1. Presentation for Adaptive Path User Experience Week, Washington DC, 13th to 16th August, 2007.
This and related research can be downloaded from
Thanks to the extended research team who helped make all this happen: Cui Yanqing, Younghee Jung, Sachi Mizobuchi, Fumiko Ichikawa, Raphael Grignani, Indri Tulusan, Julius Matovu, Lokesh Bitra, Zeenath Hasan, Thomas Stovicek, Per Persson, Petri Piippo, Liu Ying and Tetsuya Yamamoto.
Photo: An onsen customer sits with feet gently folded underneath her body, the cushion gentle absorbing her light frame. Jan Chipchase, Nagano, Japan, 2006.

2. Whilst this is a talk about design research, there are a few things you might want to consider about my employer:
Nokia is not a Japanese company – it is in fact from Finland a country of 5.2 million people, three million less than live in the Washington metropolitan area.

3. Interbrand places Nokia as the 5th most valuable brand in the world – and taking a few industry peers as a comparison Microsoft is at number 2, Samsung is at number 21, Apple at 33 and Motorola comes in at 77.
Nokia the 5th most valuable brand in the world. Microsoft is at number 2, Samsung is at number 21, Apple at 33, Motorola at 77.
Source: Business Week / Interbrand survey 2007

4. Of the approximately 1 billion phones that will be sold this year 39% will be from Nokia, as much as the next three competitors combined. I think we make somewhere in the region of 11 phones per second.
Nokia market share 2Q 2007, 39.1% by volumes
Source: Strategy Analytics

5. Of the approximately 1 billion phones that will be sold this year 39% will be from Nokia, as much as the next three competitors combined. I think we make somewhere in the region of 11 phones per second.
Nokia market share 2Q 2007, 39.1% by volumes
Source: Strategy Analytics

6. It won’t surprise you that we support over seventy different languages with our entry products.

7. And finally it wasn’t that long ago that Nokia was making tires, rubber boots and toilet paper. I mention this because the company has a history of re-inventing itself, and that the company mindset is very much broader that mobile phones.

8. Photos: Close circuit television tower, Brighton
Photos: Close circuit television tower, Brighton. Plane in the skies over Tibet, Shibuya crossing, Tokyo. Jan Chipchase, 2006.

9. At the beginning of this year I joined Nokia Design - as part of the Insight and Innovation Studio, Tokyo. We’re a small multi-disciplinary studio with a brief to conduct exploratory research, to inform and inspire the design team, and Nokia as a whole. We are one of a number design studios ranging from LA to Beijing though the core of our team is based in Helsinki and London.
3 – 15 years.
With this presentation I’d like to give you a glimpse of what and why we do what we do and how it affects how Nokia thinks and what it designs.
Photos: Jan Chipchase
Left: Ginza line entrance at Shibuya Station, Tokyo, 2006.
Middle: Younghee Jung in office elevator, Tokyo, 2006.
Right: Playgirl outside pachinko parlour, Shibuya, Tokyo, 2007.

10. Photo: Indri Tulusan: Chongqing, 2007.

11. Photos: Jan Chipchase, Indri Tulusan, Roger Ibars - Ulan Bataar, Lhasa, Ji Lin City, Bali, Chengdu, Hokkaido, Tokyo, Kyotera (Uganda) – 2002 to 2006

12. Photo: Indri Tulusan: Chongqing, 2007.

13. Photo: Raphael Grignani of the Nokia Design Calabasas Studio, about to chase powder in Niseko. Jan Chipchase, Hokkaido, Japan, 2006.

14. Photo: Jan Chipchase
Left: Study of Mobile TV, Seoul, 2005.
Middle: Advertising for American Apparel, The Cows End, Santa Monica, 2007.
Right: Detail in Japanese design – Raphael Grignani holds up an ash tray inscribed with “Smoking makes your nasal hair grow”. Omotesando, Tokyo, 2005.

15. Photo: Jan Chipchase
Left: Study on the future of streets: Dr. Jan Blom rolls up the photo montage of a street in Xiamen, Xiamen, 2006.
Middle: Building blocks. Tokyo, 2007.
Right: Presenting research at Pecha Kucha Tokyo, 2006.

16. Photos:
Left: Henna’d hand, Mumbai, Jan Chipchase, 2005.
Middle: Research into illiterate communication practices, Zeenath Hasan, Bangalore, 2003.
Right: Flower market, Bangalore, Jan Chipchase, 2005.

17. Photos: Se station, Jan Chipchase, Sao Paulo, 2006.

18. Photos: Jan Chipchase
Left: Chongqing skyline, Chongqing, 2007.
Middle: Water tower, Ho Chi Minh City, 2005.
Right: Rush hour by motorbike, Ho Chi Minh City, 2005.

19. How to train and motivate 16 strangers into gathering data on your behalf?
How we do this: snowball recruiting, hire an apartment;
Train up people from scratch
Have all the data wrapped up by the time people leave
Photo: Illustration of the team, Rio de Janeiro, 2007.

