Flow
Blue-collar mobility
for Nokia

December 2005, Nokia asked us to design for blue collar workers. Current mobile devices in the market are mainlu aimed to be used in home/office environments and they don't match the needs of the blue collar worker who is usually in rough environments and working with his hands.According to Eurostat 51% of the working people in Italy in 1999 were blue collar and self-employed. Potential industries include: Construction workers, Painters, Handymen, Beauticians, Electricians, Plumbers, Gardeners, Event organizers, Interior decorators, Repairmen, Service technicians, Hairdressers.
Observed pain points for our users were:
1. It's hard to access the data when mobile.
2. There are too many contacts to manage and remember who they are.
3. The collected data (i.e.: documents, pictures) is scattered among different and unconnected locations.
4. Back-up is a burden.
Professionals need to take notes and keep track of information in relation to jobs and people. The problem is that mobile phones are trapped inside the “applications” model, so they offer dedicated solutions to each of the involved tasks, and not an integrated solution.
Our concept helps users to manage their business by transforming the phone’s content from discrete bits of data into meaningful information flows.
We propose a package which consists of an OS shell which organize data in a meaningful way to the user, Input accessories that supports familiar behaviors, and a backup service which increases trust in the system.
It’s a new and flexible way for users to manage client relationships and jobs through the phone.
Our OS shell is the default view of the phone and is based on “wiki” like principals such as:
• Ad hoc content creation and editing
• Links and cross referencing
• Data contextualizing and user taxonomy (Tagging)
The input accessories include digital pen and a dairy made from compatible paper that provide a natural way to take notes and insert them into the phone. The notes remain in the diary as physical evidence. The backUp service provides automated backups and synchronization to ensure data endurance even when the phone is lost or damaged

Featured in:
www.understandusability.com

Faculty
Neil Churcher
Jan-Christoph Zoels
with Matt Jones, Chris Heathcote, Petri Tervonen and Jan Chipchase from Nokia