To get across to consumers how wonderful this feature was, I pictured the 5110 as a beautiful flower with each petal a different glorious hue to be picked. Using Shockwave Flash and Illustrator, we drew a vector version of the phone and covers so we could achieve a particular effect: having the flower grow quickly (and with low bandwidth) from seedling to full bloom.

The user could then click on any color they fancied and the appropriate subsequent movie would load, using the selected color throughout the demonstration. The cover petal would fly out, the flower shrinking into the background, and find its way to a ‘naked’ Nokia 5110. It would position itself carefully and then click into place on top of the phone (showing an accurate portrayal of how simple it is to adhere the cover).

Two flowers would then grow. One with colorful, but more real petals and the other a bit larger. Clicking on the former would allow the user to select a different color cover for the presentation and mousing over the latter would show the 5110’s key features. Clicking on a feature petal would bring up a close-up view of the phone’s screen (which was replicated on the phone itself in tandem) demonstrating each feature with a text explanation flying above it.

We worked with Nokia’s ad agency, Bates Advertising, to create a series of print ads, point-of-sale materials and even a coffee-table style design book that also featured the visual of the Nokia 5110 as a flower.