Concepts: WVIL Concept Camera – Picture Perfect
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If you’re looking for a new camera, there’s no shortage of choices. So why did the design team at Artefact decided to invent something totally new? “We are kind of photography nerds and camera nerds,” says Markus Wierzoch, lead industrial designer for the project. “As some point, we were just having a discussion in the office. Where is the camera going? Why isn’t it going as fast as other devices?” They also noticed that there wasn’t much between a simple point-and-shoot camera and a pro set-up with all those settings and lenses.
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If you’re looking for a new camera, there’s no shortage of choices. So why did the design team at Artefact decided to invent something totally new? “We are kind of photography nerds and camera nerds,” says Markus Wierzoch, lead industrial designer for the project. “As some point, we were just having a discussion in the office. Where is the camera going? Why isn’t it going as fast as other devices?” They also noticed that there wasn’t much between a simple point-and-shoot camera and a pro set-up with all those settings and lenses.
So they did what designers do and dreamed up something entirely new. WVIL stands for Wireless Viewfinder Interchangeable Lens system. Basically, it means you can take the lens off your camera, set it on a table and control it from across the room with a small camera body. Better yet, the team imagined the body itself as a small housing you might snap your smart phone into. You’d also have the option to attach the lens to the front magnetically. This futuristic concept also makes it a snap to share images online and the software even helps you become a better photographer. We hope this killer concept finds its way to store shelves.Credits
Firm: Artefact
Artefact team: Markus Wierzoch, Olen Ronning, Kateryna Sitner, Katrina Mendoza
Additional team members: Rob Girling, Fernd van Engelen
Judges Comments
This is a unique concept, and a beautifully designed product that I would certainly love to own! It has far reaching capabilities that allow people to both experience photography in an original, refreshing way and at the same time, connects moments with others.
—Judge Deborah Adler, Deborah Adler Design
—Judge Deborah Adler, Deborah Adler Design
The sense of usefulness, desirability and delight was immediate—and the design was beautifully executed.
—Judge Debera Johnson, Director, Pratt Design Incubator
—Judge Debera Johnson, Director, Pratt Design Incubator
Consumer Products: Jawbone UP – Great Expectations
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We think it’s fair to say that Jawbone UP was one of the most anticipated product launches in 2011. And why not? It’s a cheeky little wristband that tracks everything from sleep to exercise and works in concert with an iPhone app. We like to think of it as a little health cheerleader that follows you around all day. Recent news stores—and Jawbone’s own website—have pointed out the device’s technical glitches. But we still think the concept pushes the category forward, and we’re itching to give it another look once the hardware kinks are resolved. Even with the problems, we’re guessing it’s a design other companies are already chasing.
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We think it’s fair to say that Jawbone UP was one of the most anticipated product launches in 2011. And why not? It’s a cheeky little wristband that tracks everything from sleep to exercise and works in concert with an iPhone app. We like to think of it as a little health cheerleader that follows you around all day. Recent news stores—and Jawbone’s own website—have pointed out the device’s technical glitches. But we still think the concept pushes the category forward, and we’re itching to give it another look once the hardware kinks are resolved. Even with the problems, we’re guessing it’s a design other companies are already chasing.
Credits
Firm: fuseproject
Founder/chief designer: Yves Behar
Additional team members: Gabe Lamb, Qin Li, Diana Chang
Client: Jawbone
Judges Comments
Despite its recent technical challenges, this product aspires to create a more elegant and engaging experience to heath conscious users. Consumer health will exponentially grow in the next years and I believe design has an important role to play.
— Judge Blaise Bertrand, Associate Partner, IDEO
— Judge Blaise Bertrand, Associate Partner, IDEO
Environments: Aol West Coast Headquarters: Start-Up Mojo
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As part of a larger re-branding project, Aol wanted its new offices in Palo Alto, California, to help it feel like a young company again. “We took aim at some of their early start up energy and re-kindled it in this new space,” says Primo Orpilla, principal, Studio O+A. The result is an office that mixes bright colors and eye-popping patterns with raw construction materials and an open floor plan. Instead of dedicating square footage to private offices, this space fosters big ideas wherever they happen: over a game of ping-pong, inside a circular meeting room or lounging on a sofa.
