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IZWAN ISMAIL talks to Nokia´s top three designers to find out what it takes to come up with a winning mobile phone.

If you think that designing a mobile phone is about creating a nice casing and fitting in all the features and electronics inside, well, that´s just the tip of the iceberg.

Nikki Barton, head of digital design at Nokia Design Studio, points out that a good design delivers the goods that are not only pretty to look at, but also work the way people want them to.

She says a good design also should let people interact and use their device easily.

"At Nokia, the motto is Look, then design, and we practise this in designing our phones," says London-based Barton, who has 20 years of experience in digital design.

"As all the models must be user-friendly, designers often spend hours observing how people all over the world use and interact with their phones. They then bring back their new insights to the studios."

The Nokia design team is 320-strong from over 30 nationalities. The group includes industrial designers, material specialists, psychologists, researchers, anthropologists, engineers and interaction design specialists based in four main design studios: Espoo (Finland), Calabasas (the United States), London and Beijing.

Barton makes sure that her phone designs appeal to the masses, not just technology geeks. "I want it to be both useful and delightful to improve everyone´s life," she says.

A big challenge is to make sure that information is displayed seamlessly and as consistently as possible among the platforms and devices.

"With a multitude of formats and services, it´s key to create the best user experience possible for each audience. It´s also a design challenge to keep things simple and easy to understand so that the features enhance rather than distract people´s experiences," Barton points out.

So what is her favourite phone design? The E71 because "it feels so good in your hand and is impressive to use".

Nokia is always on the lookout for new talents in design. "We work with some universities in Asia, including Malaysia," Barton says.

For Jung Younghee, her work as a phone designer is mostly about forecasting future trends, focusing on people.

"People´s behaviour and motivation change slower than technology, but simultaneously guide its development," says the research leader at Nokia Research Center.

The 34-year-old, who has been with Nokia in London, Helsinki, Japan and the US, is now based in Bangalore.

Jung describes her job as "adding flesh and personality to new technology" so product developers understand how it can be made useful, desirable and adaptable for people.

"The challenge is in coming up with better ways of how we can involve people in our design process, which is essential to the quality of what we deliver," she says.

Jung has a natural eye for detail.

"I´ve always been a keen observer, and I pick up things quite quickly. I´m inspired by the realities of everyday life and make connections between things that are not overtly related," she says.

She believes that a good design should make people happy.

"If something is designed well, the overall experience of the user will be positive," she says.

"For example, if you´re designing a cup, you will consider how it will be bought, used, washed and stored as an item or in a group of various cups. It gets substantially more complicated when the product is used for many purposes, like how a mobile phone is."

Jung points out that personalisation and convenience are key in today´s phone designs.

"Being connected is still the most important feature, but the definition of what ´being connected´ means is changing. The mobile phone has become the digital device that people don´t leave home without. They want the phone to suit their lifestyle, whether it be expressing their personal style or customising the ways in which they want to be connected."

Jung uses the N900 as her communication device.

"As this device had introduced a new approach in mobile phone user interface design, it seemed like a natural choice for me. After all, I research how people use their mobile phone, so it´s logical that I also try the latest devices," she says.

For design manager Robert Williams, his work revolves around giving people a better mobile experience. He is responsible for creating the icons used on Nokia phones.

"I used to work at a small agency when the Internet started to pick up, and I realised that we needed to design things that people could use to navigate their way through it. That really appealed to me because it was an amalgamation of many different design features such as animation and photography, and elements such as layout," says the 33-year-old.

Williams was attracted to Nokia because the mobile communications giant offered much more user interface possibilities, and "it´s an area where once again we´re breaking new ground".

Much of his design aesthetics comes from his experiences.

"But I have come to realise that you can´t depend solely on your experiences. You need to understand people and what makes them tick," says the London-based designer.

Williams believes that a good design always keeps the user´s needs central.

"A good design is something that solves a problem simply," he says.

by Izwan Ismail

Published Date : 08 March 2010  

Source : New Straits Times