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Communiqués de presse 2005

Royaume-Uni

RSA Design Directions Awards 2005 winners announced
20 May 2005

New ways for design to address anti-social behaviour in schools, the growing problem of obesity, patient safety in handling medicine and improving accessibility are amongst the winning entries in the RSA Design Directions Awards 2005 unveiled today (Friday 20 May) via an online exhibition at www.rsa-design.net.

The RSA (Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce) Design Directions Awards are awarded annually to highlight the best of British and European design talent. Previous winners include Jonathan Ive, creator of the iPod, fashion designer Betty Jackson and Andy Clark, designer of the Heathrow Express train.

Penny Egan, Executive Director, RSA said: "The quality of entries this year shows the raw talent and exciting potential of young designers, and the important role that design has to play in addressing some of the complex social issues of today."

Key winners include:

Johannes Grimmond, Tom Mesquitta and Kjetil Morland, Kingston University win The Head Trust Award of £1,000 for Grenville the alien who teaches children about the importance of a healthy diet in the Design for Healthy Eating category, which is also sponsored by Springetts and Kenwood Limited.

'Grenville' is a lovable alien for use in schools whose antenna 'wilts' and head slouches when he is fed unhealthy food and his energy levels fall low. Children 'feed' him with Perspex colour coded food cards which show information about how the food will benefit Grenville. A barcode reader in Grenville's mouth scans each card as it is fed in and 'digests' the information on it. His tummy features an interactive LCD display showing the number of portions of each food group he has consumed in a day, and a white line indicates the required daily target for each.

Paul Wolfson, Loughborough University wins the Helen Hamlyn Research Centre Award of £2,000 and The Mercers' Company Award of £1,000 for his tactile timepiece for the visually impaired in the 'Inclusive Worlds' category, which also has awards sponsored by BT, The ADAPT Trust, and The British Museum.

The 'tac:tic' has a tactile interface which allows the user to 'feel' the time. The watch is made from polished steel pressings with a stretch-on rubber surround in a choice of colours. Micro switches below the surface activate a backlight when the pod is squeezed. The user can navigate by touch through the contrast between polished and rubberised surfaces, by asymmetric form and raised hour markers and hands. The hands rotate around the circumference of the pod allowing a direct link between hand and hour marker. The wrist strap has a flexible wire-inner which bends around to form the shape of the user's wrist.

James Barber, University of Leeds wins the Almus Pharmaceuticals Award of £3,000 for his personalised pill packaging in the Design for Le Prix "Sécurité du Patient" which is also supported by the National Patient Safety Agency.

James' pack design for tablets or capsules features a LCD screen playing a video, which shows patients how to take their prescription. Using icons it makes provision for non-English speakers or people who cannot read, and features Braille for visually impaired users. An interface for the pharmacist enables the packaging to be produced easily, and prevents dispensing mistakes by spotting drug clashes and allergies automatically. A portable timer could be added containing drugs: keeping track of medication times, alerting the user to take their medicine and accessible only via the fingerprint of the pharmacist or patient.

Jamie Cook, Glasgow College of Building and Printing, Glasgow Caledonian University wins The Head Trust Award of £300 and RSA Award of £500 for his class-pods to help curb violent and aggressive behaviour in schools in the 'Safety & Security in Schools' category.

Jamie's concept is to eliminate problem areas in the school by converting the entire building into one large open plan space with classrooms become revolving 'class-pods' - partially covered auditorium style teaching spaces that can be turned (by pressing a button on the teacher's credit card remote control) in order to interact with each other. This will create open spaces where staff can see what is going on, and give help if necessary, or assist each other during lessons.