For those who lived through the pre-smartphone era, Nokia is undoubtedly a legendary name. If you’re feeling nostalgic, the newly launched Nokia Design Archive offers an unprecedented look at the company’s design process from the mid-1990s to 2017.
Created by Aalto University in Finland, the digital archive is a treasure trove of sketches, photos, and interviews that showcase the evolution of mobile technology and the creativity behind some of Nokia’s most iconic devices. In addition to popular devices like the brand’s legendary 3310 model, the site features fascinating concept devices that never progressed beyond the planning stage.
Among the archive’s highlights is the Moonraker smartwatch, a fully developed wearable that was cancelled in 2014 after Microsoft acquired Nokia’s mobile division. The device was ahead of its time, marking the company’s foray into the nascent smartwatch market. The cancellation was a disappointment to the team, who spent 18-months working on it.
Other ambitious projects that never reached consumers include the ViZoR CoNcEpTs (yes, it’s actually named that way), an early exploration of VR headsets in 1999. These designs envisioned immersive 3D applications, entertainment features, and even environmental sensors, pushing the boundaries of mobile technology at the time. Another concept was the Tomahawk micro-projector, which imagined a compact device capable of projecting images – a bold idea in the early 2000s.
Professor Anna Valtonen, who led the archive project, emphasises the Nokia Design Archive’s significance as a window into the company’s efforts to understand how people live and interact with technology. “The archive reveals how designers made visions concrete long before they became reality,” she explains. It also highlights the behind-the-scenes decision-making and experimentation that most companies keep tightly guarded.
The digital platform is freely accessible and offers a user-friendly interface resembling a floating word graph. Visitors can explore Nokia’s history by filtering entries by products, aesthetics, design processes, or strategies, with the option to focus on specific years. The archive currently hosts 700 curated entries, with plans to expand its collection of 20,000 items and nearly 1TB of digital content.
As the Nokia Design Archive celebrates the brand’s legacy, the future of Nokia smartphones remains uncertain. Licence holder HMD Global has reportedly discontinued the Nokia smartphone line, separating it from its own devices. While feature phones under the brand are still available, their future is unclear once HMD’s exclusive rights expire.
(Source: Nokia Design Archive)