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As part of a larger re-branding project, Aol wanted its new offices in Palo Alto, California, to help it feel like a young company again. “We took aim at some of their early start up energy and re-kindled it in this new space,” says Primo Orpilla, principal, Studio O+A. The result is an office that mixes bright colors and eye-popping patterns with raw construction materials and an open floor plan. Instead of dedicating square footage to private offices, this space fosters big ideas wherever they happen: over a game of ping-pong, inside a circular meeting room or lounging on a sofa.
This is a tech company, so you’ll find fancy video conference rooms and the like. But, here, it’s thoughtfully deployed. “I like to think of technology like it’s better to be seen and not heard,” Orpilla says. “So it’s there, but it’s not in your face.” The space balances its high tech features by leaving room for analog experiences. You can write your thoughts on the white boards in the hallway or kick back any number of places with an old-school print magazine. After you’ve scanned The Huffington Post headlines on your iPad, of course.
Credits
Firm: Studio O+A
Principals: Primo Orpilla, Verda Alexander
Architect: Clem Soga
Director of design: Denise Cherry
Director of projects: Perry Stephney
Designers: Virginie Manichon, Alfred Socias, Liz Boze, Albert Claxton, Justin Ackerman, Alex Ng, Kroeun Dav, Emily Ellis, David Hunter
Photographer: Jasper Sanidad
Client: Aol
Judges Comments
It looked like a space I would like to work in. If I was there I would enjoy my interaction with the environment as part of the workspace. I think it was clever, insightful and wittily done.— Judge Barry Richards, Principal and Studio Leader, Rockwell Group
They took a few risks that a lot of people wouldn’t have done, but they really pulled them off. It was both rich and flexible. I felt like you could change parts of this, and it would still hold together, which is important in providing an office space.
— Judge Clive Wilkinson, President and Design Director, AIA, RIBA, Clive Wilkinson Architects
— Judge Clive Wilkinson, President and Design Director, AIA, RIBA, Clive Wilkinson Architects
Equipment: Mindray V Series: Improving Patient Care
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We’ve all dealt with the nightmare of cord management at our desks, but imagine how much worse the situation becomes inside a hospital’s intensive care unit. For those of us who aren’t doctors or nurses, the Mindray V Series is a patient monitoring system that tracks everything from blood pressure to heart rate. It also makes it easier for nurses to move patients from one place to another—say for a critical test—without detaching and re-attaching the cables that go along with all that monitoring.
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We’ve all dealt with the nightmare of cord management at our desks, but imagine how much worse the situation becomes inside a hospital’s intensive care unit. For those of us who aren’t doctors or nurses, the Mindray V Series is a patient monitoring system that tracks everything from blood pressure to heart rate. It also makes it easier for nurses to move patients from one place to another—say for a critical test—without detaching and re-attaching the cables that go along with all that monitoring.
In the past, nurses typically had to disconnect patients from the monitor in their rooms and re-connect them to a portable monitor. But the Mindray provides all that functionality in one unit. It unhooks from the docking station with cords in place, and there’s a built-in battery with a four- to six-hour charge. “The nurse basically can just put it at the foot of the bed and then the patient is ready to go to wherever they need to go to,” says James Wilson, a principal at Continuum. No fumbling with the cords.
Credits
Firm: Continuum
Design: Continuum and Mindray
Client: Mindray
Judges Comments
It appears to me that they did some real research. They really studied what happens in the patient room and in terms of transporting it and portability, snapping it in, it seems like they really used that.— Judge Stuart Karten, Founder, Karten Design
It’s innovative, and the modular aspect of it is very appropriate for a hospital environment. There is nothing superfluous on the design itself, it’s really straightforward and clean. I think the cartridge aspect seems pretty revolutionary for the category.— Judge Ingvald Smith-Kielland, Vice President, Research and Strategy, RKS
Furniture: Tip Ton Chair: Forward Thinking
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You probably lean forward over your desk 50 times a day, and if you’re lucky, your fancy office chair tilts with you. But most school kids are stuck in stationery chairs. No swiveling, spinning or leaning. “People fidget when they get bored,” says Jay Osgerby, partner at Barber Osgerby. “As human beings we need to move to be able to really think. One of the reasons that children, especially, fidget like crazy in the classroom and push back on their chairs is because their brains are going to sleep because they’re not moving.”
So how do you provide motion in a chair that’s sturdy and inexpensive enough for schools? Enter the Tip Ton chair. After 100 or so prototypes, Barber Ogersby hit upon the simple rocking motion provided by the base of this molded plastic chair. You can sit upright or rock forward into a second—but equally secure—position that offers a bit of motion and lets you get up close and personal with that math homework.
