At 35, Eguchi Shunjiro is Nokia's top designer. Behind the ever-smiling lace, he posses a sharp sense of aesthetics and reasoning to churn out award winning mobile set models.

His latest brainchild is the N97 that is expected to hit the market by the middle of next year. And what did it take him to shape a set that Nokia thinks would captivate the market? What worked inside his head when he first started modeling the mobile? And more than that, how does a top-line product designer proceed with an assignment?

"It took me two years to finalise the N97 design. And it takes a team work to bring out a successful product," Shunjiro says as he flips through his diary that shows rough sketches of mobile phones. Page after page. From different perspectives.

"These are just the first few drawings for N97. Things changed alot later." Hesmiles.

Shunjiro worked as the lead designer and he had with him a large team including a graphic designer and a material specialist. As he proceeded with the design, he sought advice on which colour to use and which material to use. He was already briefed on the hardware and software parameters.

When designing products, Shunjiro has to pay attention to every detail -- like how much weight a set should have. This he calculates based on many things like who could be the potential customers — women, men or children. The weight of the product should be proportionate to the size of the palm.

And interaction with people is a must for designing. Shunjiro seg-

ments his sample according to the nature of the product and then goes out and talks to them about what they want in a mobile set and what they hate about the one they are currently using.

"For N97 we went to different parts of the world including Rio De Janeiro, London, San Francisco, Dubai and Shanghai and met people who look for higher technology," says Shunjiro.

"We asked them about their lifestyles such as how they meet friends, how they make appointments, or how they decide which movie they are going to watch," he says.

"We wanted to get an in-depth view of the basic needs of these

people and then set about designing a product that meets these needs. We then came to a hypothesis of an internet mobile."

And what were the basics of an internet mobile? Big screen, ergonomic keyboard and stretch of the technology. Small ideas went into shaping the product design.

"The whole exercise took us over two years," says Shunjiro.

In the beginning, the N97 was quite different from how it will look when launched. The team tackled with a lot of small glitches. The biggest problem was probably the screen that glides up with the push of the fingers. It took quite some time to find a solution for that smooth aero-

plane's takeoff-like gliding of the screen.

As a kid, Shunjiro was interested in making things with clay and wood and cans. He loved to play with paper, shaping paper into different things. He was fascinated by the things he could make withit.

So when he reached his teenage, Shunjiro was at a loss over professional studies he should pursue that would satisfy his curious mind.

"I asked my dad: Dad, I love making things. What could be my future? And dad sent me to the art school, " he says.

After doing his master's in product design from the Tama Art

University in Tokyo, he went to Sweden to study "product design" at the Institute of Design in Umea. Then he found a job with Nokia.

For the past four years, Shunjiro has worked with Nokia Nseries products, including the Nokia 93, Nokia 93i, and Nokia N810 Internet Tablet. He won the If Product Design Award and the Fennia Design Award for both Nokia 7260 and N93, as well as a Red Dot award for Nokia N810.

And today as Shunjiro rolls out more designs, he tries to make ideas and connect them with people.

That is exactly what I do and that is how my babies are born from Nokia," he smiles again.