2011 yearbook of design excellence - idsa chair.pdf · international design excellence awards 2011...
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international design excellence awards
2011 Yearbook of Design Excellence
QUarterlY oF tHe indUstrial designers societY oF aMerica fall 2011
QUARTERLY OF THE INDUSTRIAL DESIGNERS SOCIETY OF AMERICA fall 2011
®
®
Annual SubscriptionsWithin the US $60Canada & Mexico $75International $110
Single Copies (Fall/Yearbook)
US, Canada & Mexico $25International $35
Single Copies (Spring, Summer, Winter)
US, Canada & Mexico $17International $28
Publisher Roxann HenzeIDSA45195 Business Ct., 250Dulles, VA 20166P: 703.707.6000 x102F: [email protected]
Executive Editor Alistair Hamilton, IDSAResearch in [email protected]
Advisory CouncilGregg Davis, IDSAMark Dziersk, FIDSA
Managing Editor & DesignerKaren BerubeK.Designs3511 Broadrun Dr.Fairfax, VA 22033P: [email protected]
Contributing EditorJennifer Evans Yankopolus
AdvertisingKatie FlegerIDSA45195 Business Ct., 250Dulles, VA 20166P: 703.707.6000 x104F: [email protected]@idsa.org
The quarterly publication of the Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA), Innovation provides in-depth coverage of design issues and long-term trends while communicating the value of design to business and society at large.
Left: Gold IDEA winner TDK Life on Record 2011 Audio Line. See page 66.
Patrons of IndustrIal desIgn excellence
Investor
IDEO, Palo Alto, CA; Shanghai, China;
Cambridge, MA; London, UK; San Francisco;
Munich, Germany; Chicago; New York
Masco, Taylor, MI
Procter & Gamble, Cincinnati, OH
cultIvator
Altitude, Somerville, MA
Cesaroni Design Associates Inc., Glenview, IL
Continuum, Boston; Los Angeles; Milan, Italy;
Seoul, South Korea; Shanghai, China
Crown Equipment, New Bremen, OH
Dell, Round Rock, TX
Design Concepts, Madison, WI
Eastman Chemical Co., Kingsport, TN
Hewlett-Packard, Palo Alto, CA
IDI/Innovation & Development Inc.,
Edgewater, NJ
Jerome Caruso Design Inc., Lake Forest, IL
Lextant, Columbus, OH
Lunar Design Inc., Palo Alto, CA
Metaphase Design Group, St. Louis, MO
Nokia Design, Calabasas, CA
Smart Design, New York; San Francisco;
Barcelona, Spain
Stanley Black & Decker, New Britain, CT
Teague, Seattle, WA
Tupperware, Worldwide
Charter Patrons indicated by color.
For more information about becoming a
Patron and supporting IDSA’s communication
and education outreach, please contact
Dawn Hatzer at 703.707.6000 x119.
Cover: Bespoke Fairings—Best in Show and Gold IDEA winner. See p. 136.
Innovation is the quarterly journal of the Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA), the professional organization serving the needs of US industrial designers. Reproduction in whole or in part—in any form—without the written permission of the publisher is prohibited. The opinions expressed in the bylined articles are those of the writers and not neces-sarily those of IDSA. IDSA reserves the right to decline any advertisement that is contrary to the mission, goals and guiding principles of the Society. The appearance of an ad does not constitute an endorsement by IDSA. All design and photo credits are listed as provided by the submitter. Innovation is printed on recycled paper with soy-based inks. The use of IDSA and FIDSA after a name is a registered collective membership mark. Innovation (ISSN No. 0731-2334 and USPS No. 0016-067) is published quarterly by the Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA)/Innovation, 45195 Business Ct., Suite 250, Dulles, VA 20166. Periodical postage at Sterling, VA 20164 and at additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to IDSA/Innovation, 45195 Business Ct., Suite 250, Dulles, VA 20166, USA. ©2011 Industrial Designers Society of America. Vol. 30, No. 3, 2011; Library of Congress Catalog No. 82-640971; ISSN No. 0731-2334; USPS 0016-067.
