Nokia Asha 501

Nokia Asha 501

“We talk about three things that are key to our design approach,” adds Peter. “Purity, colour and craft. Purity is evident in both the Lumia and Asha products. It’s about designing less rather than more, and it’s very difficult to achieve.”

“We start with a clear sense of material and what can be done, and then work from there. It’s like designing from the inside out; we want to understand how the device is going to be built, what components are going inside there, how many of those components need to come through to the outside, that’s our approach.”

This simplicity runs through all of Nokia’s devices, and the sheer attention to detail is easy to see on Nokia’s latest handset. “All the parts on the Nokia Asha 501 are very symmetrical, carefully laid out,” says Peter.

“A great deal of effort goes into designing where all the connector holes appear, and grouping them together to keep the device as clean as possible. We put a lot of effort into the position of the camera – we wanted it to be absolutely central and symmetrical on the back of the device. We also integrated the speaker and the battery release into one detail.”