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You probably lean forward over your desk 50 times a day, and if you’re lucky, your fancy office chair tilts with you. But most school kids are stuck in stationery chairs. No swiveling, spinning or leaning. “People fidget when they get bored,” says Jay Osgerby, partner at Barber Osgerby. “As human beings we need to move to be able to really think. One of the reasons that children, especially, fidget like crazy in the classroom and push back on their chairs is because their brains are going to sleep because they’re not moving.”
So how do you provide motion in a chair that’s sturdy and inexpensive enough for schools? Enter the Tip Ton chair. After 100 or so prototypes, Barber Ogersby hit upon the simple rocking motion provided by the base of this molded plastic chair. You can sit upright or rock forward into a second—but equally secure—position that offers a bit of motion and lets you get up close and personal with that math homework.
Credits
Firm: Edward Barber and Jay Osgerby
Directors: Edward Barber and Jay Osgerby
Manufacturer: Vitra
Research: Barber Osgerby, commissioned by the RSA
Judges Comments
It’s one of those ideas that is so simple yet so right. It really feels like somebody thought about how people sit and what they do, because that movement is something that we all do when we’re sitting in a chair, even though most chairs are not at all designed for that. We’d tip over. To me, it was such a nice feeling to see somebody kind of saw that and actually turned that into the basis for an idea.— Judge Ayse Birsel, Co-Principal, Birsel + Seck
The whole project was about clarity. Clarity of an idea and clarity of the execution. The chair needed nothing more, but you also couldn’t take anything away from it. It just sort of landed in the right spot with a beautiful silhouette.— Judge John Christakos, CEO and Founder, Blu Dot
Graphics: ICON: Italian Style 2551
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The spreads in ICON, a men’s fashion and lifestyle magazine, are so compelling that you might wish you could step inside and have a proper look around. The photos look like they’d be just as at home hanging in an art gallery—perhaps with the typography next to it as sculpture. As the design team at Leftloft told us, they were trying to embrace an international point of view while embracing “made in Italy” standards. The firm managed to make the magazine feel timeless, elegant and innovative all at the same time.There are a lot of things to admire here, but the type might be the most seductive for design lovers. It’s always set in black-and-white, allowing images and illustrations to bring the color, and lives in an extremely flexible grid. The type palette isn’t large, but such fonts as Neutra, Dala Floda and Bernard MT are skillfully combined page-after-page.
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The spreads in ICON, a men’s fashion and lifestyle magazine, are so compelling that you might wish you could step inside and have a proper look around. The photos look like they’d be just as at home hanging in an art gallery—perhaps with the typography next to it as sculpture. As the design team at Leftloft told us, they were trying to embrace an international point of view while embracing “made in Italy” standards. The firm managed to make the magazine feel timeless, elegant and innovative all at the same time.There are a lot of things to admire here, but the type might be the most seductive for design lovers. It’s always set in black-and-white, allowing images and illustrations to bring the color, and lives in an extremely flexible grid. The type palette isn’t large, but such fonts as Neutra, Dala Floda and Bernard MT are skillfully combined page-after-page.
Credits
Judges Comments
A very contemporary design with fresh typographic flair. The page composition is wonderfully inventive and the art direction of photography is outstanding. This is one of those projects I wish I had done.— Judge Ken Carbone, Co-founder and Chief Creative Director, Carbone Smolan Agency
I feel like each feature story has a very distinct voice, but when it’s bound together, it also has the voice of a magazine. Each feature works separately, and it all works well together as one.— Judge Pum Lefebure, Co-founder and Creative Director, Design Army
Interactive: NOVIY Interactive Experience: High-Tech Dining
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Eating at the NOVIY restaurant in Moscow seems like the perfect opening scene for a sci-fi movie. The protagonist makes a grand entrance by walking over digital floorboards that turn orange as he walks over them. Next he sits at the bar and texts a message to the interactive display behind the bartender. Moving to one of the concrete tables, he plunks down a token that unlocks the interactive content being projected from overhead. Maybe he uses the tech-savvy table to peruse the menu, play games, or send a cryptic digital message to a woman across the room.