international design excellence awards
2011 Yearbook of Design Excellence
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2011 yearbook of desIgn excellence
9 2011 Student Merit Award Winners By Mary Beth Privitera, IDSA
16 Beyond the NumbersBy Davin Stowell, IDSA, IDEA 2011 jury chair
18 Responsibility Awards
20 A Brighter Future By Joice Joppert Leal
21 Inspiring Design By Kevin Shinn, IDSA
22 Meet the IDEA 2011 Jury
189 2011 Finalists
201 IDEA 2011/Brasil Winners
202 2011 Index of Winners
Idea 2011 wInners
Commercial & Industrial Products 26 APX™ 7000XE P25 Portable Radio
28 Crown WT 3000 Series Pallet Truck
30 Wildfire Truck Concept
32 Silver IDEAs Air New Zealand SkyCouch n Bike-Pullway (Bike Rail) n Custom-designed Automated Teller Machine for BBVA n DaVinci Resolve n HART® Framing Hammer Line n Prism
38 Bronze IDEAs 3M™ Versaflo™ M-Series Headgear, Powered & Supplied Air Respiratory Protection Systems n Articulating Scaffold n Blink EV Chargers from ECOtality n Circulating Water Bath n Hyper Variaxis 630 n Welcoming Vehicle Control System
Communication Tools 41 HTC Droid Incredible
42 TomTom Go Live 1000
44 Silver IDEAs Bose® A20™ Aviation Headset n Cobra iRadar™ Radar/Laser/Safety Camera Detection System for iPhone/iPod Touch n HTC EVO 4G n Plantronics Voyager® PRO UC
48 Bronze IDEAs Conserve Valet n eneloop stick booster KBC-D1AS n HTC Legend n Jawbone ERA n KIN One n Sennheiser/adidas Earphones – Sports Range
Advertisers’ Index
204 2011 IDSA International Conference Sponsors c2 Cesaroni Design 3 Dow 40 IDEA 2012 15 LaFrance Corp. c4 NewDealDesign c3 PTI 8 solidThinking 1 Stratasys 2 TEAGUE
IDEA 2011
beyond THE numbers
w w w . I N N O V A T I O N j O u r N A l . O r g16
this year the International Design Excellence Awards® (IDEA) competition received a record num-
ber of entries, breaking the 2,000 mark for the first time since it began 31 years ago. Entries came
from 39 countries, and for the fourth consecutive year winners of the IDEA/Brasil award, organized
by Objeto Brasil, were included in the final selection process. Of the 524 finalists, 27 were honored with Gold,
68 received Silver and 96 were recognized with Bronze. It was a noteworthy year for design.
The numbers alone, however, don’t tell the full story. The biggest surprise was the absence of Gold awards in the home products category despite its more than 300 entries. But before I provide context around this and other develop-ments, some background on how entries are judged.
As participation in the IDEA program has grown, so has the complexity of the judging process. This year’s jury was staffed by 20 international design leaders from the corporate, consulting and education spheres. Half partici-pated in last year’s jury, bringing their experience forward to this year’s judging, while new jurors brought fresh thinking and perspectives to the process. To ensure deep category expertise and lively analysis, jurors worked in small teams during the initial screening. It should be noted that jurors are not allowed to prescreen the same category two years in a row, so resubmissions are judged by new eyes.
Following the first round of judging, jurors convened at The Henry Ford in Dearborn, MI. There, we had the oppor-tunity to see submission materials in person and further debate their merits. As thorough as the category judges were in making their recommendations, much debate still ensued when the finalists were presented to the full jury. This debate often resulted in revised recommendations.
Judging focused on eight areas of industrial design excellence, ranging from innovation to benefits to the user to strategic value and implementation. The intention was to take the debate far beyond just visual appeal. However, first impressions are often hard to get past, highlighting the importance of executing on the craft of design with excellence.
This could explain why no Gold awards were given to home products. With more than 300 entries, it was the larg-est category, requiring initial review by four jurors. So what was the issue? Was the work just not up to the expectations we have for Gold today? Are the problems being addressed more difficult? Or is it more difficult for us to recognize the accomplishments that have been made in this category?
Today, great design is at the crosshairs of what makes good business sense and what is the responsible thing to do. However, these considerations are difficult to evaluate in a competition such as this, where we are frequently seduced by the novelty of the new and different but what stands out often fails to meet real-world constraints.
The reality is the home products market is highly com-petitive, and design and innovation must be accomplished within price points that have very little elasticity. As a result,
Thank You to Our IDEA® 2011 Sponsors
I N N O V A T I O N F A l l 2 0 1 1 17
great design is often quiet in its expression and may not seem revolutionary. But when designers get everything right, the product integrates seamlessly into our lives and becomes a classic for the future. So as designers, I challenge us to get better at creating the products we use in our daily lives. And as judges, we need to be able to recognize the subtleties of successful design that go beyond our preconceptions of the ideal and work in every dimension of daily life.
In the medical and scientific category, the jury grappled with the definition of “design” in the context of this competi-tion. While there were a number of submissions that the jury was enamored with—ones that showed very clever use of technology, for example—they showed little or no evidence of the aesthetic skill of the designer where there was clear opportunity. That made it difficult to give top honors for design excellence in the context of our profession.
Another area of debate was the criteria for interna-tional design. How should we judge products that were extraordinarily successful in meeting the needs of their local market but didn’t possess the design qualities that would be expected if they were intended for international distribution? Our conclusion was that exceptional design must excel in its intended market, but it also needs to be
held to a standard of design excellence that is sought after in an international form. The diversity of our international jury helped level the expectations on a global scale.
A change we implemented this year was the elimination of the ecodesign category. This meant that singular emphasis on environmental sustainability was dialed down and replaced with responsible design attributes, which encompass both cultural and economic responsibility. And although there were some exemplary examples among this year’s entries, the jurors were disappointed with how few could be marked with that distinction. This highlights how difficult responsible design is to achieve, but it’s also a call for us to do better—and we can do better—if only one small step at a time.
My participation in the IDEA program as a two-year juror and chair has been a humbling, inspiring and eye-opening experience. Thank you to IDSA, fellow jurors and the sponsors Dow Corning, Lextant, Microsoft, Core 77, Curve magazine, facesofdesign.com, Fast Company, FUSE Conference and Yanko Design for their continued support of this competition and our profession. And congratulations to the winners. Your work is proof of the unmatched ability of designers to solve the toughest problems, to bring simplicity to the complex and to truly make a difference in a world filled with need. n
— Davin Stowell, IDSA, IDEA 2011 jury chair
gary Malerba
