season 3, episode 2 previous episode | episode index | next episode this is a transcript of one episode of the samsung developers podcast, hosted by and produced by tony morelan a listing of all podcast transcripts can be found here host tony morelan senior developer evangelist, samsung developers instagram - twitter - linkedin guest derrick lee, polycube galaxy themes, galaxy store not only do we chat about their approach to designing and marketing compelling themes, but also how polycube is looking to expand their use of contract designers from their home country of korea to include designers from all around the world so that they can create for a global audience listen download this episode topics covered history of polycube best of galaxy store awards publishing on galaxy store galaxy badge use of stock imagery design workflow diversity and inclusion helpful links polycube facebook - facebook com/friends polycube polycube website - polycube co kr/v2/ polycube instagram - instagram com/polycube_friends/ polycube youtube - youtube com/c/polycubeinc polycube galaxy store - galaxy store/poly galaxy themes - developer samsung com/galaxy-themes samsung developer program homepage - developer samsung com samsung developer program newsletter - developer samsung com/newsletter samsung developer program blog - developer samsung com/blog samsung developer program news - developer samsung com/news samsung developer program facebook - facebook com/samsungdev samsung developer program instagram - instagram com/samsung_dev samsung developer program twitter - twitter com/samsung_dev samsung developer program youtube - youtube com/samsungdevelopers samsung developer program linkedin - linkedin com/company/samsungdevelopers tony morelan linkedin - linkedin com/in/tony-morelan transcript note transcripts are provided by an automated service and reviewed by the samsung developers web team inaccuracies from the transcription process do occur, so please refer to the audio if you are in doubt about the transcript tony morelan 00 01 hey, i'm tony morelan and this is the samsung developers podcast, where we chat with innovators using samsung technologies, award winning app developers and designers, as well as insiders working on the latest samsung tools welcome to season three, episode two on today's show, i'm joined by derrick lee, content manager at polycube winners of the 2021 best of galaxy store award for best steam collection not only do we chat about their approach to designing and marketing, amazing themes, but also how polycube is looking to expand their use of contract designers from their home country of korea to include designers from all around the world so that they can create for a global audience enjoy hey, derrick, it is great to have you on the podcast derrick lee 00 51 hello, tony it's, it's great to see you thank you for having me tony morelan 00 55 so i like to start the podcast with who is derrick lee? derrick lee 00 59 um, well, i'm a person who appreciates and enjoys all forms of art, like paintings, digital graphics, music, everything i actually majored in industrial designing myself and i also love singing you know, as i said, all forms of art, tony morelan 01 13 i had no idea that you had a big appreciation for, for art and for music i actually do myself derrick lee 01 19 well, i see a guitar i see several guitars behind it right now yeah tony morelan 01 23 and the folks listening to this it's only for their audio but yes, we've got some cameras, derrick can see i've got a few guitars in the background i like to pretend that i know how to sing but still have yet to get the courage to actually sing in front of somebody so yeah, great to hear that you have that appreciation in that ability yeah, derrick lee 01 41 i'm not that good at singing either i just love it tony morelan 01 42 that's awesome that's awesome so derrick, you are a content manager at polycube tell me a little bit about that role derrick lee 01 50 well, that role is essentially giving out guidelines for designers coming up with something good visually, i think it could be better if somebody is giving out guidelines on which designs can you know resonate with people a little bit more, not just with themselves that's my role at polycube tony morelan 02 05 my background is really in graphic design okay, that's where i spent much of my career and i've worked with many art directors so it sounds like even though you call yourself a content manager to me, it sounds like that role really fits that art director derrick lee 02 20 role yeah, well, anyway, you can call it yeah tony morelan 02 24 so how long have you been at polycube? derrick lee 02 26 um, i have been at polycube for about three years now tony morelan 02 29 just about the same amount of time that i've been at samsung oh, okay so you had said that you that you majored in industrial design interesting i actually minored in industrial design okay okay, so we've got a few similarities, not just in music and singing but also with industrial design yes, we do i understand that coming out of college, you didn't just dive right into tech that you actually were selling donuts from a truck? derrick lee 02 57 yeah, i have been selling donuts for about, i think about 18 months and i really enjoyed it you know, don't get me wrong i didn't quit doing that, because i didn't like it but i really wanted to be involved in a design business in any way, shape, or form sure that's something i wanted