Nokia has shown off the result of its recent collaboration with the UK based, Central Saint Martins (CSM) College of Art and Design at the Future of Mobile Design exhibition. For six months 25 Industrial Design MA students from London's CSM College of Art and Design have been working to a broad brief set by Nokia's design team to create concepts for a premium but mass market mobile communications device capable of providing 4G or 5G multimedia services up to the year 2015.
The students worked for a cash prize and more importantly, for the chance to work side-by-side with Nokia's design team during a summer placement at the Nokia design studios near London. The winning design was also made into a Nokia made dummy handset for the specially-hosted exhibition in London's Air Gallery this week.
Exceeding all expectations, the results proved to be both varied and thought-provoking. Although technology was a primary focus, students followed unique routes. They placed emphasis on everything from the use of senses as yet untapped by phones, through to areas of growing significance such as biodegradability, sustainability, customization, social capital and surveillance.
Anthony Dalby, Director - Nokia Design said "The project work we reviewed showed depth as well as breadth of understanding. It was clear they had discussed the issues together but still managed to explore and deliver a diversity of ideas and observations. It was the exploration of these observations that was most rewarding and exceeded our expectations."
According to Ben Hughes, Course Director, Central St Martins, "The various approaches reflect the diverse backgrounds and cultures of the designers taking part in this project. Twelve countries were represented and each student had a different background ranging from genetic engineering and architecture to fine art."
The students have been given real insight into the many considerations that are associated with mobile phone design. These include lectures throughout the project from experts in design trends, technology and manufacturing and advice from industrial design and technology expert Mike Woods from London-based agency Tangerine.
From the two dozen entries submitted Nokia chose Daniel Meyer's design - a mobile device inspired both by the advent of video calling and the traditional practice of carrying pictures of friends or family members with you. The handset is designed to sit as a picture frame wherever the user is, serving the dual purpose of communications device and a comforting familiar focal point; at home, at work or in a hotel while away on business.
Asked about the project, Daniel Meyer said "The brief was a great challenge, especially because we had to consider social trends and technological changes.
"Winning the Nokia competition was one of the happiest moments in my design career to date. I'm looking forward to the placement with Nokia, I am thrilled to get to work with the creators of a market leading series of products and hope that I can help to make mobile communication as human as possible."
We love fun, implausible concept designs as much as the next guy, but this one in particular seems kind of far-fetched. The "Nokia Open" is/would be a cell phone that opens like a fan with a "scrollable touch screen," which seems to be an essential-yet-nonexistent item that would need to be invented in order for this to work. The idea is that with the push of a button the thin phone opens up, revealing a spacious screen on which buttons and menu options appear for you to manipulate with your digits. All well and good, but a cell phone that appears before you on the wings of a magical eagle would be cool too, though I'm not expecting Nokia to start marketing it anytime soon. Perhaps with the advent of flexible e-paper on the horizon, this isn't totally unimaginable, but it certainly is at least a decade off. Eventually we'll probably see flexible displays used in portable devices in some regard, but to design devices before the technology is… well, science fiction, really.
The students worked for a cash prize and more importantly, for the chance to work side-by-side with Nokia's design team during a summer placement at the Nokia design studios near London. The winning design was also made into a Nokia made dummy handset for the specially-hosted exhibition in London's Air Gallery this week.
Exceeding all expectations, the results proved to be both varied and thought-provoking. Although technology was a primary focus, students followed unique routes. They placed emphasis on everything from the use of senses as yet untapped by phones, through to areas of growing significance such as biodegradability, sustainability, customization, social capital and surveillance.
Anthony Dalby, Director - Nokia Design said "The project work we reviewed showed depth as well as breadth of understanding. It was clear they had discussed the issues together but still managed to explore and deliver a diversity of ideas and observations. It was the exploration of these observations that was most rewarding and exceeded our expectations."
According to Ben Hughes, Course Director, Central St Martins, "The various approaches reflect the diverse backgrounds and cultures of the designers taking part in this project. Twelve countries were represented and each student had a different background ranging from genetic engineering and architecture to fine art."
The students have been given real insight into the many considerations that are associated with mobile phone design. These include lectures throughout the project from experts in design trends, technology and manufacturing and advice from industrial design and technology expert Mike Woods from London-based agency Tangerine.
From the two dozen entries submitted Nokia chose Daniel Meyer's design - a mobile device inspired both by the advent of video calling and the traditional practice of carrying pictures of friends or family members with you. The handset is designed to sit as a picture frame wherever the user is, serving the dual purpose of communications device and a comforting familiar focal point; at home, at work or in a hotel while away on business.
Asked about the project, Daniel Meyer said "The brief was a great challenge, especially because we had to consider social trends and technological changes.
"Winning the Nokia competition was one of the happiest moments in my design career to date. I'm looking forward to the placement with Nokia, I am thrilled to get to work with the creators of a market leading series of products and hope that I can help to make mobile communication as human as possible."
We love fun, implausible concept designs as much as the next guy, but this one in particular seems kind of far-fetched. The "Nokia Open" is/would be a cell phone that opens like a fan with a "scrollable touch screen," which seems to be an essential-yet-nonexistent item that would need to be invented in order for this to work. The idea is that with the push of a button the thin phone opens up, revealing a spacious screen on which buttons and menu options appear for you to manipulate with your digits. All well and good, but a cell phone that appears before you on the wings of a magical eagle would be cool too, though I'm not expecting Nokia to start marketing it anytime soon. Perhaps with the advent of flexible e-paper on the horizon, this isn't totally unimaginable, but it certainly is at least a decade off. Eventually we'll probably see flexible displays used in portable devices in some regard, but to design devices before the technology is… well, science fiction, really.
