Read more about OPOWER and Ford Fusion’s SmartGauge.

For the full CNN article, click here.

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’Simplifying Design’
New Design
Issue 79, 2010

Heather Martin has lived in two worlds most of her design career - academia and consulting. She has always enjoyed the mix. The academic world has exposed her to provocative and challenging thinking while the consulting world has heled to ground her work in real world constraints and a deep appreciation for the human qualities of design. She refers to this as ’sense-making’ by focusing her passion and expertise on designing inspired but meaningful experiences for people in their everyday lives.

Please read the full article here. 

Visit New Design for more information on the publication.

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For the full article, click here.

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Finding Love in Everyday Objects: How a Product’s Personality Connects with Women
October 4th, 2010
Mornning Workshop Session

Agnete Enga and Carla Diana of Smart Design’s Femme Den will conduct this workshop at the  7th International Conference on Design & Emotion hosted by IIT Institute of Design in Chicago. They will share insights and lead a hands-on workshop to uncover how best to connect emotionally with women.

Emotional connection to products and services is vital. By focusing on warmer values in the design process we can successfully connect emotionally and ultimately create better experiences for both men and women alike. The goal of the 3-hour workshop is to increase participants’ awareness of warmer values, and practice a transparent approach. Enga and Diana will explore knowledge about techniques for defining benefits, appropriate technology, desired end results and product personality during the product development process. It is intended for 10-15 participants who are interested in the conception of products or services.

For more on the conference, please click here.

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The 2010 red dot jury has again recognized Smart Design for its committment to improving people’s daily lives through meaningful design and innovative thinking. On July 5th, red dot unveils its online gallery of the latest round of Product Design Award winners. We are happy to be listed amongst our prestigious and inspiring colleagues. Two Smart designs won awards and one has been named a Finalist.

Awards go to:

UCB partnered with OXO and Smart Design to re-invent the age-old syringe. The resulting design is the new Cimzia Prefilled Syringe, the first ever syringe designed for patients with arthritis. The syringe offers more control during the injection process by empowering patients instead of reminding them of their illness, and allows them to exert 48% more force than with a traditional syringe.

The Cardinal Health Endura Performance Apparel Scrubs, winner of a red dot Product Design award, is a line of cost-effective high performance hospital scrubs that we designed as true unisex wear with benefits for women and men alike. A vast improvement on their predecessors, their key innovations include collars that don’t blouse open to over-expose females, a waistline and inseam that adjusts for male and female bodies, angled pockets that prevent spillage, breathable mesh panels for circulation, and adjustable leg lengths.

Finalist honors go to:

The OXO Good Grips Hedge Shears, are comfortable, balanced, and lightweight for increased control and accuracy. They have superior steel blades and durable construction. But most importantly, they allow those with less strength or smaller hands to operate the tool with ease and less strain.

For full details on the red dot Product Design Awards, click here.

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We’re pleased to announce that Smart Design has earned six IDEA awards in the Industrial Designers Society of America’s 2010 competition. Recognized for design excellence, our winning projects can be found nicely profiled online at Fast Company’s new design-focused site, FastCoDesign.com:

IDEA Awards go to:

Aerohive HiveAP 300 Series (Silver)

Cimzia Prefilled Syringe (Silver)

NeatDesk (Silver)

OXO Good Grips 360 LiquiSeal Travel Mug (Silver)

OXO SteeL CorkPull (Bronze)

OXO Good Grips Office Products for Staples (Bronze)

IDEA Finalist honors go to:

Adiri Brand Expression & Packaging
Cimzia Packaging
Ford SmartGauge with EcoGuide (co-honored with IDEO)
HP Scanjet 9000
Powermat Wireless Charging System

Smart Design congratulates all the winners and honorees for such wonderful and inspiring work!

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Meaningful design wins out yet again! Smart has earned coveted two iF Product Design awards for work on projects that solve real problems for people.

The OXO Good Grips Hedge Shears, are comfortable, balanced, and lightweight for increased control and accuracy. They have superior steel blades and durable construction. But most importantly, they allow those with less strength or smaller hands to operate the tool with ease and less strain.

UCB partnered with OXO and Smart Design to re-invent the age-old syringe. The resulting design is the new Cimzia Prefilled Syringe, the first ever syringe designed for patients with arthritis. The syringe offers more control during the injection process by empowering patients instead of reminding them of their illness, and allows them to exert 48% more force than with a traditional syringe.

For full details on the iF Product Design Awards, click here.

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Smart Design is truly delighted to announce that it is the recipient of the nation’s top design honor for 2010 – the Smithsonian’s Cooper-Hewitt National Design Award. Given for the firm’s work in the area of Product Design, the award confirms Smart Design as one of the design industry’s leaders and gives recognition to its 30 years of designing products and services that improve daily life through well-considered design that people love.

Davin Stowell, founder and CEO of Smart Design, explains what it means to win the award. “We’re thrilled to have been recognized by Cooper-Hewitt for our work. What we do is somewhat transparent because it’s for real people in their everyday lives—not ‘celebrity’ design. People always say to us, ‘I have that at my house!’ And they do. In fact, families are now starting to hand down products we’ve designed to their kids, which is particularly pleasing because it speaks to the durability of our work.”

He continues, “Our core values are reflected in our commitment to designing things that resonate with people on a physical and emotional level. It’s a great toothbrush for your kids. A photo printer that makes it easy for you to share memories. Or, a potato peeler that works well for everyone, even if you have arthritis. It’s these every-day moments in people’s lives that we understand really well and that we celebrate through our designs.”

Launched in 2000, the annual National Design Awards honor outstanding contributions from the design world, including product, architecture, fashion, lifetime achievement, and communication design. Nominated by a nationwide community of advisors, National Design Award winners and finalists are selected by a jury of design leaders and educators from across the country. Smart Design was a National Design Award finalist in 2007 and 2009.

For more information, please read Cooper-Hewitt’s full press release and visit the National Design Awards website.

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Join us to celebrate Bay Area design! We’re the last stop (along with our friends at Astro Studios) on Thursday’s Open Studio Night. Doors open at 8:00pm.

Raffle + prizes, beer, snacks, good people... Bring your friends and get a taste of the Smart life, San Francisco-style!

For the full line-up and map, click here.

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