to do more and i figured out that, you know, polycube was a company that was designing themes, and i thought it could be exciting so i jumped in that's great tony morelan 03 21 so now polycube is from seoul correct that's where your headquarters is? yes and that's where i'm assuming that's where you live? derrick lee 03 28 yeah, i live like 20 minutes away and it's a beautiful city, i hope in the future when there are no barriers such as covid-19 i hope our supporters all around the world can visit for a nice trip tony morelan 03 39 so you're in seoul, korea, but your english sounds so good i can tell you must have spent some time in the in the states here well, derrick lee 03 47 when i was five years old, my dad got a job in the states in new orleans, actually and we lived there for about nine years wow and then even after i came back to korea, i you know, i stayed in korea for a year and then in new orleans for a year and i've been going back and forth but in korea, military surfaces mandatory i stayed here for two years and then i started selling donuts as i mentioned earlier, so yeah, it's been a while and now covid yeah, so i've been staying in korea for a while but yeah, i do miss new orleans tony morelan 04 18 so i'm guessing that your love for music probably came a bit out of your time in new orleans derrick lee 04 24 oh, yeah, definitely i love jazz i love you know, stevie wonder cars, though those were the those were the artists that really, you know, you know, set a fire inside me yeah tony morelan 04 35 oh, that's great that's great now i was fortunate that actually a few months before covid hit i actually went out to seoul korea because that is where samsung's headquarter this so i got to spend a week there absolutely beautiful city so much to explore, but boy do i want to get back there was a lot that i did not see derrick lee 04 54 i would like to be your guide if you happen to come again one day yeah, tony morelan 04 58 i'll take you up on it for sure so, so about polycube, the company itself, they've been around for quite a while and i know that they do much more than just theme so tell me a bit about the history of poly q? and what are some of those areas that they also work on? derrick lee 05 12 you know, we have quite a history and actually 2021 was our 20th anniversary wow, we came a long way developing apps, making games and designing themes, watch faces and whatnot yeah, tony morelan 05 24 in the name polycube, i'm wondering, is there an interesting story behind that name? derrick lee 05 29 um, well, our founder wanted a name that emphasizes the importance of diversity in a group and if you look at the etymology of poly, you know, it means many sided sure so our founder thought that it was a perfect name cube was added, because, you know, if you look at the cube the shape and as it also has many sides, you know, you have to have many sides to form a cube, right so that's how poly and cube got together and formed the named polycube, you had mentioned that you do more than just themes well, we also make a lot of games, you know, one that we're really working on these days is a game called poker master it has been around, but we're trying to, you know, find rooms for improvement sure tony morelan 06 06 to update the game so that more people can enjoy it now, is that game on the galaxy store at the moment? yes, it derrick lee 06 13 is excellent and we're, we're trying to make it better and better, and has been around for a while, but we're trying to improve it all the time sure and we also design themes and watch faces, we're really trying to improve our watch face designs these days so i hope you know it will get bigger and bigger tony morelan 06 29 yeah, i was checking out some of your designs earlier i love the very classic feel of many of your designs derrick lee 06 35 that means a lot coming from you because you're a designer yourself tony morelan 06 39 thank you thank you that's actually how i got my start with samsung for those that don't know how, okay, when i was doing my graphic design gig started designing watch faces selling them on the galaxy store okay, got noticed by a few people at samsung made a few phone calls and before you know it, i was working for samsung teaching how to design watch faces, derrick lee 06 59 then that really means a lot coming from you tony morelan 07 03 polycube, i think it's you said it's about 30 employees derrick lee 07 07 well, 31 exactly and we have 11 designers among those 31 employees okay, tony morelan 07 13 now, are these split between full time employees? and are some contractors, you have derrick lee 07 18 full time employees and contractors altogether? 