Winners of YODC 2009 Reconfirm Capacity of Taiwan's Young Designers

A key event held alongside the 28th International Young Designers' Exhibition (YODEX 2009, May 14-17, 2009 at the Taipei World Trade Center), the 9th Young Designers' Competition (YODC 2009) is the largest student design fair in Asia, attracting more than 90,000 visitors from Taiwan and abroad every year.

The YODC is jointly sponsored by the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) and 24 private companies, as well as the Good Design Association of Taiwan (GDA) and Taiwan Design Center (TDC), a national design institution.

The winners of the YODC 2009, the largest design competition for students in Taiwan, were announced recently, with the winning entries underlining the fact that the design capacity of future professionals in Taiwan are to be reckoned with, not to mention that student designers in Taiwan have been walking away with increasingly more prizes at major international design competitions.

The YODC serves two purposes: to offer a rare platform on which local student designers can show creativity outside campuses, and perhaps more importantly, a stepping stone towards potential professional careers, enabling local businesses and design houses to spot talents in the bud.

Some 2,056 designs from 37 design schools were submitted among five categories-Product Design, Craft Design, Graphic Design, Packaging Design, and Digital Media-for judging in the 2009 YODC, with a jury boasting a variety of expertise and backgrounds selecting five Gold Awards, 15 Silver Awards, and 45 Awards of Merit.

Notable Gold and Silver Winners:

Award: Gold Award / Product Design

Name of Creation: Press & Happy

Designer: Liu Pei-ru et al. from Tainan University of Technology

A calendar of silicon rubber, this date keeper allows a user to keep track by pushing daily a date-turning a pimple into dimple-as well as offering stress-relief. Dimpled dates have passed, and pimpled dates are ahead. Of an eco-friendly design, the dual-sided calendar is flipped over to be continually used for the next month, with the pimples ready to be pushed in to mark passing days.

The jury found the design meets the universal design principles of easy identification, use, and understanding, as well as being environmentally friendly.

Award: Silver Award / Product Design

Name of Creation: Patronus

Designer: Huang Ru-wei et al. from National Cheng Kung University

Designed to be patient-friendly, the Patronus electric wheelchair features an electric lift mechanism and lightweight, enabling a user to conveniently move forward and upward. Such design makes Patronus not only a practical medical aid, but also a valuable product to ease rehabilitation or challenges of being mobility-impaired. The Patronus also seeds ideas for further development.

Award: Silver Award / Product Design

Name of Creation: Hanger Circle

Designer: Lee Sheng-yo et al. from Chang Gung University

Ingeniously integrating several functions related to doing laundry, the Hanger Circle consists of several clothes hangers that are placed in a hamper, which can be easily reassembled into a hat and coat stand or garment tree. Talk about taking the hassle out of doing laundry, especially on-the-go!

Award: Silver Award / Product Design

Name of Creation: Switchit!

Designer: Li Chen-ru from Shih Chien University

A smart rendition of a practical appliance doubling as art object, the Switchit, when not used, is a sculpture with definite contemporary appeal, but simply twist and switch it into its other form: voila and you have a vertical and horizontal direction vacuum cleaner.

Award: Gold Award / Craft Design

Name of Creation: Balance

Designer: Wang Chih-wei from National Taiwan University of Arts

Inspired by LOHAS (Lifestyles of Health and Sustainability), the designer creates in this beverage set a sense of balance. The ceramic tea cup is mated with a cherry-wood lid to enhance tactile pleasure, with the integrated swizzle stick being complementary and minimally intrusive; while the coffee cup has a pinch handle for further harmony, and the egg-shaped sugar pot also stresses the spirit of balance.

Award: Silver Award / Craft Design

Name of Creation: Where does happiness come?

Designer: Lee Tzu-his

Believing that happiness is a personal, subjective emotion that is triggered by stimulating one's visual and auditory senses, the designer creates a light integrated with a music box, apparently to blend an illuminated setting with music to achieve bliss for a user.

Award: Silver Award / Craft Design

Name of Creation: Pinocchio

Designer: Chang Hung-hwa from National University of Arts

Putting Pinocchio literally to work, the designer sees versatile potential in the wooden puppet. Through crafty handiwork, the designer has turned the various parts of the otherwise single-purpose toy into useful, daily utensils.

