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The Best Product Designs of 2006
conq writes "BusinessWeek has made available IDSA's annual list of the best designed products of the year." From the article: "The Talking Tactile Tablet system allows visually impaired individuals to access graphic imagery they otherwise would not be able to enjoy. Instead of using Braille, which the majority of visually impaired people do not read, users hear audio descriptions of each component of an image. Key considerations of the design were ease-of-use, ruggedness, cost and providing a pleasing aesthetic experience, namely how the product feels."
When did it suddenly become okay to have "web" "pages" with no actual content at all, just javascript that serves no purpose but to echo html?
So I guess I won't be seeing this list. But I have a pretty clear idea of a site that won't be making my own list of best designed anything ever...
And some highlights for me...
What does sadden me is that the most popular category for winners seemed to be office chairs. How amazingly boring.
Small potatoes make the steak look bigger.
Think I'll take that Herman Miller Chair...
As a designer I'll contest to the IDSA not being "in bed" with anyone... aside from industrial designers... and perhaps collective gatherings in pubs.
s ource/6.htm
Take the Reveal CT-80 on page 6.
http://images.businessweek.com/ss/06/06/idea2006/
That explosive detection machine may not scan as many bags per hour as the competition, but it is intuitive, affordable, and miles ahead of the competition when you consider how the machine exists within an environment or how users interact with the hardware.
I'm not saying engineering and features are not important, I'm simply saying those products are reviewed on a number of levels.
In the case of that camera I wouldn't spend time harping on what isn't there. I'd concentrate on why a panel of seasoned industrial designers found value in that particular product.
"Things are more moderner than before- bigger, and yet smaller- it's computers-- San Dimas High School football RULES!"
I really like the Cocoon disaster relief shelters. They sort of remind me of japanese capsule hotels, plus they seem very practical. I went to the company website and couldn't find any references to being an "open source design" as the article indicated, though.
"Common sense will be the death of us all"
The fifth item of 108, a 23 lumen LED projector from Samsung is worthless. I would much rather have the monochrome laser projector from Light Blue Optics, mentioned before, I think on /. From the editorial at Audioholics:
"Understand that there is no glass, no prisms, NO MOVING PARTS, and no need for fans to provide heat dissipation. In addition, it runs on less than 1.5W at full power and less than 350mW while displaying typical video images (50% average pixel amplitude. There is also an infinite focus, meaning that no matter how close or far away, there are no optics to adjust for a clear picture"
It's more legible than the Samsung, uses less power, is smaller, and has INFINITE focus. It is however, just monochrome, but I would still enjoy an anywhere projector like that. I could use it for displaying video, cell phone video chat, pictures, movies, ads, reading... I want one!