Nothing’s design team give us the lowdown on the tech firm’s evolving use of colour

It’s been a characteristically busy few months for Nothing, with the launch of Phone (4a) and (4a) Pro, which were swiftly followed by the new Phone (4b). In terms of audio, the company has also seen unleashed the Ear (3a) series and the CMF Clip Pro.

All of this product has been overseen by Nothing’s London-based design team. Headed up by Nothing’s Global Design Director, Adam Bates, alongside a team that includes Lucy Birley, Associate Principal Design for Colour, Material and Finish (CMF, the industry term that gave its name to Nothing’s value line of tech) and Lead industrial designer Frank Lin.

Wallpaper* recently sat down with Birley and Lin at Nothing’s Kings Cross HQ to discuss the company’s current design strategy, and the influences, pressures and innovations that shape Nothing’s design language. Nothing’s studio often plays open house for launches and events.

Tucked away down a dead-end alley above the area’s thicket of rail lines, the non-descript building conceals a plethora of design and prototyping equipment, as well as a treasure trove of influential electronics from past and present.

One thing that stands out in recent launches is Nothing’s fresh approach to colour. This is Birling’s purview. ‘My work is to expand the product palette,’ she says, ‘we’ve spent 18 months working on a more expressive palette that’s also softer and friendlier.’ It was only four years ago that Nothing arrived with a hard-edged, almost Cyberpunk styling approach, setting out its stall in a landscape of identikit Android phones.

‘It’s my job to think what the appropriate amount of colour is,’ Birling explains, and certainly the popping pink of the Ear (3a), which joins the yellow introduced in its predecessor, the Ear (a) earbuds, to start up a rainbow of potential.

These polychromatic stabs are not happening in a vacuum – they are carefully planned. ‘As designers, we want to undersell and over-deliver,’ says Frank Lin, ‘it’s so important to have a zoomed-out approach to colour, geometry and materiality.’

Colour therefore has to be chosen both for its harmonious presence in the product line-up, but also for its ability to be consistent in physical and digital form. ‘Most people experience a product for the first time digitally,’ Birling points out.

Nothing has always been about the details. The much-imitated transparent qualities of the early devices – prominent elements of which remain in the current line-up – were about ‘showing the level of care that we put into the product,’ says Lin, ‘there’s a saying in the studio about details – ‘God can see it’,’ he adds. The studio will 3D print over-scaled products to explore every nook and cranny of the design.

According to Lin, transparency ‘brings a level of rawness – you can directly see into a device, but you can also use it as a level of storytelling.’ He admits there’s a balance between honesty and abstraction in all Nothing’s products – those transparent backs don’t actually lay bare the inner workings of the phone but approximate them in a stylised way.

Once prototypes have been completed, there’s a period of reckoning. ‘We always sit with stuff for a long time in the team,’ says Lin, ‘everyone’s opinion is valid.’ Even a product as apparently simple as a pair of earbuds might go through 50 to 100 prototypes, which can then be laid out on tables for appraisal, sometimes alongside some of the sources of colour inspiration – a lipstick, a deck of cards.

Birling admits to being quite ‘magpie-like’ when it comes to seeing a colour in the wild and seizing it for future inspiration – ‘like a Prada mascara in Selfridges’. A huge library of colour samples has built up as a result. In practical terms, how a colour is applied is almost as important as the shade itself.

‘Surface finishes affects the perception of colour profoundly,’ she notes, as does lighting, materials and forms, not to mention different colour combinations. ‘People are often drawn to colours without realising it,’ she notes, explaining how the initial introduction of pink ‘caused some consternation’ in the company.

Tonal shifts are subtle yet distinct – the pink comes from taking Nothing’s established red and then turning down the saturation. The yellow used on Ear (a) versus Ear (3a) is different too, fresher and slightly less vibrant – the same new yellow finds its way onto the ear pads of the Headphone (a) as the original yellow made them look too much like ear defenders.

Then there’s the complexity of bringing colour to a tightly packaged, highly technical device. Are transparent parts painted? How can light leaks be mitigated? What happens with things like glue bubbles, ventilation, heat transfer, etc? Consistency between sprayed prototypes, 3D printed components and manufacturing prototypes must all be considered.

‘You can definitely overwhelm the consumer with choice,’ Birling concedes, before adding that ‘I used to work in fashion and I’m chronically online’ to justify how her immersion in the world of colour serves as a filter for the brand.

Past Nothing products have nodded towards the product design of the 70s and 80s, but with this new wave of colour there’s an acknowledgment of the more vibrant 90s and Noughties. Lin cites the colour work of movements as disparate as Memphis and the Bauhaus, as well as the optimism of the lime green era of Apple and its imitators.

‘Nothing stands for expression and going against the grain,’ Birling says, ‘consumers want to see a range of colours but might not always commit to it.’ Nevertheless, colour creates a bond, not just with the Nothing brand but with the products themselves, encouraging retention and longevity. ‘What do you want from your consumer technology?’, she asks rhetorically, ‘we’re lucky to work for a brand that is not particularly concerned with following trends.’

Hence the way last year’s Headphone (1) brought back physical controls instead of haptic, touch-sensitive ones. ‘Touch is great, but what is the context?’, Lin asks, ‘tactility is essential. Ultimately, freedom is what we love and what we want. We just hope the rest of the world agrees.’

Nothing’s newest products include:
Phone (4b), £299, Nothing.tech
Headphone (a), £149, Nothing.tech
Ear (3a), £99, Nothing.tech
CMF Clip Pro, £79, Nothing.tech