DesignAday

IDEA 2009

The winners of the 2009 International Design Excellence Award competition have been announced. I’ve perused the gallery and picked out the ones that I find most inspirational.

I’m always a sucker for new takes on products that we take for granted. The Eva Solo Grating Bucket “…turns the traditional handheld grater upside down.” The grated matter is contained within the grater, rather than left in a pile on your counter. It only received a bronze, but I give it the “Duh! Why didn’t somebody think of this decades ago?” award. Kudos to Tools Design.

A few years back, I was trying to find a kid-friendly digital camera. I gave up. TEAMS Design has filled this obvious need with flair and won a bronze award with the Argus Bean Children’s Digital Camera. Rugged, affordable, water resistant, slip resistant, minimum controls, clips onto things, has a handle, and looks fun—what more could you want?

Hospitals are scary enough for adults, let alone children. My daughter’s recent experience going through surgery for a broken arm was testament to that fact. The Healthcare Design Team of Phillips Design deserves a medal for coming up with the idea of placing toy versions of medical equipment in waiting rooms. They received a bronze one for the Kitten Scanner. As described in the gallery, “The Kitten Scanner helps lessen children’s anxiety about a CT exam. By placing the Kitten Scanner in the waiting room, children are invited to play and interact with the device in a non-threatening environment. Interactive role play and storytelling explain the different steps of the procedure and, through the act of playing, children become familiar with the procedure and learn what to expect.” This is design at its best.

Energy Seed is a gold-winning concept design from an educational project sponsored by Samsung Design. It is a “collection bin for batteries that uses leftover power to light the attached LED streetlamps.” I love the idea, but I would like to know a little bit more about how it would work. How does it drain the energy from the discarded batteries? How many batteries would it take to keep the light on for a night? What service would be put in place to collect the batteries, and how would they be disposed of? As in years past, the all-to-brief descriptions on IDSA’s site leave me hungering for more information.

Those are my favorites, but there are 146 other winners to check out.

Autovation

I’ve complained enough about the current state of the U.S. auto industry. If they are to blame for their own lack of innovation, as I proclaim, who is doing better? Two examples have recently floated across my RSS feeds.

Engadget reported last week that Toyota announced the new 2010 Prius at the Detroit Auto Show. They have increased its mileage from 46 to 50 mpg, and introduced three driving modes: Eco mode will support battery-only operation “at low speeds for about a mile, if conditions permit,” EV-Drive will result in the best mileage, and Power will provide sportier performance. But better fuel economy isn’t the only aspect of the vehicle they are improving.

“…an optional solar-powered moonroof over the rear seats can keep the hybrid from getting too hot when the car is parked in the sun. The electric fan circulates fresh air into the car before you get in and, if that’s not enough coolness for you, a remote starter can turn on the air conditioning. Toyota says this is the world’s first A/C that can operate on battery alone.”

That’s cool… literally and figuratively. And today, Core77 brought Zero Pollution Motors to my attention.

“If you can, imagine a vehicle that runs on air, achieves over 100 gas-equivalent mpg and over 90 mph, has zero to low C02 emissions, seats six, has plenty of space for luggage, cuts no safety corners, and costs no more than an average economy to mid-size vehicle.”

Sounds like wishful thinking, doesn’t it? I’m pleased to say that they have running prototypes and will be taking pre-orders mid-year for a 2010 roll-out in the states. The future of automobiles is becoming interesting again.

T-Fault

My wife was working on the french fries while I manned the grill. We’ve been using a T-Fal deep fryer for about ten years. I happened to walk through the kitchen just as the grease started bubbling up through the vent on the top. Upon checking the manual, the problem was clear. We hadn’t cleaned or replaced the charcoal filter in the lid. Ever. I scoured the web for the specific filter we need, and I eventually found them. They are only available directly from T-Fal, meaning they must be shipped from Europe. And while a pack of three costs only $5.00, the shipping costs $15.00. A new fryer will only cost ten to twenty dollars more than that.

So, I’m going to be committing a fine, functioning appliance to a landfill, simply because I can’t economically replace the filter.

I’ll also be buying a different brand of fryer—one that has filters available through Amazon. The green movement is seeing companies start to think about the complete lifespan of their products, from factory to end-of-life. How long should a company be expected to support its products in a financially feasible manner? Is ten years too much to ask for a kitchen appliance?

JUGgernaut

A New York Times article caused a bit of a stir in the design community this week. In the recent past, success stories like Target’s ClearRx pill bottle, OXO GoodGrips, and Apple’s iPod have put design front-and-center in the public eye. They make the benefits of good design tangible. The average consumer “gets it”.

The gallon milk jug is another of those objects that is thoughtlessly accepted. It’s been around for a long time with very little change, and almost everyone uses them. It’s a perfect opportunity for design to make a palpable difference.

Creative Edge is a product design firm created with the express purpose of reinventing the way Superior Dairy, its sister company, does business. To that end, they set themselves a goal of removing the need for milk crates. They were able to design a stackable milk jug. The implications of this seemingly simple change are most impressive. 224 gallons of milk fit in the same amount of space taken by 144 traditional gallon jugs in their crates. This means that they take less room to store both in the freezer and in the trucks that deliver them. Shipping costs are significantly reduced, labor has been cut by half, and even water use has decreased due to the fact that the crates no longer have to be cleaned. Without the crates, workers spend less time in freezers, an environment that leads to more health claims than any other in the industry. The new design is a huge win for the dairy and the stores. The savings are also seen by the customers, who pay 10 to 20 cents a gallon less.