21. Photo: Contextual interview conducted by Zeenath Hasan
Photo: Contextual interview conducted by Zeenath Hasan. Dharavi, Mumbai, 2007.

22. Photo: Raphael Grignani: New York, 2006.

23. Photo: Jan Chipchase: Chongqing, 2007.

24. Photo: Co-creation and participatory design exercises in Jacerazinho Rio (above) and Dharavi Mumbai (below). Nokia 2007.

25. Signage as a indicator of cultural norms, and shifts in cultural norms.
How does it relate to design? If you’re designing the next personal area network you might want to know where objects are placed when they are not in use… in China if spitting is the norm, how likely is it that people will place carried objects like bags on the floor? Which affects the distance that objects are likely to ‘stray’ from different parts of the body – something we refer to as the ‘Range of Distribution’. See paper on Mobile Essentials co-auuthored with Per Persson, Tetsuya Yamamoto and Petri Piippo. Cultural differences to where people place objects when not in use.
What does a lack of signs tell you about a culture?
And whether people obey signs…
Photo: Jan Chipchase, Shanghai, 2004.

26. Photo: Jan Chipchase, Bangalore, India, 2003

27. Photo: Mobile sex shop, in the back alleys of Chengdu
Photo: Mobile sex shop, in the back alleys of Chengdu. Jan Chipchase, 2006.

28. Photo: ‘Viagra’ bought from back alley sex shop, Chengdu, 2006.

29. Photo: A petrol station for motorbikes stripped down to its essence
Photo: A petrol station for motorbikes stripped down to its essence. Jan Chipchase, Ho Chi Minh City, 2005.

30. Photo: A more evolved petrol station for motorbikes stripped down to its essence. Jan Chipchase, Ho Chi Minh City, 2005.

31. Photo: Security underpants from a market in Lhasa
Photo: Security underpants from a market in Lhasa. Jan Chipchase: Tibet, 2007.

32. Photo: The half life of food on a plate, Jan Chipchase: Tokyo, 2006.

33. Photos: Status brace from a market in a working neighbourhood of Bangkok, Jan Chipchase, 2007.

34. Photo: Motivations for using the Al-Moazen application, Cairo, Egypt, 2006
See also:

36. Photo: Jan Chipchase: Bangkok, 2007.

38. A simple example of an object you (probably) take for granted as being universal amongst urban dwellers, but which is in fact far from universal.
Tokyo 98% N=124
Seoul 90% N=101
Beijing 54% N=212
Ji Lin City 35% N=202
(this data may be biased by people not wanting to reveal to the researchers where they carried their purse/wallet. However in most instances respondents did show the researchers where their money was carried).
Main reason for not carrying a purse/wallet? - it’s an easy target for theft. In addition a wallet/purse is only (functionally) needed when there are enough objects e.g. credit & debit cards, ‘loyalty’ cards, id cards, to cluster in it as a container. Currently for many of the world’s poorer city dwellers a purse/wallet is simply not needed.
Photo: Where’s the Phone Tehran, 2006.

39. Photos: Media duty, Jan Chipchase, 2006.

41. Photo: Indri Tulusan takes a photo for a Simulated Day in the Life: Jan Chipchase, Chongqing, 2007.

42. Photo: Indri Tulusan: Cleveland, 2007.

43. Photo: Pre-paid scratch card. Indri Tulusan, Kampala, Uganda, 2006

44. How long is long enough?
What can you expect to learn from 2 days/weeks/months/years in the field?
What does it take to function effectively in your organisation?
Ultimately you’re the one who knows your clients and what their expectations are
Photo: Using the Al-Moazen , Kampala, Uganda, 2006

45. Image: Google Maps, 2005.

46. Image: Google Maps, 2005.

47. Photo: Techno noisy bowling alley. Jan Chipchase, Tehran, Iran, 2006

48. Photo: Dougs Gun Range, Salt Lake City, USA. Gilles Baudet, 2005.

49. Accountability.
Photo: Participant documents the documenter. Jan Chipchase, Cairo, 2007

52. Once you have everything prepared, you then have the flexibility to re-evaluate the research plan to respond with the reality on the ground.
If the methods don’t work, change them.
If you discover members of the team have unique skills, use them.
If you’re not learning anything new from a participant (reward them) and move on
If the research theme is a dud, look for other topics.
Your organization may have rules for the way it works, but ultimately out there you make the rules. Lesson 1 will help you find your true path.
Photo: Ad-hoc street interview participant. Jan Chipchase. Berlin, 2003.

53. Photo: Showing the photos to the participant
Photo: Showing the photos to the participant. Roger Ibars, Indonesia, 2006.

54. Photo: Where it is OK to point your feet, and the soles of your feet according to culture. Jan Chipchase. Nagano, Japan, 2006.