Sounds like the future, right? But after six trips to Russia, Potion made it all a reality, one where every detail is just right. Just one genius touch: Your table evolves as you dine. “Where there are dishes or things resting a crack will form,” says Jared Schiffman, a principal at Potion. “The idea is that you begin with this really pristine table and over the course of your three or four hour dinner, you leave this table that’s disheveled.” To uncover the rest of the restaurant’s digital secrets, you’ll have to renew your passport.
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Eating at the NOVIY restaurant in Moscow seems like the perfect opening scene for a sci-fi movie. The protagonist makes a grand entrance by walking over digital floorboards that turn orange as he walks over them. Next he sits at the bar and texts a message to the interactive display behind the bartender. Moving to one of the concrete tables, he plunks down a token that unlocks the interactive content being projected from overhead. Maybe he uses the tech-savvy table to peruse the menu, play games, or send a cryptic digital message to a woman across the room.
Sounds like the future, right? But after six trips to Russia, Potion made it all a reality, one where every detail is just right. Just one genius touch: Your table evolves as you dine. “Where there are dishes or things resting a crack will form,” says Jared Schiffman, a principal at Potion. “The idea is that you begin with this really pristine table and over the course of your three or four hour dinner, you leave this table that’s disheveled.” To uncover the rest of the restaurant’s digital secrets, you’ll have to renew your passport.
Credits
Firm: Potion
Principal: Jared Schiffman
Developers: Tom Gerhardt, Josh Fisher, Nikolas Psaroudakis, Andrea Bradshaw
Designer: Caroline Oh
Intern designer: Sooyun Yun
Client: NOVIY
Judges Comments
For ambitiousness alone, this project deserves massive praise: its audacious scale, scope, and surface area are unprecedented for an entertainment venue. There are LOTS of great details and loads of functionality in these diverse installations, but together in concert I can’t quite conjure what it would be like as a patron. To dine while immersed in an environment so dominated by electronic surfaces: where the floors react as I enter, where the tables respond to me, my guest, and our dining experience itself—where the walls and tabletops slowly weather over the course of the night—this is the kind of place interaction designers dream of. I’m just not sure if it’s the good kind or the Kafkaesque panic attack kind, but it is worthy of wondering and winning.— Judge Brad Johnson, Co-founder and Creative Director, Second Story
The Noviy environment and interactive table was a surprising treat where graphics changed over time based on how long a patron spent at the table. Nice mix of informational and fun activities for guests to do on the interactive table while waiting for their meal. Being able to send messages to other tables was an especially a nice touch—all wrapped up in an elegant organic non-digital looking interface.— Judge David Link, Founder and Creative Director, The Wonderfactory
Packaging: Diet Coke Crop Packaging: A Grand Slam Re-Design
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The Internet never seems to agree on anything. But when the Diet Coke crop can hit the blog world, it seemed to be everywhere in a flash, accompanied by nearly universal praise. “I think what worked about this is it was so bold and so kind of effortless looking,” says David Turner, Turner Duckworth. “It did look like we just said, ‘Hey, let’s make the logo big.’ I love it when we labor for months then do something that looks like it took us a few minutes. Because I think that effortless quality, that’s what good design is in a way. You just look at it and you go, ‘Yeah, obviously that’s the way it should be.’”In reality, the firm did hundreds of studies as part of the effort to reinvigorate the brand. Many took cues from luxury brands, and the practice of going by a moniker (i.e. CK for Calvin Klein) instead of a full name. Except DC makes you think about comics or Washington, D.C. The genius of the cropped packaging is that brings together the D and K to create a symbol that represents the brand without changing the logo at all.
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The Internet never seems to agree on anything. But when the Diet Coke crop can hit the blog world, it seemed to be everywhere in a flash, accompanied by nearly universal praise. “I think what worked about this is it was so bold and so kind of effortless looking,” says David Turner, Turner Duckworth. “It did look like we just said, ‘Hey, let’s make the logo big.’ I love it when we labor for months then do something that looks like it took us a few minutes. Because I think that effortless quality, that’s what good design is in a way. You just look at it and you go, ‘Yeah, obviously that’s the way it should be.’”In reality, the firm did hundreds of studies as part of the effort to reinvigorate the brand. Many took cues from luxury brands, and the practice of going by a moniker (i.e. CK for Calvin Klein) instead of a full name. Except DC makes you think about comics or Washington, D.C. The genius of the cropped packaging is that brings together the D and K to create a symbol that represents the brand without changing the logo at all.
