The Best Product Designs of 2006 78
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."
Fleshlight (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Fleshlight (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Fleshlight (Score:3, Funny)
Ouch! (Score:3, Funny)
As a firefighter... (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:As a firefighter... (Score:4, Funny)
Usually just bad actresses with oversized breasts who are being chased by large men in ugly costumes.
Not new... (Score:5, Insightful)
Furthermore, they award Lenovo for a cheeseball "all in one" design desktop when the tried and true iMac (flatscreen model) has been around for two years or more? Who are these people?
Re:Not new... (Score:2)
Re:Not new... (Score:2)
Re:Not new... (Score:2)
Key word, design, not funtionality.
either that, or I'm worng.
Re:Not new... (Score:2)
Re:Not new... (Score:2)
Several airilon chairs, windup torches, a plate, a bowl.
And I bet most of them will look rubbish when not in a nicely lit studio, particularly industrial stuff with an iPod finish.
Re:Not new... (Score:1)
Re:Not new... (Score:2)
Before We Announce the Best of 2006... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Before We Announce the Best of 2006... (Score:2)
Re:Before We Announce the Best of 2006... (Score:2)
Re:Before We Announce the Best of 2006... (Score:2)
They wouldn't mind adding another 100 before January I'd think
Re:Before We Announce the Best of 2006... (Score:1)
(If you don't understand my sig, you won't understand this post.)
Re:Before We Announce the Best of 2006... (Score:2)
Re:Before We Announce the Best of 2006... (Score:5, Interesting)
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.
Re:Before We Announce the Best of 2006... (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Before We Announce the Best of 2006... (Score:1)
Re:Before We Announce the Best of 2006... (Score:2)
Re:Before We Announce the Best of 2006... (Score:2)
Next year's 2007 awards will include everything from the second half of 2006 and the first half of 2007.
Won't Work (Score:5, Funny)
What the.... ? (Score:5, Interesting)
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...
Re:What the.... ? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:What the.... ? (Score:3)
Like the synergistically barried implemention of the MaxZip-8 BetaTracker component? It was way too scalar for the mod '06 vectories, anyway. Talk about your heuristically esoteric maloprop via constructurally ubiquitous metatyping. *pfft*
Re:What the.... ? (Score:1)
Maybe they will win a nomination for the worst designed product in the rest of 2006.
Re:What the.... ? (Score:1)
Re:What the.... ? (Score:2)
Is it 2007 already? (Score:1, Redundant)
Surveillance Dome Camera??? (Score:4, Insightful)
I stopped scanning through the list after that.
Comment removed (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Surveillance Dome Camera??? (Score:2)
Note that I don't know if this is the first to do all these things or not.
Talking Tablet (Score:1)
Comment removed (Score:4, Informative)
Re:A better way to link (Score:3, Informative)
Nutty Buddy?!?! (Score:2, Funny)
http://images.businessweek.com/ss/06/06/idea2006/
Re:Nutty Buddy?!?! (Score:2)
http://tinyurl.com/ed5ds [tinyurl.com]
rj
Re:Nutty Buddy?!?! (Score:2)
Re:Nutty Buddy?!?! (Score:2)
Also interesting that the armor is 54 inches around the chest. Photos of it in official publications like the Tower of London guidebook are direct front views, which make the codpiece less obvious.
rj
Wait, so Lenovo gets in the top 10... (Score:1, Insightful)
Re:Wait, so Lenovo gets in the top 10... (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Wait, so Lenovo gets in the top 10... (Score:2)
Re:Wait, so Lenovo gets in the top 10... (Score:1)
Re:Wait, so Lenovo gets in the top 10... (Score:1)
The design objective of this modular multimedia PC was to respond to the unique needs of Chinese consumers--specifically power users--and harmonize with Chinese culture. The team resisted a one-size-fits-all solution and instead sought cultural insight to drive the design.
I guess the Chinese would find this ULTLA HIGH-TECHE. We've seen it all before, so we know what to call it: Mac Reject.
Re:Wait, so Lenovo gets in the top 10... (Score:2)
Is this supposed to be objective (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Is this supposed to be objective (Score:4, Interesting)
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.
well, based on Beta 3... (Score:1, Offtopic)
I do like the 'Quick Tabs' feature, though - pretty slick.
Sweet Chair (Score:2, Interesting)
Dull (Score:2, Insightful)
What are these designers afraid of? Are they scared of evoking an emotion? Even the house [marmolradzinerprefab.com] they laud is grey.
May we have some colour, please?
Re:Dull (Score:2)
From your link: "We manufacture each module in the factory to include your choice of exterior and interior finishes"
Those images are blueprints (well... "greyprints") not the actual house color.
Number five is a crock (Score:2, Interesting)
"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
Re:Number five is a crock (Score:2)
Re:Number five is a crock (Score:1)
More info on the touchgraphics tablet. (Score:3, Informative)
Right now our school employs a aide to copy graphical information onto paper with puff-ink or an embossing wheel. She traces the pictures and the ink expands and is "readable" by the visually impared kids we have, the wheel on the other hand leaves an impression in the paper that feels like braille.
Both these techniques lets them "see" the shape of squares, triangles, countries - even letters that you or I read. The biggest disadvantage is that the aide needs to be with the child as they learn to give a description of what is being seen. With this system and pre-prepared sheets the child can explore graphical images in their own way without another person being with them.
The web page is at http://www.touchgraphics.com/ttt.htm [touchgraphics.com] if anyone is interested in looking more.
By the way, for all the web developers out there, we find that many pages are not really accessable; tables for layout are generally a PITA to read, CSS works very nicely though.
Just like you create a web page then test it in Opera, FFx, Safari, Konqueror, Lynx and IE you should run it through a JAWS simulator. JAWS is the main Windows based text to speech screen reading tool many visually impared people use. JAWS Demo from Here [freedomscientific.com] FANGS is a firefox extension [standards-...ndards.com] that simulates what a visually impared person will see if they are using JAWS (FANGS is easier than JAWS for sighted people to use as you don't need to learn a heap of key bindings). Please add it to your arsenal of testing tools.
Hydrogen fuel cells out finally? (Score:1, Offtopic)
Link didn't work (Score:2)
Personally... (Score:1, Redundant)
The coolest toys I've bought this year are:
http://www.pascalbardel.com/design/52.htm [pascalbardel.com]
http://www.downtube.com/catalog/product_info.php?
http://tinyurl.com/b6yo4 [tinyurl.com]
Entertaining ad-copy... (Score:1)
"Responding to the lifestyle cues of Generation Y users, designers imbued the vehicle with a counter-cultural, non-conventional aesthetic, finding inspiration in the insect world with its soft, rounded surfacing crossed with sharp edges." That reads like it was ripped straight from a sitcom script about marketers who "don't get it".
Visually impaired and illiterate? (Score:3, Insightful)
I hear cement cracking in China... (Score:1)
That commitment somehow got lost in the Congress bribery^W^W sale of IBM PCD.
No, by the looks of things, they want to turn IBM Thinkpads into another low-quality Dell. So far they've
been on the mark on reaching that goal ever since they were given access to the T43 and the T60 and the
literal cheapness (in the worst sense) of the construction is creeping in. The only thing that even saves
them is the part
Hover Creeper (Score:1)
Fun:
-Sledding
-Bobsled racing
-Back-to-the-future style hoverboard (though it might have trouble if you're standing up)
Serious:
-Getting across potential landmine areas - yes, you're still pushing against the ground, but your weight is distributed so it would probably be much safer
-The ultimate luggage - forget wheels, have