Although Apple and Samsung are household names when it comes to smartphones these days, there was a time when they were virtually unheard of in the mobile space. Back when mobile phones were less smart, Nokia flooded the market with a variety of designs, some of which have stood the test of time, as proven by recent revivals, while others may have been far too ahead of their time. Still, others were just plain bonkers but still left quite an impression on peoples minds.The Finnish company no longer makes phones, of course, but its legacy lives on in more ways than one. Fortunately, the Nokia Design Archive is now open to the public, preserving and sharing not just the companys historical products but also its design processes and strategies, not to mention a few ideas that never came to light. Ironically, this comes at a time when Nokia-branded smartphones are starting to disappear, making this memorial to its legacy even more poignant.Designer: Nokia, Aalto UniversityFrom the sturdy 5110 to the well-loved 3210, from the 5310 XpressMusic to the 8110 banana phone,, Nokias history is definitely a colorful one from a design perspective. Yes, some of the phone designs it actually launched boggle the mind and, in some cases, even offend design sensibilities, but one cant accuse the brand of playing it safe and sticking to lucrative and overused formulas. Then again, times were very different back then, and so were peoples tastes and needs.With Nokia formally done with the mobile phone space, that history would have been completely lost if not for this highly detailed and interactive museum of everything Nokia. The site generously provides not only photos of phones that were or could have been but also sketches, presentations, videos, and documents that narrated Nokias design story that spanned decades. Admittedly, navigating the sites interactive graph UI is a bit cumbersome, but it also gives the experience a bit of a treasure-hunting flavor.Its definitely a treasure trove of ideas and illustrations, from concepts of the then futuristic 3G network to a shape-changing device that would still be very interesting today. It makes one wonder what could have been had Nokia stayed in the game. Alas, the modern smartphone world has not been kind to old giants, and it seems that Nokias history in mobile is finally coming to a close once and for all.Although it has licensed its name to HMD Global to make Nokia-branded phones, both smart and dumb, that might be ending soon as well. HMD seems to be removing Nokia smartphones from its online stores, and the remaining feature phones bearing that name might soon be on the way out as well. Its only fitting, then, that the Nokia Design Archive finally opens its doors as Nokia itself closes the final chapter of its mobile history book.The post Nokia Design Archive opens as Nokia phones start to disappear first appeared on Yanko Design.