Lite-On Group Reveals Winners of 2008 Industrial Design Contest

By QUINCY LIANG

Lite-On Group, a leading information technology (IT) conglomerate based in Taiwan, recently announced the winners of the 8th "Lite-On Awards."

The Lite-On Awards, a major-scale industrial design award event in the Chinese-speaking circle, has been drawing increasing response and attention among both academic and professional designers in Greater China. Over 1,600 designs worldwide were entered at this year's competition, eagerly vying for the Gold Award that comes with a cash prize of NT350,000 (US$11,475 at US$1: NT$30.5).

To inspire all contestants to think broader and wider, organizers added to this year's event the "International Group;" while the key theme at the Lite-On Award is "A Day of Digital Life," in which the Lite-On Group looked forward to seeing designs using digital technologies to further improve the quality of daily life.

Amazed by Creativity

According to Lite-On, the jury consisting of world-famous designers and industry experts were awe-struck by all the winners, whose creations not only demonstrate their understanding of the theme but also amply show artistic talent. The designs seen at the competition not only make daily routines more convenient, but achieve such end ecologically, Lite-On said.

David Lin, CEO of the Lite-On Group, believes that digital lifestyle is the way of the future, one that Lite-On is trying to realize via further building digital technologies. And holding the Lite-On Awards is one way to discover talents and creative designs that may help to move the world towards living the digital life, of which the group has been leading to think more widely and broadly since the first Lite-On Awards in 2001.

Lin says that Lite-On sets the key theme for each year's contest after closely watching industry trends. "Doing so enables us to stimulate the imagination of young designers, whose work reveal new trends and refreshing ideas," the CEO pointed out. "But to be truly global in content, we opened the competition to designers outside the Chinese-speaking community this year and received entries from over 28 nations, including Europe and the USA. The Lite-On Award is now a highly coveted industrial design competition worldwide, one that offers a stage upon which all talented, ambitious designers can show the world creative work for a better world."

Achieving Critical Mission

C.Y. Chen, Director General of Industrial Development Bureau under the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA), said at the opening ceremony that over the past eight years Lite-On has succeeded in promoting, inspiring designers in the field through staging the contest. Stressing a critical mission that has been achieved, Chen said that Lite-On, a prominent player in the IT sector, has set an excellent model for others to emulate. The design contest is an effective platform for creative people to exchange opinions, one that also discovers young talents with potential," Chen said. "The MOEA is pleased to see Lite-On succeed in taking concrete action to connect Taiwan, other Chinese-speaking communities with the global village through design."

Lite-On said that incredibly the finalists also fully appreciated the organizer's belief in

the importance of energy-efficiency, carbon-reduction and social welfare: all the finalists

successfully, harmoniously integrated advanced digital technologies and aesthetics in

their submissions, which also sets the trend for future design of IT products. Perhaps

more notable and even more difficult on a practical level, the group said, the winners

valiantly took on the ultimate challenge in industrial design: make the works more

user-friendly so the products can actually help to upgrade the quality of life.

A total of 10 entries won awards this year, including one Gold Award given to the "Housekeep;" two Silver Awards given to the "Embossing Braille Printer" and "Mirror Talk;" three Bronze Awards for the "Compose," "LED Cellphone," and "Iradar."

Three entries, "Bath Safeguard," "Freshnessmeter," and "Power Outage Label"

won the "Lite-On Special Award," chosen via votes cast by all Lite-On employees based on the criteria of production and marketability.

Award-Winning Designs

Award: Gold Award

Name: Housekeep

Designer: Y.T. Kuo, M.X. Sun, and I.P. Chang

School/Company: Taipei National University of the Arts

Area: Taiwan

A safety-control and power-usage monitor/calculating system, Housekeep is the central plug-in of a household that allows users to monitor power consumption, and remind users of loose plugs for safety sake.

Award: Silver Award

Name: Embossing Braille Printer

Designer: G.S. Guo, D. Luo

School/Company: Lite-On Technology

Area: China

A handheld Braille-printer that helps the blind distinguish items via specially-embossed labels, the Embossing Braille Printer is easy-to-use via its concise interface and audio prompter, as well as being slim, lightweight-making for its superb portability.

Award: Bronze Award

Name: Compose

Designer: Xi Ouyang et al.

School/Company: School of Design, Hunan University

Area: China

The "Compose" makes musical composition easier: combining an electronic pen and a music book, Compose enables would-be composers to record music by writing with an electronic pen. Composers creates tunes by writing with the electronic pen, with a score instantly recorded into the music book and shown immediately-easing the life of any musical composers.

Award: Bronze Award

Name: LED Cellphone

Designer: Ma Tao et al.

School/Company: ZTE Corp./ Yang Zhou University

Area: China

The "LED Cellphone" is the ideal phone for all users demanding basic mobile communication without fancy add-ons, with easy-to-read LED displaying SMS, contacts, etc., and is powered by only two "AAA" batteries and convenient recharging via an USB interface.

Award: Bronze Award

Name: IRadar

Designer: Chen Zhe

School/Company: Harbin Institute of Technology

Area: China

IRadar may be the ultimate gadget for the memory-impaired, people who are simply disorganized, or those who tend to leave things about. RFID is adopted to detect magnetic-tagged objects, effectively saving time to locate anything left scattered.