Award: Silver Award / Craft Design

Name of Creation: Judge people only by appearances

Designer: Chen Hsuan-wei from Fu Jen Catholic University

Tapping the potential of body tattoo as fashion accessory but without the inconvenience and permanence, the designer turns various key motifs and elements in tattoo graphics into easily removable body-fashion accessories.

Award: Gold Award / Packaging Design

Name of Creation: Love Love Tainan

Designer: Wang Ping-ting et al. from Ming Chuan University

An eco-friendly version of paperboard packaging that enhances added-value of dried tangerine, a specialty dessert and souvenir from Tainan in southern Taiwan, this packaging design features single-piece paperboard that is easily folded into a carton without tools and cutting.

Award: Silver Award / Packaging Design

Name of Creation: Hostel

Designer: Chen Chien-yi et al. from National Pingtung University of Science and Technology

More than just a DIY wine rack or bottle caddy for convenient carrying, this packaging design features wooden boards that are easily assembled, which then magically takes on the appearance of a front gate of a countryside inn.

Award: Silver Award / Packaging Design

Name of Creation: Infinite possibility of structure

Designer: Chen Yi-ling et al. from National Taiwan University of Technology

Tapping the potential in origami, the designer finds new life in packaging by twisting, pulling and folding paper to add possibilities, functionalities and interesting features in paper packaging.

Award: Silver Award / Packaging Design

Name of Creation: Case Fruit

Designer: Ku Hsin-hui et al. from Fu Jen Catholic University

Combining elements of ancient palatial lanterns and classic Taiwanese fruits, the designer forsakes disposable fruit packaging to create upscale Oriental-styled gift boxes that are potentially collectible, as well as based on the characteristics of six well-known fruits from Taiwan.

Award: Gold Award / Graphic Design

Name of Creation: Meal Party

Designer: Kuo Yi-hsuan et al. from Fu Jen Catholic University

Featuring 12 books focusing on the topic of traditional feasts held in rural Taiwan celebrating cultural events and festivities, this graphic design project is also presented in a well-designed carton together with a set of tableware, including chopsticks, spoon, placemat, and small dishes, all of which enhances the overall appeal and practicality.

Award: Silver Award / Graphic Design

Name of Creation: Pencil School

Designer: Chiu Yu-han et al. from Chaoyang University of Technology

Taking viewers down memory lane, the designer promotes the added-value of a legendary pencil brand by showing the pencil-making industry's history, production processes and the industry's transformation into almost a tourist attraction.

Award: Silver Award / Graphic Design

Name of Creation: The Art of War

Designer: Hang Tze-yuan et al. from Nation Taiwan University of Technology

A 13-book version of The Art of War, one of the most famous classical book series on Chinese culture, this creative design takes the form of a mountain range. An innovative version in book graphic design brings new life to a classical work.

Award: Silver Award / Graphic Design

Name of Creation: Plants

Designer: Lin Chung-yung et al. from National Taichung Institute of Technology

A four-book series on horticulture, each for a season, this design entry highlights more than 70 indigenous plants in Taiwan with interesting and vibrant graphics.

Award: Gold Award / Digital Media Design

Name of Creation: Miss Pronunciation

Designer: Lee Pi-yin et al. from National Yunlin University of Science and Technology

A humorous teaching aid to help users correct frequently mispronounced English, Miss Pronunciation is an animated digital book featuring a young girl and funny scenarios resulting from her mispronunciations.

Award: Silver Award / Digital Media Design

Name of Creation: Wind

Designer: Wu Po-fun et al. from National University of Arts

A heartwarming story of a young girl who saves a fledgling and keeps it as a close companion, while the feathered parents keep looking for their lost child, with the dilemma being the girl becoming lonely again once her companion is eventually found.

Award: Silver Award / Digital Media Design

Name of Creation: Beans

Designer: Su Wei-an et al. from Fu Jen Catholic University

Using beans as characters representing aborigines in Taiwan, this animation raises awareness for preserving such indigenous cultures, which are marginalized and teeter on the edge of the other mainstream groups on the island.

Award: Silver Award / Digital Media Design

Name of Creation: Interactive Store Window

Designer: Chu Wan-ping et al. from National Yunglin University of Technology

Taking shopping a step forward, this design is a new-type of interactive store window, which turns shoppers from passive, conventional viewers into active, inquisitive consumers.