LG Electronics said on the 31st it will run season 2 of the customer-participation community "Bold Move" to strengthen home appliance accessibility.
Bold Move is a community where customers share inconveniences they feel while using appliances and services and, together with LG Electronics, discover ideas to improve them. The name, meaning "act boldly," began in 2024.
In season 2, LG Electronics expanded participation from primarily customers with disabilities to include seniors and customers without disabilities. The scale of operations also grew from around 10 people in season 1 to about 40.
Participants will carry out, in stages through workshop-style programs, the following: ▲ exploring accessibility issues ▲ deriving improvement ideas ▲ proposing product accessibility features ▲ proposing product concepts. LG Electronics employees, including product planners and developers, will also join to hear customer feedback and review the feasibility of reflecting proposed ideas in products and commercializing them.
Ideas from Bold Move have already been reflected in many product and service improvements. In season 1, there were more than 200 accessibility improvement ideas. A representative example is changing the embossed markings on the water purifier's silicone cover for the "LG Comfort Kit" accessory from braille to icons. Feedback from low-vision customers was reflected that it is easier to distinguish cold water, filtered water, and hot water by icons.
LG Electronics will also verify the usability of the LG Comfort Kit "Easy Cap," slated for release in June, through Bold Move. Easy Cap is an accessory developed to reduce inconvenience for customers who find it difficult to take out heavy kimchi containers from a kimchi refrigerator. Without removing the kimchi container from the refrigerator, users can open the Easy Cap attached to the lid and ladle out kimchi.
LG Electronics will also publish the Bold Move Magazine, which introduces the brand philosophy on accessibility, diversity, and inclusion, along with customer participation cases. This year, it plans to address the value of inclusive design that allows anyone to use products conveniently, with seniors as a key theme.
Based on its environmental, social, and governance (ESG) vision, "Better Life for All," LG Electronics continues its accessibility improvement efforts. It operates an accessibility advisory group composed of people with disabilities and experts, and is enhancing product and service accessibility through sign language counseling services, distribution of tactile stickers, and publication of the "Easy Text for Home Appliance School" book. It was recently included in the "Forbes Accessibility 200," a list of the 200 leading global accessibility innovation corporations selected by Forbes, a U.S. business magazine.
Oh Jun-hwan, head of HS CX Planning at LG Electronics, said, "We will work harder to reflect customer voices so anyone can use products and services conveniently for a better life for all."