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| 2007 |
| 12/8/2004 |
| ENGLISH AND FRENCH STUDENTS SET TO BE TOP CONSUMER ELECTRONICS DESIGNERS OF THE FUTURE |
| England and France won the day at the final judging of the first International Designer of the Year Award, in London today.
Overall winner is IAN GELL from Maidstone, who is in the third year of a 4-year M-Des course in Transport Design at the University of Coventry.
The design is a sleek, stylish electronic key fob which incorporates a multi-faceted record-keeping facility – mileage, chassis number etc. - and also includes alarm and timekeeping functions so you know how much time you have left on the parking meter.
UK Winner is PETER BREWIN, a student at the Royal College of Art in London, who created Cyclops Time Traveller, a futuristic extreme sports helmet with a lightweight digital video camera which records continuously with 3 minute buffers. The Bluetooth viewer communicates with the helmet and displays footage via a link onto a screen.
International winner is the French entrant, BEN COLLETT (reading Product Design at the Institute Superieur de Design in Valenciennes) – for his design SOURCEº Intelligent Windows – A new kind of window with a LCD screen between the 2 glass panels allowing the user to create unique displays at home.
From 61 entries around the globe, nine students (from Spain, Hong Kong, France, Italy and the UK) were shortlisted for the Final Judging, which was undertaken by a panel of international design experts including Kenneth Grange CBE RDI FCSD and Paul Pankhurst FCSD of leading product innovation consultancy, PDD as well as Oregon Scientific European VP Paul Molyneux.
The students’ brief was to design an innovative personal consumer electronic product which features the use of an LCD display in its application. The judges were looking for a concept which could possibly be included in a future product line from Oregon Scientific, renowned for its leading-edge product designs, so it was important that the entries met Oregon Scientific’s ‘smarter living’ philosophy.
Judging criteria included ergonomics and aesthetics, consumer benefits, design innovation, marketing value, manufacturing viability - and the responsible use of sustainable materials.
UK and International Winners, Peter Brewin and Ben Colette, each earn £2,000, plus £1,000 contribution to their courses directly.
As Overall winner Ian will be taking home a personal cheque for £2,000 – plus a three-month work placement at Oregon Scientific’s design and development headquarters in Hong Kong - plus the very distinct possibility that his key fob will be added to a future Oregon Scientific product roster.
Ian (23) says of his win: “There was a lot of brilliant competition, and I didn’t walk in here today expecting to win! My key fob is a fairly modern-looking car-locking device, but it is the technology incorporated into it which sets it apart from the rest.
“The beauty of the concept is that everyone can have their very own personalised key fob. It could well become a ‘must-have’ accessory (it will look aesthetically very pleasing) and could come in different designs and colours. These days, miniaturisation in consumer electronics product development is so sophisticated that designers can achieve almost anything! I am grateful to Oregon Scientific and the CSD for giving me these awards, and for the fantastic opportunity to work in China, with the Oregon Scientific team.”
Paul Molyneux, managing director of Oregon Scientific, is hopeful that the Awards may well have given the winning students the ‘kickstart’ they need to go on to become the Alessi, Conran, Starck or Dyson of tomorrow. He says: “Young product designers need solid support from schools, colleges, businesses and the government - to continue to combine style, functionality and innovation in things that we often take for granted.
“We have been behind many product innovations and wanted to do our bit to encourage and support students all over the world to do their best and to celebrate and reward the best up-and-coming talent” he adds.
Frank Peters MCSD, Chief Executive of the Chartered Society of Designers, has been impressed by the quality of the entries and with the concept behind the new annual Award. “The Society is proud to work with such a progressive and innovative company as Oregon Scientific, to help nurture the talent of up and coming young product designers” he says. “The new International Awards programme is significant in that it not only offers magnificent prizes but more importantly enables students to showcase their designs from initial concept, through the stages of prototyping to final international exposure to manufacture and marketing.
“The foresight and creative investment of companies such as Oregon Scientific working closely with the design sector will ensure the very best in innovation is delivered globally."
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