Nokia has lifted the lid on one of its design luminaries whose job is to travel the world recording human behaviour today in order to work out the mobile phone designs of tomorrow.
Jan Chipchase, who says he has the “dream job,” has been spying on mobile users in over 15 countries, to jot down ideas about what the mobile handset might look like in as many years.
Armed only with a pen, notebook and camera, the Nokia designer is specialising in ‘human behavioural research’ as opposed to more traditional types of market research like surveys.
Speaking yesterday, Chipchase shared his initial findings with a national paper, revealing how most handset owners use a phone strap, while males in London think they are “just for girls.”
The designer was said to have learnt first-hand some of the truisms about users, including that 50% of women keep their phones in their handbags, and therefore miss 30% of their calls.
Of particular interest to his mission, which is to root out the motivation behind people’s behaviour on the basis it won’t change by 2022, is the rise of ad hoc mobile banking in Uganda.
The network relies on pre-payment systems as deposit accounts and relies on shopkeepers to make good promises to turn credits into cash, The Times reported yesterday.
Chipchase told the paper: “The question is: how do we design for people’s needs?"
Reflecting on his mission, he added: “Technology changes quickly. Human behaviour changes pretty slowly.”
May 15, 2007
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