I heard about the Nokia Design Archive today. It’s amazing!
https://nokiadesignarchive.aalto.fi
Combine that with my recent acquisition of a Playdate game console and reviving my iPod Video (which has sadly failed), and I just feel like the world (or at least, I and my nerdy friends) is ready for simpler devices where designers embrace the constraints more and have more fun.
I can also see how the Rabbit R1 came about. The R1 is full of crappy AI nonsense, but the Playdate form factor that it has is actually really nice.
Both devices are made by Teenage Engineering and it shows – I suspect the Rabbit was heavily Playdate inspired.
And I can totally see how you get from one to the other. You make a small, high-quality piece of hardware that embraces constraints and does one or two things really well. I actually want that. With the Playdate it’s fun games. But I could see that you could put a little keyboard on this and make a really cool phone, messaging device + music player. Monochrome LCD screen. A week of battery life. I would then totally scrap my smartphone. Maybe. (The Minimal Phone is actually intriguing me right now. Shame they don’t state battery life.)
The Nokia design stuff makes me think that if you could make cheaper, more constrained devices, you could then have fun with the design. These could be really personal and quirky.
The podcast where I heard about the Nokia design archive mentioned that you have trends and then counter trends. I do wonder if we are coming off of a one-device-that-does-everything trend and that Gen Z or A or whatever the kids are called these days will push back on the harsh black-mirror of the smartphone and want cool, fun, tactile, functional stuff.
Or maybe it’s me being nostalgic. Because I sure as heck know that I do!