Nokia's Head Designer: N9 Design Is An Indication Of Where The Company Is Headed

Marko Ahtisaari, Nokia’s head designer in an interview with Wall Street Journal said that the new Nokia N9 design is an indication of where the company is headed. He said,

We will drive this trend toward reduction and more natural forms. Compare that to the black, grey and metallic rounded-corner rectangles you are seeing in the market,”

He also added that Windows Phone provides an immersive interface that requires fewer clicks than iPhone or Android. Mr. Ahtisaari further added that,

..today’s touch-screen phones are inappropriately immersive, and that he would like to design in a way that allows users to keep their heads up again.

“When you look around at a restaurant in Helsinki, you’ll see couples having their heads down instead of having eye contact and being aware of the environment they’re in,”
“Designing for true mobility…makes it easier for people to have more eye contact and be aware of their environment, and is an example of what people would not explicitly ask for but love when they get it,”

Ahtisaari said that materials used to manufacture phones such as polycarbonate gives them the ability to add colors. His team at Nokia is making lots of prototypes, 3d wax models, paper sketches, etc to achieve greater precision in design engineering.
Hopefully we get great smartphones from Nokia soon.

Read more on the interview at WSJ.