Nokia phones - design evolution
Design played a major part in Nokia's dominance of the mobile handset market in the 90s and early 2000s.
Nokia's design philosophy was the vision of one man, Frank Nuovo who started working for the company as a design consultant in 1989. He wanted to make products that people would need, but also that they would want to own.
From the beginning Nuovo gave the technology a human touch. He wanted the phones to be easy to use. This is the classic form follows function aesthetic, but his design approach went much further than his.
There is a story about Nokia engineers going to a bar in Helsinki, putting their black bricks down on the bar and at the end of the evenign not knowing whose phone was whose. Nuovo recounts this story when he talks about the origins of customisation.
Nuovo's vision was for Nokia phones to be personal. There would not be just one phone for everyone. Different customers had different needs. Individuals could also tailor phones to suit their needs, both in terms of features and design.
This vision gradually played out with each successive model release. At the start there was just one phone, the 101. Then there were consumer and business phones. Then customisable phones. Then premium phones, for top executives. Then fashion phones for up to the minute consumers. Then phones for gamers and rugged phones or sportsmen.
Eventually Nokia phones changed as quickly as ready to wear fashion. In the end style became more important than substance and Nokia lost its way.
- 1992 Nokia 101 - first candy bar, menu system, red and green keys
- 1994 Nokia 2110 - soft keys, ring tones
- 1996 Nokia 1610 - consumer phone, large battery
- 1996 Nokia 8110 - Matrix phone
- 1997 Nokia 3110 - Navi key
- 1998 5110 - interchangeable fascias
- 1998 6110 - business phone
- 1998 8810 - premium phone
- 1999 3210 - no aerial
- 1999 8210 - fashion phone
1992 - Nokia 101
Nokia 101
- Menu system
- Well spaces keys
- Green and red 'answer' and 'reject' buttons
The Nokia 101 was the phone that started the realisation of the company's vision. Frank Nuovo designed the 101. It set new standards in mobile phone design. He claimed that other firms did not design their phones.
