It's an understatement to say that cell phones have evolved in the 30-odd years since they entered mainstream society. But despite all the capabilities of our smartphones, they will never be as popular as earlier models. It is now possible to go back in time thanks to new digital technologies. Nokia Design Archive sharing sketches, photographs, interviews and videos spanning the period from the mid-1990s to 2017.
Aalto University in Finland, the birthplace of Nokia, is responsible for the Nokia Design Archive. The research team produced 700 records and included a repository with a further 20,000 items and 959 GB of digital files. Never seen before content from Nokiareleased its first GSM portable phone in 1992 and did not disappoint. Anyone feeling a little nerdy (ahem, me) can even read the presentations with mood boards and concept designs.
The nostalgic dive that follows is not only an ode to classic Nokia devices (and their '90s style), but also an interesting look at how technology evolves. “At the dawn of Nokia there was a sincere desire to understand people, how they live, what motivates them. We are now at a similar point of social transformation with AI. No one has yet specified what it is, but we need to get people thinking about what it could be,” lead researcher Professor Anna Valtonen said in a press release. “The archive shows how designers fleshed out ideas so they could be properly explored long before they became reality. It reminds us that we have free will and can shape our world by revealing the work of many people who have done just that.”
The design archive is a bit like a word graph floating in space, with topics such as mobile gaming and games that provide an overview of the making of the infamous game Snake, as well as fashion and phone accessories. The free platform offers four topic filters: Products, Aesthetics, Design Process, and Design Strategy. Additionally, you can limit yourself to specific years to better understand the time period in which your favorite model lived. The team hopes to continue adding more content as the project continues to develop.