People First
- In February 2008 at mobile World Congress Nokia unveiled “remade” a concept device made from recycled materials. At the design event on 29 April in London the team within design who created remade shared the wider story of the project (called “homegrown”).
Homegrown is a project led by Nokia’s advanced design team. The project is exploring how mobile devices could be made in ever more sustainable ways in the future - next three to five years. The concepts the team have developed address specific environmental and social issues including recycling, energy and making the benefits of mobile technology available to more people.
For example, People First takes three human universals of the way people think about communication "time, lists, and people". The inspiration behind it comes from research on lessons about good visual communication learnt from illiteracy research. 
- How can we clearly prioritize people first? If we begin designingfor those who face daily challenges with current technology, we soonfind communication solutions that benefit us all.
With a focus on human universals, the“People-first” experience strips away the complexity of applications,folders, and unpredictable navigation with simpler universallyunderstood organizing principles: time, lists and faces.Content comes first, navigation is shallow, and there are no metaphorsor abstractions to confuse. New content is generated at the top of asingular vertical list settling over time into a personal history ofevents.
A dual layer display allows the user to balance energy efficiencywith rich visuals. The user interface graphics are optimized forlow-power and high-contrast B&W graphics. When an item ishighlighted, a second full color display is partially activated in lieuof, or in combination with the first. In an effort to increase local relevance, dynamic keymat graphics,based on a low-power bi-stable display, allow a greater number oflanguage variants at little to no extra cost and on-screen actions arepresented in textual and iconic form making the system accessible to alarger audience. 
- Out of the box, People First allows simply to connect synchronously (voice call or push-to-talk) or asynchronously (sms or email), capture a moment with the camera, schedule an appointment with the alarm clock, and manage money with the calculator. These are what we believe the mobile essentials- features that are relevant everywhere for everyone. These essentialsare however sometimes insufficient. Instead of second-guessingadditional features, we are encouraging personalization, hacking, and entrepreneurial ventureswith widgets support, accessible native programming language (as simpleas html) and freely available hardware and software specifications.Locally produced or crafted components and softwares provide relevance, while simultaneously reducing production efforts and the amount of atoms that need to be shipped around the globe.
- This concept wascreated by Nokia advanced design team who look 3-5 years out into thefuture. It is an example of a range of research and developmentprojects within Nokia looking at potential new products and servicesthat will help people make more sustainable choices. Taking these ideasinto production is a longer term project that requires further researchinto technology, manufacturing and availability of new types ofmaterials. This is something Nokia continuously explores.
People First and Homegrown are primarily Andrew Gartrell, Rhys Newman, Duncan Burns,Pascal Wever, Raphael Grignani, Pawena Thimaporn, Tom Arbisi, SimonJames, Jan Chipchase, Anne Coates, Peter Knudsen, Hannu Nieminen, andKurt Walecki.
Additional information and pictures are available on Nokia Conversations and the press section of Nokia.com.
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