The 2010 IDSA IDEA awards were just announced yesterday. Congratulations to all my friends who worked on the Zune HD. The Microsoft Zune HD won a Bronze award in the Entertainment category for the hardware design and a Gold award (narrowly missing Best in Show) for the Zune HD software experience.
Transport for London recently ran a competition to redesign their iconic London buses. The contest was open to anyone, which sparked a wide range of entries. The winners were divided into two groups: The Imagine Winners and The Design Winners. The Imagine winners were any inspirational idea entries. This category features some creative designs from children, teens and adults alike. The Design winners feature more technical entries of the bus itself, or elements therein. One of my favorites is the entry shown above by Hector Serrano Studio. I'm impressed by the range of entries and ideas all based around such a classic starting point.
For those who have little or no money in our society, homelessness is a big issue. Is there a place where design can help the homeless? Designboom hopes that there is. They sponsored this non-profit design competition called Shelter in a Cart. In all, 4247 designers from 95 countries contributed design ideas. Although the competition itself was judged as being a superficial approach to solving poverty and homelessness, I have a hard time considering that many people thinking deeply about homelessness a superficial activity. Judge the results for yourself.
One of my favorite contributions was this Tent Cart by Timo Niskanen of Finland. His design was also nominated for a 2007 Index Award. Hopefully you too will be inspired to work on non-profit designs.
It's one of my favorite times of the year... time to vote for the Cooper-Hewitt People's Design Awards. The award features good everyday designs nominated and voted for by everyday people. The selection is always fascinating. It features the usual clean lined, modern plastic products, spattered with a combination of overlooked everyday designs. Some of my favorite nominees this year are; windshield wipers, the fedora, and the Barbapapas. Place your votes here.
This year's IDEA awards (International Design Excellence Awards) were announced on Friday. I'll try and cover a few of my favorites over the next few days. In the mean time check out the winner galleries on the IDSA or the Business Week websites.
Most designers are probably familiar with the Bombay Sapphire design competition. It has been going on for many years. Designers are invited to submit designs for a new martini glass inspired by Bombay Sapphire gin. The 2008 national entries are currently posted for voting. If you are voting from the US, my friend Mike Roller is one of the US designers featured. His glass, entitled Vapour, has 10 glass elements supporting a classically shaped martini top, represents the 10 ingredients being vaporized into the special drink. Vote for Mike's Vapour design by entering the website, clicking on Vote for Favorite and then scrolling right to view all the entries.
The 2007 IDEA design awards have been announced. Congratulations to my friends and former co-workers JaeHo Choi, Quintin Morris, Eric Johnson, and Curt Croley on their award for the Motorola WT4000 Wearable Computer! For a full list of the winning products go the the IDSA website or the Business Week website.
Mail Me Art is a collaborative art project created by Darren Di Lieto. The project invites wannabe artists to create a work of art on an envelope of parcel and mail it to the project's address in the UK. The end goal of the project is to show the submissions in London gallery where the pieces will be sold. Part of the money from the sale goes back the artist. The site also offers monthly prizes to keep the mailing momentum up. For more information on how to submit, visit www.mailmeart.com.
I came across this site for the Index Award the other day. It is a design award given every two years to products or ideas that improve human life. The aim of the competition is to increase public awareness about how design can help improve life on a global scale. Five €100,000 prizes are given away in the categories of Body, Home, Work, Play and Community. There are hundreds of nominations on the site. I will write some postings on a few of the more interesting entries over the next few weeks.
As part this year's National Design Awards, the Cooper-Hewitt was accepting nominations for the People's Design Award where members of the public could nominate and vote for their favorite designs. Nominees include the usual suspects like the iPod and the Mini Cooper but they also some great nominations for the wheel, the umbrella, duct tape, air bags and playing cards. That is my kind of design contest! Check out all the nomination on at the Cooper-Hewitt site.
