OKI 1145 Cellular Phone
client: OKI Telecom

As the cellular telephone industry was going through substantial changes in the early 1990's, OKI Telecom partnered with Ratio for assistance with the Industrial Design for a number of their newest products. During this close relationship, OKI continued to develop the internal components of the cellular telephones, while Ratio designed the handheld enclosures, unit graphics, and associated accessories.  (more )

OKI 1145 (continued)

This unique arrangement represented the first time that a Japanese cellular telephone company outsourced the industrial design of any of its products to an American firm. Ratio quickly realized the opportunities of working in this arena and rose to meet the challenges. This was accomplished by pushing the envelope on design while still communicating the concepts in ways familiar to the client. (more )

OKI 1145 (continued)

Over a period of years, Ratio developed numerous concepts, visual models and working models that were passed on to OKI's manufacturing operations located in both Japan and the United States. (beginning of article)