Nokia opens design studio in India

Nokia has opened a design studio in Bangalore, India, to explore new design ideas for mobile phones targeted at the Indian market.

The new studio will initially focus on colors and materials, as well as on the use of mobile Internet services in India, Jan Blom, head of the India design studio, told reporters Wednesday in Bangalore.

The studio in India is one of four satellite studios that Nokia plans to set up over the next 12 months. The satellite studios will collaborate with local designers and universities to get a better understanding of the cultural nuances relevant to mobile phone design. The next center is slated to open in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Nokia chose India, the company's third largest market after China and the U.S., for the launch of its first satellite design studio, according to Hannu Nieminen, head of insight and innovation at Nokia Design. As India has diverse cultures, the studio will provide design inputs for products not only for the Indian market but other markets as well, he said.

The focus of the studio is on “co-creation,” or collaborative design, between Nokia’s designers, local designers and users of mobile phones. It is housed at the Srishti School of Art, Design and Technology in Bangalore, where students from the institute, Nokia’s designers and external designers will work together.

Designers at the studio will not only work in areas of industrial design and user interfaces, but also do ethnographic research to better understand people and their experiences, Nieminen said.