I’ve resigned from Nokia.
From July 1st I’ll be taking up a new role at frog design working out of their Shanghai studio.
My time at Nokia has been immensely rewarding – working alongside many smart and dedicated people in roles ranging from Principal Scientist in the Tokyo research lab to Design Strategist in their Los Angeles design studio. Whilst you might expect the common thread to be user-ux-research-concept-design-strategy related, I prefer to think of it as an intellectual honesty about what does and doesn’t work; an inquisitiveness with the world around us; and ultimately keeping things on a human scale. I’m proud to have played a role in the creation of products and services that every day positively affect hundreds of millions of people, and equally important (but often overlooked) in bringing global voices, including many of yours into a corporation that today has over a billion active customers. Operating at that scale carries with it a particular sense of responsibility that goes way beyond job description and share price. Along the way I’ve enjoyed the conversations that have come from putting a slither of the research out there and its rewarding to see it increasingly resonate on a wider stage. Given all this, why leave?
The simple answer is that I’ve been made a better offer.
My new role in frog promises a wider remit; a meaningful position in a growing, enterpreneurial and creatively driven company, one that understands and values life beyond the confines of the office/studio/boardroom. I’ll still be keeping one foot in the telecoms world – and in fact will shortly be announcing a mobile-related project in Afghanistan, but I look forward to working across industries, including potentially with former competitors. Being based out of Shanghai will take me back to a continent that better reflects our global future; and delivers on many of the little day-to-day interactions that make life interesting.
The new gig starts July 1st.
Enough time to pack up the apartment and take in a bit of the world.
See you on the other side.
34 Comments
thanks for sharing your thoughts and decisions, good luck, and please keep your blog up.
Happy for you, mate.
Congrats on the move to Frog. The folks I know who have worked for Frog have gotten to do some very cool projects. Looking forward to seeing what you will do with them.
Hope you enjoyed your adventures in LA. ;o)
Huge congratulations! I’ll be in Shanghai June 16-23 – will you be there then?
Good luck, and congrats to you and Frog both! I hope this doesn’t make you a stranger in Africa though…
Sounds great and good luck.
Let me know if you need an intern!
Good luck.
Will miss your slides, though.
Congrats on the move Jan. Please do look us up next time you are in Bangalore – there are lots of interesting folks (including babajob) doing mobile-related livelihood and health work in India. The challenging and ultimately the most rewarding parts lie at the union of great design, usability and business models that can effectively compete with callback ring tones. :-)
Thanks for the kind words.
Future Perfect will of course continue, as will the exploration of life, the universe and everything.
Congratulations! Wish you the best in all your endeavours!
Phewww, good thing Future Perfect is here to stay! :)
Looking forward to new tracks on the FP Mixtape
Hi Jan, All the very best for your new venture. It was amazing experience working with you in Ahmedabad, India when I was NID student. Since now you are closer to India, hope to meet you sometime in future.
Congrats/blessings on the new move, and it sounds pretty exciting. I’ve learned a lot about tech, life, and the human touch from your writings thus far. I’m sure that you’ll have more nuggets to share and display as life and time allows.
God bless. I’m sure you’ll kill it at the new gig. Still look forward to working with you, or running into you in the airport. Be well.
Your brilliant mind and brutal sense of humor will be missed… :-) Never be a stranger!
All the best! Keep up the great work!
Interesting sequence, coupled with your preceding post on Three Rules for Surviving Corporate Life.
Best wishes on your new corporate life. I hope your new position enables you to continue uncovering interesting insights and contributing to meaningful changes.
Ta, obviously.
Ajit – our eyes, ears and minds on the ground are the difference between interesting and relevant – the thanks are mine. And I’ve been meaning to overland between Lhasa and Sikkim for a while now…
Jan, best wishes for you. I very much admire your approach to life/work. Make sure you come up to visit Frog/Korea since you are back in the neighborhood. The Koreans really have their finger on the pulse in Asia…more than most people think.
Oh the irony: I’m a Nokia designer and I’m currently in Shanghai. We never worked together, but I think given time our paths would have crossed. Best of luck at Frog – F
Congrats on the move. You’ve been an inspiration and the new role sounds fascinating. Looking forwards to many more adventures.
Do they have SAP in frog design?
Best of luck to you Jan.
Congrats Jan. Godspeed! Please keep blogging and giving us your unique perspective to the world and design… Cheers.
ceo
Jan, I honestly have to say that one of the reasons I invested in Nokia stock at its lows was because of you. You gave the company heart, or at least you were a heart and conscience within Nokia. Best wishes to you in your future endeavors.
I hope that you are able to continue to enlighten the world with your inquisition and inspiration. Keep up the blog. I depend on it to keep perspective on what we do “behind the scenes.”
Once again thanks for the kind words.
Craig: there are plenty of people in Nokia who share the passion and the heart, they don’t necessarily have a platform to share outside the company. Having said that – these are particularly interesting times for the company – with all their major markets (and cash flows) under intense pressure with significant disruptions on the horizon. With a decent pause for dramatic effect i.e. I need a break – I’ll be writing about this in the weeks to come.
Please keep the blog! It makes for a very interesting read.
Also, congrats on the job. I really think Nokia is for the worse because of this.
Congrats on your new task. I would be interested to know your research in Afghanistan. I have often seen that people assume astip-down product version for such countries because of economics. Why cant we have a better product for such users.
Hi Jan,
Probably unbeknownst to yourself, you’ve been quite a big inspiration for me ever since I saw your TED talk some 18 or so months ago.
I often cite you as one of my few ‘industry heroes’ (along with people like Jyri Engestrom and Chris Brogan), I think you are a true ground-breaker and always, always manage to make me sit back, think and completely re-assess the project(s) I’m working on.
Best of luck at Frog, I’m sure you’ll be awesome.
Your silent fan,
James Whatley
@whatleydude
godspeed jan!
shanghai is exciting as is frog design.
am very much interested to see what mobile project in Afghanistan you unveil. Afghanistan, Burma & North Korea are the last ‘wild’ frontiers in mobile i guess.
Congratulations on the new job and welcome back to China on a more permanent basis. May I add my voice to the swelling mass pleading you to maintain the blog?
Best of luck, Jan! Another day, another great adventure.
Congrats on the move. Shanghai is lucky to have you. :)
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