NTUST universal designs recognized by German iF Awards!
NTUST universal designs recognized by German iF Awards!
26 local entries rank in top 100 of iF Concept Design Awards
The China Post news staff--A total of 26 Taiwan designs submitted to Germany's iF Concept Design Awards 2012, out of more than 15,000 from 50 countries competing, were included among the year's 100 Best, five less than last year, media reports said yesterday. While National Taiwan University of Science and Technology (NTUST) still remains the country's leading school for design talent, the challenge from institutions of higher learning in mainland China is being increasingly felt, with more of their entries receiving honors than in the past.
The number of entries, including those from mainland Chinese schools, has increased, with many of them including in the 100 Best, Regina Wang (王韋堯), chairwoman of NTUST's Design Department, told reporters.
Recognized entries and award-winners are divided among more schools, Wang said, adding that schools all over the world “are trying to catch up” in design as a discipline.
With five entries given the coveted recognition, NTUST still reigns unchallenged as the leading design school in the country. Last year, an NTUST entry won a 3,000-euro prize. But this year, none of the school's entries proved to be a prize winner.
“Life Light” (水域救生指引裝置), a “life buoy device” designed by a student from Asia University in Taichung, became Taiwan's only winner for 2012, receiving a 500-euro prize.
NTUST entries given good reviews included the “Connection Cap” (連體瓶蓋), a plastic bottle cap designed by Lee Yi-chia (李儀家). “The cap remains connected to the bottle after it is unscrewed, so that it will not be dropped accidentally and cause pollution,” Lee said. She said her design was inspired by the bottle caps she found buried in the sand during a beach excursion.
Another 100 Best entry, “Pill Jar for Parkinson's Disease (藥罐)” patients by Yeh Ming-chieh (葉銘杰), a second-year graduate student at NTUST, is a tablet dispenser specially designed for people with Parkinson's disease. Squeeze it and a tablet will come out through a special hole, Lin said, adding that his design was inspired by a movie depicted the trembling hand of a person with the disease.
“People with the shakes can get their medication easily” by using the jar, Yeh was quoted as saying.
Also one of the 100 Best, is contact lens packaging called “Finger Contact” and co-designed by Tatung University students Lin Ta-chih (林大智 ) and Hsieh Yi-fan (謝易帆).
Open the packaging and it becomes a nipple-shaped plastic mount supporting the contact lens, so that the user can lift and place the lens on to his or her eye without touching the lens.
“People who don't have a pair of tweezers or who cannot find clean water to wash their hands can still mount the lens onto their eyeballs,” Lin and Hsieh said.
Established in 1953, the iF product design awards are also referred to as the “Oscars” of design awards.
Taiwan tops university category in German iF design contest
2012/04/10 17:00:22
Taipei, April 10 (CNA) A Taiwanese university was the biggest winner in the university category of the iF Concept Design Award 2012 with a series of designs geared mainly toward people with special needs.
National Taiwan University of Science and Technology said Tuesday five of its projects were selected among the "Best 100" from a field of 10,665 entries in the prestigious German design competition.
It was the "human touch" in the designs that made them stand out, the university said.
"It's becoming a trend for good designs to have strong emotional appeal," said Regina Wang, head of the university's Department of Industrial and Commercial Design.
The five winning items included a pill jar designed for use by Parkinson's disease patients and sports gear that allows the visually-impaired to jog independently.
Usually, products designed specifically for special needs groups tend to focus on accessibility, but the university's designs also showed consideration and respect for people, Wang said.
For instance, she said, the pill jar enables Parkinson's patients to get one pill at a time simply by pressing and releasing the top without any complicated movements.
"I was inspired by the movie 'Love and Other Drugs,'" said the jar's designer Yeh Ming-chieh, referring to the Hollywood romance about a young woman suffering from Parkinson's.
Yeh, 24, said the biggest challenge was coming up with a design that would fit pills of all shapes and sizes.
"It required much effort to put yourself in the shoes of the physically challenged," he said, adding that the project took him six months.
Another design was the "Blind Jog," which comprises a set of earphones, two anklets and sensor plates to keep the visually impaired on track while jogging.
"I had heard stories about blind people staying at home all day because they are embarrassed to ask for help if they go out alone," said the designer Hsu Wei-tsung, 24.
The university's "considerate design" series, which included six other finalists in the iF contest, also incorporates environmental awareness, childcare and food safety.
Universities in Taiwan this year have won a total of 26 design awards at the iF forum, which has been held since 1953 and is recognized as a benchmark for good design.
(By Lee Hsin-Yin)
Taiwan students top iF concept design awards
A pill dispenser designed by Yeh Ming-chieh, a graduate student at NTUST, ranks among the best 100 design concepts selected at Germany’s iF awards. (Courtesy of NTUST)•Publication Date：04/11/2012
•Source： Taiwan Today
•By Kwangyin Liu
A total of 26 designs by Taiwan students have made it into the top 100 best design concepts at the German-based International Forum Design awards this year.
Taipei’s National Taiwan University of Science and Technology led the country’s 14 participating universities, with five works selected for the “Best 100” list, NTUST said April 10.
Winning NTUST student designs include a one-click pill dispenser for people suffering from Parkinson’s disease, a headset equipped with radio-frequency identification technologies to assist blind joggers and a billing system that makes splitting the bill easier, according to the university.
Since 2007, NTUST students have bagged 33 awards at the annual competition, giving it top-ranking status ahead of more than 100 universities worldwide, iF said.
The iF concept design award, aimed at discovering young professionals, is open to students and recent graduates of design-related departments. This year 10,665 entries were submitted from over 50 countries, sources said.
The competing works come in four categories—product design, communication design, fashion design and architecture.
Awards for the best 100 designs will be presented in Hamburg May 31, while an exhibition of all winning entries will run until June 17, event organizers said. (THN)
Write to Kwangyin Liu at kwangyin.liu@mail.gio.gov.tw