So what’s the problem? From the NYT article:

“I hate it,” said Lisa DeHoff, a cafe owner shopping in a Sam’s Club here.
“It spills everywhere,” said Amy Wise, a homemaker.
“It’s very hard for kids to pour,” said Lee Morris, who was shopping for her grandchildren.

One woman interviewed stated that her family probably spills a cup of milk for every gallon they open. Creative Edge claims that by moving the spout to the edge of the jug instead of the center, it is easier to pour—more like a pitcher. They even rounded the bottom corner so that you can roll the jug forward to pour without lifting it. They named it the Rock ’N Pour milk pitcher.

Sam’s Club is going so far as to teach customers how to pour from the new jugs. To my mind, this is a bad sign. Should I have to be taught how to pour a liquid into a glass? That’s a skill I mastered a long time ago. Surely they tested prototypes. It seems to me that it would not have been difficult to design the spout so that it would pour properly. Green design is a wonderful thing, and I’m impressed by what Creative Edge has accomplished. However, I’m severely disappointed that they did not take the users into consideration in their design.

It may already be a moot point. With retail behemoths like Walmart, Costco, and Sam’s Club behind the new jugs, you’ll likely be learning to pour from them sooner or later.

It’s Not Easy Being Green

Rachel Hinman made a very useful post to the Adaptive Path blog about a CHI presentation by Elaine Huang titled “Where do mobile phones go to die?”.

A few months back, after cracking the screen on my Palm Treo and buying iPhones for my wife and me, I donated two old Motorola phones for victims of domestic violence—they were collecting them at my church. I’m still holding onto the Treo, however, as it isn’t in working condition. I learned from Rachel that Palm has a free recycling program. It’s as easy as printing out a return label, throwing everything in a box, and dropping it off at a post office. My label is printing as I type.

As Rachel says, “We know what to do with a car when we are done with it (sell it), but we don’t know what to do with a mobile device. Most of the participants in Elaine’s study kept their old phones — some with as many as five.” It really is a matter of education.

And it isn’t a problem limited to cell phones. I have a couple boxes full of old computer peripherals and cables, most of it obsolete, and three computers that, while still functional, are well past their prime. Rachel’s post has inspired me to take the time to find something responsible to do with them. I’ll let you know what I find out. Oh, and if you have any suggestions, please drop me a line.

A Promising Vision

Autodesk has posted a video showing the results of research into green building design through a process known as Building Information Modeling. Among other things, the scenario showcases a large, multi-touch display in a collaborative team session. The depicted user interface is very dynamic. While I expect it is completely mocked up, I’m curious as to how much detailed design has been done. It presents a lot of complex data in a very integrated fashion—this usually results in a complicated system that is hard to learn. The video, of course, makes it look fairly intuitive, so I wonder how simplified the visualization is. I would love to see some of their design artifacts and process documentation.

At least for the time being, we’ll have to settle for the video. 

Greenery

The winners of the Greener Gadgets Design Competition held during the month of February have been announced. There are a lot of innovative ideas. I find it interesting that a common theme is human power. Many of the devices generate electricity by cranks, springs, and other mechanisms. In fact, the devices that one second place an honorable mention both fall into this category. Gravia, an LED floor lamp, lights after you lift a weight, which slowly descends over a four hour period, generating light equivalent to a 40 watt bulb. Roll On is an MP3 player that looks like the power generators that attach to bicycles. Rolling it generates the power necessary to play music.

I guess it’s time to replace my digital watch with one that winds, and hang some cuckoo clocks. Moped anyone? 

Everything Old...

I heard a news story yesterday about a new, innovative method of ship propulsion that will conserve energy and reduce carbon emissions. Wait for it…

Wind! Can you believe it? How did they ever think of harnessing the wind to move ships across the water? Amazing!

Kidding aside, the kite is expected to cut fuel costs by 20%—approximately $1,600 a day. Read more about it here.

Hide and Recycle

I finished a bottle of shower soap. This one happened to be Zest Energizing Effects Body Wash. It’s one of those bottles that has been designed with a unique, curvaceous shape. It was also designed to stand on its lid, allowing the soap to drain down to the opening as it empties.

It is, of course, made of plastic, and the first thing I do when I empty a plastic bottle is look for the recycling icon so that I can decide whether to toss it in the wastebasket in the bathroom or to set it aside to take downstairs to the recycling bin.

On most bottles, that icon can be found on the bottom. I first looked on the top of this bottle, as you might say it is designed in reverse. The brand mark was there, embossed into the plastic, but no triangular arrows. I then looked at the lid. Nothing. I scanned the shrink-wrap label that covered the rest of the bottles surface. No, it hadn’t been printed on the label. I was about to give up when my wife grabbed it an unscrewed the lid. Sure enough, there it was embossed on the neck—a number two. I can recycle it, but I almost sent it to landfill.

Green Design needs to include more than just the materials and construction of products. The product should communicate to the user about its life cycle so that the user may determine, with minimal effort, what is to be done with it. Otherwise, all the careful design will be for nought.