31 okay, and all of our 11 designers are all full, they work full time tony morelan 07 26 wow okay, that's great so, you know, i know a lot of designers and developers listen to this podcast always looking for opportunities to, you know, look for new work okay, by any chance is polycube looking for new designers, derrick lee 07 39 we are actually planning on recruiting a lot of designers from abroad sure, starting this year, because we want diversity in our group i guess the best way is you can look us up because we have a website but also, you can send an email, the email addresses master at polycube co kr okay and if you send an email anytime we will take a close look at it and yeah, we'll pay attention tony morelan 08 04 that's awesome so what is the web address for polycube? derrick lee 08 07 oh, it's very simple it's www dot polycube co kr got it and that's p o l y c u b e very simple tony morelan 08 16 how long would you say polycube has been designing themes? derrick lee 08 19 paula cube has been designing themes for about six years now because we started on 2016 tony morelan 08 26 so six years, i would guess that you were probably one of the first theme designers to get onto the platform so how did the people that polycube first learn about the opportunity to design themes for samsung and sell them on the galaxy store? derrick lee 08 39 you know, we were just normal galaxy phone users at first and you know, we naturally just got to know about themes on our phones, because we were using our phones, obviously and we kind of had some time to sit down together and talk about it because we thought we could really jump into and make a business out of it tony morelan 08 57 yeah, you know, it's funny, every designer that i have interviewed on the podcast, has said the same story that they were first just a user and you know, saw the opportunity to customize their own phone and they thought well heck, i could do this myself so what about some of the other areas of theme designing? are you guys also selling you know, wallpapers, aods, icon packs, things like that? derrick lee 09 17 yes everything you just you just said right now we do sell wallpapers, icon packs yeah, aods tony morelan 09 25 so last year, we had the 2021 best of galaxy store award show and polycube was the recipient of the best theme collection award yes, we were tell me what that meant to you and your company for winning that award? well, first derrick lee 09 42 of all, of course, we are very grateful for the awards and this award is to us is something that really started such a positive momentum for us because ever since we got the news that we were winning the award, we are feeling you know, we actually feel a positive momentum that started from that board so it's something that started such a positive momentum for us tony morelan 10 03 that's great yeah and you're a truthfully your collection is amazing i do sit on the board of the folks here at samsung, they get to vote on the winners yeah, i was very happy to see you win the well-deserved award for best thing collection oh, in what ways? have you promoted winning the award? derrick lee 10 21 through, you know, the mainstream social media such as youtube, facebook, instagram? yeah, we're everywhere tony morelan 10 27 are you using galaxy store badges to help promote what you do at polycube? derrick lee 10 32 we are always looking for chances to utilize our galaxy badge everywhere we can use it because it's a good system, you know, the galaxy badge, all you have to do is just click on it and then you can take a look at our you know, collection of themes tony morelan 10 43 sure and when it comes to discoverability, what are some of the platform some of the techniques that you guys do, just to help people find polycube out there in the in the world? derrick lee 10 52 we have, we do have links that lead to our facebook and instagram page and all of the descriptions and the themes that we publish tony morelan 10 59 so you had mentioned youtube, and i know that that is one of the best tools that designers are using to help promote their work so i'm assuming then you guys are creating videos derrick lee 11 09 yeah, we are creating videos i don't have the exact number with me right now but i think we have more than 4000 videos tony morelan 11 16 that's great and then you're leveraging those videos also on platforms like instagram yes, we are now you had mentioned facebook, tell me what is the best way for people to find your facebook page? derrick lee 11 26 well, it's www facebook com/friends poly cube tony morelan 11 32 yeah, that's easy i love that polycube friends thank you you know, when i started my company for doing themes and watch faces, i added the word buzz to the end so you could find my instagram axeirbuzz derrick lee 11 44 buzz? buzz? okay, that's a positive vibe to it tony morelan 11 47 so polycube friends, is that pretty much the handle that you'll use across other platforms? so like on instagram? yes, it is yes now you had mentioned 4000 videos, but i know you guys have a lot more when it comes to themes what would you say? your total theme count is right now, derrick lee 12 01 in total, we published 6387 themes tony morelan 12 05 that's crazy what would you say are the total downloads that you have on those 6000 themes? derrick lee 12 10 about 25 million? tony morelan 12 13 that's crazy i was excited when i got to my first million downloads i'm a long ways away from 25 it's very humbling when we think about it with that many themes, i'm sure that you're starting to look at different topics, different areas so you can see really what is resonating with the with the customer base? what are some of those categories that you would say your themes fall under? derrick lee 12 34 um, we're always looking for diversity in our designs, but there are some categories that really resonate with people more than others for example, design skulls, and butterflies and flowers i think those are, you know, some themes that really resonate with people a lot, you know, regardless of country, regardless of gender tony morelan 12 54 yeah, i noticed i saw one of your themes was school, but it was a steampunk school and i love steampunk i love that look derrick lee 13 02 oh, yeah, i