Personalisation and Customisation - mobile Fashion s/s 2007 Part 1.0
Published by Andrew Berglund March 24th, 2007 in Mobile Music, Mobile Lifestyle, Cool Devices, Analysis, Personal, Ethnographics, Art, Trends, Mobile Culture, Innovation, Urban, iPhone, Ubiquitous Devices, Conversations, Fashion Tags: Analysis, art, Cool Devices, ethnographics, fashion, innovation, iphone, Mobile Culture, Mobile Lifestyle, mobile music, Personal, Trends, Ubiquitous Devices, Urban.Love it or hate it - do or don’t - but many of us Personalise and Customise our phones - whether it be internalised modification - wallpapers, ringtones, screensavers, or through external modification - stickers, express-clip on covers, mutilation (yes in Tokyo I met a guy who melted his phone “making it individual” and it still works), graffiti tags, mutation (by gluing or sticking extras on to the gadget), to one of the most prevalent forms of individualisation - the strap attached to the phone, “keitai
strapu” - (branded by Chupa Chups!)
…or even leaving the mobile in a “pure state” as it was when the mobile was box fresh - we all express ourselves - the mobile is an expression of our innate need for tribalism or individualism - the mobile is an extension of ourselves - a reflection of our persona…
In today’s global village whether you are on the fashionable streets of Cheongdam-dong/Apgujeong - Seoul, Sibuya/Aoyama - Tokyo, Fashion Street - Mumbai, or Sloane Street - London the mobile phone has become the most personalised gadget ever and has become the defacto device we use to show off our style and cultural identity.
So what’s out there?
What are you all doing with your mobiles to personalise and customise it into something intimate, individual or tribal?
Here are a few examples of what is going on out there on the streets of the global mobile village…whether you call it a mobi., handy, cell phone, handphone, or keitai we are expressing ourselves through this digital
“remote control of life”
EXAMPLES
Sticker-Flashers
In some circles such as with P.Diddy it’s all about the Bling Bling
Mobile design is advancing further into style and trends - and many of the mobile phone brands have spotted the trend of consumers personalising and customising - the “Fashionista” designs - with an array of styles from urban street to the luxury sector - we have the fashion phones from Vertu, BenQ Siemens (ooops!), Apple, Nokia, LG and Samsung - and at the top end of the mass market we have the Samsung/Bang&Olufsen phone - followed by LGs Chocolate range and their ultimate trend setting latest creation to hit the urban catwalks with the LG Prada - mobile has become style ubiquitous and with it comes the desire to use it as a social device not only in communication but as a symbol - a symbol of who I am - a signal to the culture around…
“I like modern design aesthetics” - the Samsung/Bang&Olufsen Serene
“I am a Fashion whore” - The Devil carries an LG Prada
“I am a Design guru” - Apple iPhone
“I am affluent and super rich” - Vertu’s “signature Cobra”
“I am all bling bling” - Motorola D&G V3i - also now with Fashion icon - Kate Moss as their new “role model” for the Razr range. Hellooooooo Moto 
“I am off-the wall and unconventional” - Hulger (formerly Pokia)accessorise the Mobile
The trend-setters and the fashionistas out there are setting the pace in mobile Fashion - mobile has become the “Fashion accessory” with personalisation and customisation at the forefront of the trend. The fashion houses are now carving out a position in the markets as with sunglasses, parfums, the “you name it stick my name on it” approach - now mobiles are becoming the desirable accessory fashion brands want to own - the ultimate brand icon - that the consumer wants to worship!
Personalising the mobile with a “fashionable and trendy” ringtone is a social bonding mechanism (even those more obscure ringtones) - are a mating call - to bond with those around us - this is my ringtone - you like it - we are part of the same tribe! “Social audio branding”
Whether you get “crazy frog” on Jamba - the hottest ringtone in S.Korea/Japan Rain - or seek something more exclusive or obscure by Brian Eno or Ryuichi Sakamoto - ringtones are a social tagging system - like or not you are carrying the modern equivalent of a “brixton briefcase” - you are an urban “ghetto blaster” you are making a statement
just it’s miniaturised…
We make the mobile become an extension of ourselves - the “Brand You”
Whether you hang them round your neck - make it bling bling - strap it to your belt geek stylee (a fashion no-no!) - or simply “slap-out” your mobile on the table at meetings - you are using your mobile to make a “fashion” and “social” statement…
So I am curious: What have you done to your phones out there?
save your comments with examples if you think you are making a statement!
UPDATE 1: the next speculation hype will be whether those smart guys over at BMW Design Works will design a “fashion” mobile/gadget to compliment the luxury lifestyle of the post-modernist mainstream 30something!?
UPDATE 2: the New Zealand Herald has an interesting report: ‘What does your mobile say about you?’
Analysis, art, Cool Devices, ethnographics, fashion, innovation, iphone, Mobile Culture, Mobile Lifestyle, mobile music, Personal, Trends, Ubiquitous Devices, Urban
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i have the e61 nokia which rings with ‘you’ll never walk alone’ as sung by the liverpool fans after the lfc-chelsea champions league game 2005. extremely loud. once i had to make a presentation to a client and the phone rang right before the start and before i change the profile. it was actually great, because after the presentation it turned out that the ceo of the company was a liverpool fan. still, i don’t count on such chances anymore. and i’ll hardly ever change the ringtone
Great post, Andrew! You’re taking this blog to some new heights.
Personally I do not change the outside of my phone(s), yet! But I do change often my ringtone depending on my mood, as I can choose it freely from my own music collection stored on my phone.
FYI: my daughters do personalise their phones with stickers, pearls, etc. I’ll have to add some pictures of their mobile phones soon here it looks…
Hey Rudy - cool can’t wait to see how your kids are customising their phones!
Hey VT - this is a great example of “social audio branding” and exemplifies the positive reaction it can attain for the people bonding with common “tribal” affiliations (even if it is LFC!
)
In response to David Beers over at www.pikesoft.com/blog/index.php?itemid=158
Hey great feedback on my post at m-trends.org - in my experience many people love their phones based on personal aesthetics as well as secondary functional needs - but many do harp on about their phone and its flaws such as UI - but accept these as “natural design faults” - yet become very upset if their phone from the outside does not reflect the right image - i.e. becomes tarnished, scratched, or loses its “now” status -
The internal workings certainly are an annoyance at the best of times but beauty from the outside hides the flaws on the inside - and beauty is in the eye of the beholder!
I think most consumers are concerned about what their phone has in this order:
image
style
functions
usability
Form over function!
I am a self-confessed “fashion and design victim” and so many phones I have owned over the years that suck from a UI perspective but just knock me over with their looks e.g. LG Chocolate, LG Prada - and also garner many “ooohs” and “ahhhhs” around me - in this industry beauty and image counts! Well most of the time…
The only phone I own now that is not “drop dead gorgeous” is the SonyEricsson P990i - which also falls fowl of many UI and functional handicaps - i.e. it crashes even when just sitting their on the table!
But I love its status in that it does so much other phones can’t in one device - it’s the ugly spotty geek with the high IQ and clumsy like a clown kid at high school (with an early PHd) - but it is the “anti-cool” aspect which is very now!
The only thing that brings it back online to being “cool” amongst my design peers is the ringtone exclsuively created by those gods of creative Tomato!
Hmmm maybe “geek” has become the new chic!? Once again I reiterate that mobiles today reflect our own persona - whether you wish to exude geek or chic!
Mobile is the extension “Brand You”