DESIGN THAT RESPONDS TO THE USER'S REQUIREMENTS

This year, my impression was that the quality of the design of the products in this category had improved overall. First, it was truly impressive to see how manufacturers of personal computers and related products each took their own approaches to developing the future directions for multimedia devices.
For example, the designers of the IBM ThinkPad s30 have taken an aggressive approach to incorporating the antenna for a wireless LAN into the molding elements, while at the same time equipping the computer with a full-size keyboard. As a result, both the keyboard and the display sides rise out of the frame like wings. This special feature makes the ThinkPad a fine example of new styling created by skillfully incorporating the evolution of the functions into the frame as design elements.
There have been no major changes in the shape of the EIZO series of color displays from Eizo Nanao, but it has evolved to handle multimedia environments, allowing simultaneous display of multiple images, thanks to the ability to make only part of the screen into a high-luminosity display and to select the display modes set for each application automatically. In this design, appropriate judgments have been made about what should be changed and what should not be changed.
In audio products, we found new materials and styling and a variety of efforts taken to ensure ease of use. In particular, we sensed the creation of new value in mature products with the Aiwa Co.,Ltd portable stereo system, in which the MDF is used as a cabinet, or the finishing methods by which the magnesium alloy of Panasonic's portable MD player SJ-MJ88 is machined into a circular shape and tinted.
Digital cameras did not compete merely on the basis of image quality but also exhibited a diversity meant to meet the users' needs. The use of cradles makes it easier to load the images into a PC, and the Canon PowerShot Pro90 IS really caught our attention. It has a function that automatically changes the exposure and takes pictures three times on a single release.
Designers of other cameras seem to have taken great care to make their products interactive. Having the top cover of the SLR camera PENTAX MZ-S slanted toward the photographer at an angle of 30 degrees makes it easy for users to operate the dials and check the display without moving their eyes too far away from the viewfinder. The result is a highly individualistic form. Fuji Photo Film's INSTAX mini 20 looks at first glance like a cute little camera designed for the youth market, but its settings have been computed for both vertical and horizontal photography so that one can hold it in any position. This is an indication of the designer's sophisticated sense of shape and moulding.

Among these high-quality designs, the ones for mobile phones and PHS handsets most need to take ease of use into consideration. With the emergence of second generation devices that are equipped with moving image playback functions, one can assume that we are facing a turning point, but none of the designs solve the problems of multiple functionality, miniaturization, and ease of use all at once. Some of the models did not even allow one-touch operation of such frequently used functions as the menu screen and the manner mode. In addition, last year many models laid out the control buttons for such functions as volume adjustment during a conversation on the side of the handset for improved operability, but this year, there was an increase in the number of models that had all the buttons for all operations arranged on the front of the handset. This may be related to the increased use of the e-mail function, which requires the user to look at the front of the phone, but if designers hope to achieve improved operability on a device of a limited size, shouldn't they make more efficient use of the sides and back of the handset?

SUMMARY OF THE ADJUDICATION

During the adjudication, each of the four members of the Screening Committee checked the products from the point of view of his or her own specialty, and we discussed these opinions among ourselves to arrive at our evaluations. For that reason, our emphasis was more on such objective, concrete criteria as ease of use and originality rather than on such subjective and abstract criteria as aesthetic beauty. We had already read the entry materials thoroughly before the adjudication, checked actual in-store examples of products that were already on the market, read manuals ordered from entrants whose products required instructions for use, and made other preliminary preparations. At the Adjudication, we placed importance on what the entrants had written in the spaces for "Noteworthy aspects of the design" and "Points that we would like to have evaluated," and if necessary, we checked to see that all the products actually worked.
As I mentioned at the beginning, the quality of the designs in the Unit has improved overall. As a result, we awarded a higher percentage of prizes than some of the other units. On the other hand, it is also true that none of the products in this Unit won a Gold Prize, and this shows that few of the products had the required widely recognized societal impact. Personal Use items need to be developed to meet diverse needs, but few of the entries went beyond extending their range of color variations or making it possible to customize their display screens.
This year's winner of the Interaction Design Prize, Hokkei Industries' Color Talk, a color recognition device for the visually impaired, was not only designed with great care so that it could announce colors aloud and so that its measurement position can be determined by touch; it has also succeeded in miniaturizing a color recognition device and making it affordable.

There were other products in this category meant for the visually impaired and for the elderly. I wish that they would not just try to borrow existing technology for the mechanisms, or make changes to the characters and letters or to the sizes and shapes of the buttons but rather follow Color Talk's lead in making bold conceptual leaps to encourage new technological development. It seems to me that what we need in the design of personal information devices are locally developed products that take the kind of global view seen in Color Talk.

Takashi Ashitomi
Chief Jury in Unit 3
President, SAAT DESIGN INC.