Credits
Firm: Turner Duckworth: London & San Francisco
Creative directors: David Turner, Bruce Duckworth, Sarah Moffat
Designers: Rebecca Williams, Josh Michels
Coca-Cola design direction: Pio Schunker, Hazel Van Buren, Frederic Kahn
Client: The Coca-Cola Company North America
Judges Comments
I think this brand/package revitalization is outstanding and rises to the top of any graphic design competition this year. I even like it better than the work Turner Duckworth did for Classic Coke a few years back and that was brilliant. How do you take a global icon brand and breathe new and exciting life into it? This is how. Bravo!— Judge Joe Duffy, Creative Director, Duffy & Partners
Student Work: ONEDOWN: A Better Mouse Trap (For Real)
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It’s a well-worn phrase: If you build a better mousetrap, the world will beat a path to your door. But design student Aakash DEWAN took the challenge literally as part of a class project. Inspired by a child’s toy—those blow-up figures you punch again and again as they pop back up at you—he created a humanitarian mouse trap that looks like a high-end vase. Here’s how it works: ONEDOWN rests on its side, but when a mouse climbs inside, its weight triggers the whole thing into an upright position. The mouse is trapped in the bottom until you set it free in a more convenient location.
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It’s a well-worn phrase: If you build a better mousetrap, the world will beat a path to your door. But design student Aakash DEWAN took the challenge literally as part of a class project. Inspired by a child’s toy—those blow-up figures you punch again and again as they pop back up at you—he created a humanitarian mouse trap that looks like a high-end vase. Here’s how it works: ONEDOWN rests on its side, but when a mouse climbs inside, its weight triggers the whole thing into an upright position. The mouse is trapped in the bottom until you set it free in a more convenient location.
Credits
Student designer: Aakash DEWAN
School: DSK ISD International School of Design
School director: Philippe VAHE
Head of product design studies: Guillaume ZASLAVSKY
Head of digital design studies: Remi MARCHAND
Judges Comments
This is a clever and elegant solution to an age-old problem. It demonstrates the power of design when you consider all users. It really defies the saying ‘Why do we need to reinvent the mousetrap?— Judge Victor Ermoli, Dean, School of Design, SCAD The University for Creative Careers
This is so fantastic, I don’t know where to start! This rat trap redefines a truly horrid category of product design. First of all, it looks so elegant you’d be happy to leave it out in plain sight. It’s so serene as to be almost soothing. Second, it’s so simple and humane in its action that I can’t believe that no one has done this before. Maybe it already exists in the world but I’ve never seen anything like it.— Judge John Bielenberg, Founder, Project M, Co-founder, COMMON
Student Work: Heterosis – A Kinetic Typeface: String Theory
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For the non-farmers in the audience, heterosis refers to the process of crossbreeding plants or animals to achieve better qualities. It’s also a three-dimensional font that student Brian Banton created by stringing transparent elastic between two pieces of Plexiglass. Rather than creating a hybrid of two different fonts, Banton decided to blend lines. Take the letter A: The left diagonal is represented by holes drilled into one sheet of plexiglass; the right diagonal by holes drilled into a second. Then a three-dimensional “A” emerges from the elastic weaved between the two. Each letter is made up of either just a straight line on each side, or a straight line and a curved line, or two curved lines. And the results are totally mesmerizing.
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For the non-farmers in the audience, heterosis refers to the process of crossbreeding plants or animals to achieve better qualities. It’s also a three-dimensional font that student Brian Banton created by stringing transparent elastic between two pieces of Plexiglass. Rather than creating a hybrid of two different fonts, Banton decided to blend lines. Take the letter A: The left diagonal is represented by holes drilled into one sheet of plexiglass; the right diagonal by holes drilled into a second. Then a three-dimensional “A” emerges from the elastic weaved between the two. Each letter is made up of either just a straight line on each side, or a straight line and a curved line, or two curved lines. And the results are totally mesmerizing.
Credits
School: York University
Student designer: Brian Banton
Assigning professors: David Scadding, Jan Hadlaw, Paul Sych
Audio for Video: Waterdori 2 by Cornelius
Judges Comments
The designer demonstrates great ability in transforming cold, mathematical equations into aesthetic moments of pleasure. — Judge Victor Ermoli, Dean, School of Design, SCAD The University for Creative Careers
Judges Comments
Sometimes design just needs to be wicked cool. Heterosis fits into this category. I have no idea what the application might be … but who cares! — Judge John Bielenberg, Founder, Project M, Co-founder, COMMON
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