating outside Art Store. NFTs were exploding. Collectibles were becoming identity and investment. Samsung had the screens, but no experience to match.

The question

A full rethink: from gallery app to living marketplace for digital ownership.

The question

A full rethink: from gallery app to living marketplace for digital ownership.

The question

A full rethink: from gallery app to living marketplace for digital ownership.

Samsung had just finished a big research study on digital asset behavior. That became our foundation. Everything we explored came out of it.

With the scope finalized, we refined our design goals around what we were actually building.

Research Insights

NFT Marketplace: Behaviors & Preferences

910-respondent quantitative survey · 30 qualitative interviews · NASB, June 2021

🔐
Ownership &
authenticity matter

73% agreed digital assets are a good way to diversify a portfolio. Certification of authenticity rated among top expected use cases.

🎭
Motivations vary widely

Enjoyment, uniqueness, collectability, investment, self-expression. Different users, different threads.

Enjoyment, uniqueness, collectability, investment, self-expression — different users, different threads.

💎
Value differs by
content type

Different asset types drove different motivations: investment, enjoyment, or self-expression.

✨
Ownership = participation

82% said what they display at home is self-expression. 80% said the same about their phone. Ownership = identity.

We also mapped the existing NFT buying journey. The gap between user expectation and reality was clear.

With the scope finalized, we refined our design goals around what we were actually building.

USER EXPECTATION

Guided onboarding, one-click purchase, instant access

FRICTION: PRE PURCHASE

Wallet downloads, crypto setup, KYC checks, hidden gas fees. All before even seeing the art.

FRICTION: POST PURCHASE

Unclear if purchase went through. No simple way to display or resell.

Users wanted more than display. The NFT market made it painful. Art Store had the audience. The gap was the experience to match.

03 · Design Principles

Three principles, each traced back to the research.

Each principle mapped to a specific research finding.

03 · Design Principles

Three principles, each traced back to the research.

Each principle mapped to a specific research finding.

IMMERSIVE DISCOVERY

Less catalog, more gallery. Make browsing feel like stepping into a curated space.

Grounded in: Value differs by type · Ownership = identity

Grounded in: value differs by type ·
ownership = identity

Effortless Flow

Owning digital art should feel as easy as renting a movie. Remove every unnecessary step.

Grounded in: 48% subscription failure rate · Checkout friction findings

Expanding Ownership

Ownership shouldn't end at purchase. It should become part of everyday expression.

Grounded in: motivations vary · ownership = participation

04 · Exploration: Immersive Discovery

From endless grids to curated moments.

Art Store 1.0 treated every piece the same. We broke the pattern.

04 · Exploration: Immersive Discovery

From endless grids to curated moments.

Art Store 1.0 treated every piece the same. We broke the pattern.

Editorialized Layout

Exclusive Drops

Design Highlights

Visual hierarchy

Hero pieces and intentional scale to break the grid monotony

Curated collections

Thematic groupings with editorial context like art news

Personalized feed

What you own or viewed shapes what appears next

Scarcity signals

Limited availability and drop date tags to drive urgency

Discovery became active participation, both spatial and temporal.

Editorialized Layout

Design Highlights

Visual hierarchy

Hero pieces and intentional scale to break the grid monotony

Curated collections

Thematic groupings with editorial context like art news

Personalized feed

What you own or viewed shapes what appears next

Scarcity signals

Limited availability and drop date tags to drive urgency

Exclusive Drops

Design Highlights

Active discovery

Instead of browsing through a grid, the experience comes to the user

Time-bound drops

Limited-quantity releases triggered by user preferences

Scarcity & urgency

Limited availability creates FOMO, a different energy from endless scrolling

Cross-device activation

Mobile notification → live event on TV

05 · Exploration: Effortless Flow

Make buying weightless. Make selling guided.

Even subscribing to Art Store confused users. Buying on NFT marketplaces required too many steps. On TV, that friction only gets worse.

05 · Exploration: Effortless Flow

Make buying weightless. Make selling guided.

Even subscribing to Art Store confused users. Buying on NFT marketplaces required too many steps. On TV, that friction only gets worse.

05 · Exploration: Effortless Flow

Make buying weightless. Make selling guided.

Even subscribing to Art Store confused users. Buying on NFT marketplaces required too many steps. On TV, that friction only gets worse.

Simplified Digital Ownership

Buying should feel lightweight; see something you like, check the price, and purchase in a few clicks.

Design Highlights

seamless purchase

See something, check the price, buy in a few clicks via Samsung Pay, already connected to the TV

No new accounts

No wallet setup, no crypto onboarding. Just Samsung Pay.

TV-first simplicity

Every step is designed to easily navigated with d-pad (remote control)

Guided Selling

Selling shouldn't require users to figure everything out alone. We built guidance directly into the flow.

Design Highlights

Price history

Simple data visualizations showing how value has changed over time

Instant feedback

Choose a price, see projected earnings update immediately, understand the impact before listing

Clear relisting flow

A few steps with confirmation and cross-device visibility

Design Highlights

seamless purchase

See something, check the price, buy in a few clicks via Samsung Pay (already connected to the TV)

No new accounts

No wallet setup, no crypto onboarding. Just Samsung Pay.

TV-first simplicity

Every step is designed to easily navigated with d-pad (remote control)

Simplified Digital Ownership

Guided Selling

Buying should feel lightweight. See something you like, check the price, purchase in a few clicks.

Every extra step felt heavier on a remote. Complexity was the enemy.

06 · Exploration: Expanding Ownership

What if ownership was living, not static?

82% said what they display at home is self-expression. Collecting is identity. We explored what happens when it extends beyond one screen.

06 · Exploration: Expanding Ownership

What if ownership was living, not static?

82% said what they display at home is self-expression. Collecting isn't passive, it's identity. We explored what happens when it extends beyond one screen.

Virtual Exhibition

Design Highlights

Curated atmosphere

Multiple pieces arranged into a dynamic experience, paired with music

Living collection

Ownership isn't a static display. It becomes an ongoing, expressive act

Cross-Device Expression

Design Highlights

Art that travels

From TV to phone to wearable; ownership follows you across devices

Everyday identity

Digital art as wallpaper, watch face, lock screen; not just a living room thing

Design Highlights

Curated atmosphere

Multiple pieces arranged into a dynamic experience, paired with music

Living collection

Ownership isn't a static display. It becomes an ongoing, expressive act

Virtual Exhibitions

Cross Device Expression

Art Store reframed from a single display surface into an ecosystem.

07 · Reflection

Defining direction under ambiguity.

This was about shaping a point of view when there was no roadmap.

07 · Reflection

Defining direction under ambiguity.

This was about shaping a point of view when there was no roadmap.

Editorial layout concept was later reflected in Art Store product updates
Ownership-as-expression framing influenced broader platform thinking

Carried Forward

How I Work

Comfortable shaping direction before the path is clear
Move fast from insight to tangible artifact
Trace every design decision back to research

Next Project

Redesigning the discount system for a B2B food retail platform