think i know which one you're talking about tony morelan 13 05 yeah, that's, that's a great theme so outside of some of those areas, seasonal wise i mean, do you see like, importance to design themes related to holidays or two seasons? derrick lee 13 15 oh, definitely is especially christmas and halloween i think those are two holidays that really, i'm sure really boost the market, if you will i wish there were more designs on like mardi gras since i'm from new orleans yeah, but halloween and christmas are you know, the two holidays? tony morelan 13 32 yeah, i've heard that from many other folks as well great times to be stylizing your phone for sure derrick lee 13 38 yes, yes, it is tony morelan 13 41 so you know polycube, had a lot of success and you know, it's obviously this wasn't overnight, because you've been doing it for a while but tell me was there like one sort of pivotal moment in your history that you were like, oh, my gosh, this really is starting to take off? or was it truthfully, just a gradual growth that you've done over the years? derrick lee 13 57 it was gradual, to a certain extent but when we first started to actually design themes and tried to make a business out of it, the first six months, i don't think we weren't getting a lot of downloads to downloads that we were expecting and, you know, the support that we were expecting, i mean, of course, we had some, you know, very good supporters that, you know, kept us kept us going when we weren't getting the results that we wanted but after six months, we were seeing the growth when it comes to numbers when it comes to you know, this porters and things like that tony morelan 14 29 yeah, i know and speaking with a lot of other designers, i mean, it takes an investment and time before you start to see really any in any bit of return some of that comes to just getting your name out there and it's not just publishing your themes, your watch faces on galaxy store, but it's that additional marketing that you do so, you know, once you put some time into your instagram or into your facebook page yes that's when you start to see the return yes, definitely so you've got a lot of designers on hand yes where are they? designers getting their ideas derrick lee 15 02 first, our designers, you know, just come up with literally a sketch on their notebooks with their pens but also, where we get ideas is from the reviews, ah, our supporters all around the world, they are not just helping by supporting, they are actually really helping out through reviews, because when we read them, they really offer some great ideas and insights tony morelan 15 20 got it so when people are posting comments after they've purchased one of your themes, you guys are really looking at those comments to think like, okay, what could we either, you know, expand on this topic? or maybe the comment is, and this one isn't really for me, and then maybe your team, you'll start to look in other areas? derrick lee 15 35 yeah, well, you know, sometimes the reviews are very specific it's not just i like it, why i don't like it there are a lot of reviews that say, i don't like it, but i would like it if it was this, if it was that those are the reviews that really give us really good ideas that's great tony morelan 15 50 to hear so a lot of companies leverage stock photography, when it comes to creating their designs, yes which i know can kind of be a hot topic, because truthfully, you know, there's licensing that that gets involved whenever you're using stock imagery and also the reality that that anybody can go and, you know, purchase a certain stock image and build a theme out of it but what are you guys doing to help set yourself apart when you are leveraging stock imagery, derrick lee 16 18 of course, there are a lot of good sources out there that can be utilized and be modified, integrate themes but as you just said, there are some, some issues when it comes to just, you know, using those stock imagery and turning them into themes, right so we have a whole team that really looks into the licensing parts to prevent any legal issues, if you will and we have designers that really keep that in mind that you just don't take the stock imagery, and just copy that and just put it in your phone and that doesn't really make a theme, you know, we go through plenty modifying and we add ideas to it and, you know, all of a sudden, it's not just that stock imagery, it's something totally different tony morelan 16 57 that's great i've actually spoken with many other theme designers on the podcast, and they've all said the same thing that, you know, they leverage the use of stock imagery, but they take those images and build them into an image that is their own that is something that is unique yes, yes so you had mentioned pencil sketching, so tell me what the workflow is i mean, do you are your designers actually traditionally grabbing pencil and paper and, and starting to sketch some of their concepts? derrick lee 17 23 yeah, it's 2022 but that's, that's still where it starts, you know, first, you know, they literally come up with a sketch with a pen or a pencil and then we actually have a meeting, we look at all those sketches, and we discuss which ones we will actually go for yeah, once the designs materialize, we sit down again, and discuss whether there's room for improvement, or revising and then after that, we publish them in hope that our supporters enjoy them tony morelan 17 48 that