¹ Can you briefly introduce the project?

In this project, we built an experience zone for the Galaxy S9 Unpacked event. In order to allow customers to have a hands-on experience with the new features, we created the experience zone.

The Galaxy S9 slogan says, “The Camera. Reimagined.” While there are numerous features, we decided to focus on the camera. The S9 camera is equipped with a number of functionalities such as intelligent camera, super slow motion, AR Emoji, and low light camera.

We chose to work with AR Emoji to build a solution that can maximize the visual impact. We strived to make the solution as amusing as possible.

² What does AR Emoji do?

AR Emoji takes a picture of your face and creates a virtual avatar.

As “AR” in its name suggests, the feature recognizes how your face moves and lips look like

in a three-dimensional space and involves a real-time tracking technology.

³ Please tell us more about how the AR Emoji Gallery was designed.

As explained, AR Emoji utilizes an advanced face tracking technology. After considering that we can use this technology and

the experience zone will be visited by many people, we thought of “a cappella” that creates harmony by singing.

When we found this idea, we immediately proceeded with the feasibility check and initiated the process.

⁴ Can you tell us about how HOHOHO designed the content?

We meticulously studied AR Emoji and how much we can customize the feature, which was the most critical point to consider. We found out that there are limitations regarding how much we can customize the function.

Therefore, we had to keep this information in mind when we began to design the content. We made the six categories for a cappella; we assigned parts for men, women, those who can sing high notes, or middle register, or low pitch.

Then we proceeded with a test with eighteen soundtracks. We checked whether the eighteen soundtracks can go with AR Emoji, and picked nine soundtracks in the final stage.

⁵ How did you ensure the harmony of a cappella, which must be the critical factor?

We had to consider both the sound and the visual elements to create harmony. Our songwriter accepted our request to write a background music with infinite loop that can go with any type of a cappella.

It must have been an arduous task, but the songwriter wrote the music that we wanted in a short time. We also had to write nine a cappella pieces that is proper for the background music; the nine pieces serve as guidelines for user experience.

In sum, we designed the visual effect to reflect the music, and designed a special effect that will create harmony between the visual effect and the nine soundtracks.

⁶ Can you explain how to use the experience zone?

First, you can enter the experience zone and create your own emoji by opening the AR Emoji Gallery application.

When your emoji is created, you can sing a cappella by following the guidelines we prepared. After singing for five to ten seconds, you can proceed with a simple editing process and select your visual effect.

Then, your emoji will be automatically transferred to the large screen and will create a cappella harmony with other emojis.

⁷ What technologies were used to develop the solution?

We utilized Android, Adobe Air, and Windows server to develop this solution.

In particular, we conducted multiple tests with Adobe Air

to create the three-dimensional rotation effect of cube.

⁸ Did anything interesting or unusual happened at the unpacked site in Barcelona?

Our experience zone was installed right at the center of the entrance, garnering attention from many visitors.

Many users entered to have the a cappella experience, and we were in fact concerned that the number of users would be more than what we had predicted.

We were worried that it could cause a server failure due to the high traffic. Fortunately, the server survived well and the Unpacked event finished without any issue.

⁹ After the Unpacked event, the solution was distributed to a number of countries. What did you have to consider for specific countries?

In the initial stage, we already learned that the same solution will be installed at many locations.

That is why we developed a flexible layout so that it can be applied to 1:1, 16:9, or 21:9 aspect ratio.

We also designed the Android application to work regardless of OS type or device type.

¹⁰ Last question. What reaction did you find after launching the AR Emoji Gallery?

AR Emoji became widely known as one of the main features of Galaxy S9. Thanks to this reputation, our solution gained much traction and many users decided to have the experience.

You can see that there are many related social media posts.

I believe the marketing strategy of Samsung and our solution aligned well to enable the success of this project. Thanks to this project, we became motivated to design more strategic and entertaining solutions.