Legendary Nokia design guru Frank Nuovo to leave company

Nokia to unify its design organisation

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The leading figure behind Nokia’s design reputation over the past decade, head of design Frank Nuovo, is to leave his post at the beginning of April.
      Nuovo, who has designed Nokia phones for the past 16 years in California, will continue as the company’s consultant and as the principal designer for Vertu, Nokia’s luxury brand.
      According to Nokia, Nuovo’s leaving has to do with the renewal of the company’s multidisciplinary design unit.
     
In the future, Nokia will concentrate the entire design process in a new company-wide design organisation led from Finland by Briton Alastair Curtis.
      After a long career with Nokia, Nuovo has decided to concentrate on other creative interests in the future.
      “It has been a fantastic experience to work for Nokia. Now I want to strengthen my own creative potential, while I still continue to work in closely with the Vertu team”, Nuovo explains.
     
Curtis, who is replacing Nuovo, has worked with Nokia since 1993, for the last two years as the head of the mobile handset design unit.
      According to critics, Nokia, who was always considered a forerunner in mobile phone design, has slightly lost its touch in the past couple of years. Some of the latest design sensations, such as the clamshell and the ultra-thin models, have been introduced by competitors.
      Curtis feels such criticism is far too much of a generalisation.
      "We have many products in our extensive portfolio that represent the absolute high end in design. One cannot say that Nokia would have lost its design leadership, even if some of our competitors have managed to launch products that may have changed the consumers’ conception of their brands", Curtis states.
     
Curtis is confident that Nokia’s next generation mobile phones will elevate the company back to the leading position in handset design in the consumers' eyes.
      What is it then that makes Nokia designs stand out?
      "In such a large portfolio, the idea of all of the products looking similar is impossible. However, all our products do reflect the Nokia brand in one way or another. It is not just one detail; it is a combination of things. When you look at our handsets from a distance you will recognise their Nokia heritage, their Nokia DNA."
      "It has to do with the values the brand itself entails. In design, the humane approach means for example that the handsets are amiable and easy to use", Curtis concludes.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Nokia´s Pertti Korhonen to head Elektrobit Group (16.2.2006)

Links:
  Nokia press release - Nokia unifies and strengthens its company-wide design organization

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