is excellent to hear you know, in my experience, as a designer, i would often tell other designers that yes, that is the first step is to grab pencil and paper because you don't get caught up in all the tools that you know, software allows you to do or limits you to do you don't get caught up in colors or specific, you know, shapes that may be in the way you truthfully see the skeleton of the design and if that skeleton works, then you know, it's something that's worth pursuing yeah, yeah great to hear that the that you guys take that approach to design? so you know, the process of starting with sketch and then going through meetings and developing the designs all the way to publishing? how long do you think that typically takes your team to do? derrick lee 18 31 um, from just a sketch on a notebook? to an actual theme? i would say one theme takes four days, maybe five? tony morelan 18 39 i would say that's a pretty quick, aggressive timeline sometimes it would take me weeks to do derrick lee 18 45 yeah, because we don't want you know, we don't want to keep our supporters waiting so sure you work hard tony morelan 18 50 what applications are you using when you are doing your design work? adobe derrick lee 18 55 photoshop, adobe illustrator and after effect, oh, tony morelan 18 58 so after effects for doing videos, okay yeah are you doing any animated like wallpapers where you're leveraging motion graphics? derrick lee 19 06 yeah, we actually have a whole there's a team that really focuses on only the video parts, okay, the animation parts that really help out if another team comes up with the sketch shirt and you know, the basis then, you know, there is another whole team designing team that really helps out with sophisticated designing when it comes to the videos tony morelan 19 25 okay, okay that's great so i know a lot of designers utilize the strategy of free when it comes to marketing, their apps so tell me about your experience well, what's your strategy when it comes to free themes free? watch faces? derrick lee 19 42 yeah, we are offering free themes every week, and we promote them every friday and i think our supporters deserve free themes you know, sure, every once in a while and you know, if you check out our facebook and instagram page, you'll see that there are actually quite a lot of opportunities to get some awesome themes for free yeah, tony morelan 19 59 i think that i think that that's great i know what i teach typically is that it's nice to offer up a free app a free design but you don't want to inundate the market with too many of your free yeah, themes free watch faces because then everyone's going to expect that there's always going to be some good free stuff out there so use it as a way to encourage the community to get to try out your stuff, your themes, and then that way, they're more inclined and more trustworthy to actually put money behind some of their purchases and buy some of your items, derrick lee 20 30 especially for people who never, you know, use the theme before, but you want them to really get to know what a theme is, you know, why theme is exciting to have a theme on your phone, tony morelan 20 40 let's talk about some of the challenges because i know you know; this whole market is not as easy as just creating something nice and posting it so what are some of the challenges that you face when it comes to designing themes and marketing those themes? derrick lee 20 55 we hope that our themes satisfy as many people as possible globally, because themes are global but sometimes figuring out how the taste like differs depending on cultures and countries, it's not it's not the easiest thing to do you know, we come up with one design, but people here like it, but people there don't we are greedy, if you will, in a positive way we want to satisfy as many people as possible globally so that's not so that would be a challenge tony morelan 21 21 of course yeah no, that is that is and i know that a lot of times designers are leveraging the ability to have localization for their app so this is where you know, you're selling the theme globally but you can say, you know, in the us market, this is what the description looks like in you know, a market in asia, this is what the description looks like or in germany yes, i know that, you know, designers do see a nice increase in revenue when they are utilizing localization so i'm assuming are you guys using that feature as derrick lee 21 49 well? yes, we are the descriptions look all different, depending on the country, the language, you had mentioned tony morelan 21 55 covid earlier? obviously, we still are in the middle of covid how has that impacted polycube, derrick lee 22 01 of course, covid-19 is very negative but for us, it has done nothing but booster motivation, because covid-19 stopped people from expressing themselves through their faces by making them wear masks right so sure, we were more motivated to help to help people express themselves on their phones instead, through well designed customized themes tony morelan 22 21 you know, that was nice to hear it's something i hadn't really thought about that yes, the face is being covered by your mask so how else can you express? you know, your look your style? yeah and that's where people are customizing their phones, obviously, to represent themselves? derrick lee 22 37 yeah, because nowadays, i think your phone is your second face, for sure it shows who you are tony morelan 22 42 so what is in the future for public cube, derrick lee 22 45 you know, we are actually planning to come up with some very innovative designs that have never been applied to themes before you know, if you look at themes, of course, there is diversity, you know, you can see all sorts of designs in the themes market but sometimes, you know, you run into some designs that make you think that oh, this is nice, but it might not look well on themes, but we are trying to break that wall and come up with some very innovative designs that have never been applied to teams before nice tony morelan 23 15 i'm really looking forward to seeing what polycube produces out of that now, you had mentioned diversity and i love everything you've been talking about, like when it comes to diversity with your designs and the global reach for that tell me specifically about polycube, what are you guys doing when it comes to diversity and inclusion? derrick lee 23 34 we are actually planning on recruiting designers from abroad it doesn't matter where you're from sure, you can be from united states you can be canada, you can be from japan, wherever because we don't want to end up stuck in one way of thinking when it comes to designing and promoting yeah, and i think that's, that could be one of the best ways to stop that from happening tony morelan 23 55 sure because i know just culturally wise you know, people from specific cultures just have a way of approaching their designs so to hear that you are looking for designers, you know from other cultures, i think is a great way to ensure that that you really are offering up great work globally yeah, thank you so you know there are a lot of other theme designers out there a lot of companies have had success is there one company that really comes to mind when you think of a theme designer that you really like derrick lee 24 27 i think that a company called echo visuals yes yeah if you check out their themes they're excellent and we took a lot of inspiration from them tony morelan 24 35 yeah no i've heard that from many designers echo visuals does amazing work and i know that they are very active on facebook and other social media platforms really doing a lot of stuff around marketing so just another good example of how a company does more than just create their things but they have to do all that work behind the marketing yeah so i know you sound very passionate when it comes to your work at polycube but what is you do outside of polycube to have a little fun well, derrick lee 25 04 i obviously love themes, but i don't think about them 24/7 i need some time off to you know, re-energize myself i trained jujitsu do yeah, i actually had a dream of becoming a commentator in mixed martial arts really? yeah, um, you know, that never came to fruition, obviously, but i'm still a fan of the sport i really follow it and it doesn't just help physically it helps mentally which ultimately leads to better productivity tony morelan 25 32 i love hearing that aspect of it you know, for me, i do a lot of cycling now okay and it's not so much for the exercise part of it it's the mental side of getting out eating away being unplugged, either taking in the sights or enjoying the, you know, the fresh air derrick lee 25 49 yeah, i totally understand one last tony morelan 25 50 question for you derrick lee 25 51 okay tony morelan 25 53 what is your favorite donut? derrick lee 25 55 my favorite donut? um well, i always go with the classics chocolate donut scores yeah, well, not just with donuts, like with i think that's just how i am with anything i always go with the classic like hamburgers like everything i always like the original yeah and actually, do you know what being aids are? no, i don't know it's, it's kind of i wouldn't call it a donut but some people do call it call them donuts yeah, it's something that you can have when you come to new orleans oh, i'll tony morelan 26 25 have to give that a try is there anything unique to korea when it comes to donuts? derrick lee 26 30 i'll get to korea when anything comes to korea like what when pizza first came to korea? sure you know, it was a long time but korea like really likes you know, making 1000 flavors of pizzas 1000 flavors of hamburgers 1000 flavors of everything yeah ice creams yeah so yeah, i think that could be one thing that you can enjoy if you know people from abroad, travel korea, you know, there are things that you wouldn't have imagined tony morelan 26 58 how funny that you say that so when i was in korea, i remember going to a restaurant that it was strictly cakes it was like you said it was like 1000 different cakes and you would go in there and walk through all the showcases of everything and then you would pick your slice and it was amazing derrick lee 27 15 yeah, i can't even imagine like what flavors it has it was a tony morelan 27 19 dream but hey, derrick, i really appreciate you taking the time it was great to chat with you i'm looking forward to 2022 to see what more polycube does when it comes to creating beautiful designs? no okay, thank you closing 27 33 looking to start creating for samsung, download the latest tools to code your next app, or get software for designing apps without coding at all sell your apps to the world on the samsung galaxy store check out developer samsung com today and start your journey with samsung tony morelan 27 48 the samsung developers podcast is hosted by tony morelan and produced by jeanne hsu