Taiwan Glitters With 3 Golds at Coveted 2010 iF Product Design Award

Besides deserving praise for virtually becoming a fixture on winners' podiums at many global design contests, Taiwan-based designers have further built presence at the fiercely competitive 2010 iF Product Design Award, or the Oscars of the product design world, where Taiwanese designers have won three Gold Prizes.

Bagging a total of 76 prizes at the iF Product Design Award or about a tenth of all the winners, Taiwanese designers proved again that the island is home to undeniable capacity in product design. This year, the jury evaluated 2,486 products submitted by 1,016 designers from 38 countries, handing out awards, including 50 Gold Prizes, to 778 entries eventually.

Unsurprisingly Taiwan-based designers excelled in categories in which Taiwan shows world-class clout, including information and communication technology (ICT), leisure/life style, audiovisual equipment, and bicycle.

The BenQ Group is the biggest winner of the 2010 iF Product Design Award: its flagship firm BenQ Corp., an international 3C (computer, communication, and consumer electronics) brand, took eight prizes, while its affiliate QisDesign (the design division of Qisda Corp. that focuses on OEM/ODM manufacturing) won nine prizes, including one Gold, topping all local counterparts.

Profiles of three Taiwanese-designed winners
Product: ASUS Chiclet / Keyboard for laptop

Category: 05. Computers

Company: Asustek Computer Inc.

Design: Asustek Computer Inc.

The new generation of ASUS keyboard takes ergonomics and comfort in design to a higher level. With geometric layout enhancing organized appearance that aligns the keys into building blocks, the keyboard features isolated keys to reduce mis-typing and minimizes visual confusion. Each key surface is curved to better fit fingers, also enabling users to naturally locate fingers on the keyboard. The key size and graphical layout are optimized to motivate users to automatically center their bodies with the screen, enabling more comfortable typing.

Product: Kool Knight Chain / Bicycle chain

Category: 02. Leisure / Lifestyle

Company: KMC Chain Industrial Co., Ltd.

Design: KMC Chain Industrial Co., Ltd.

KMC has specially developed a brand new chain for BMX extreme cycling: the KMC Half Link “Kool Knight Chain.” The unique design reduces serious destruction of the chain that is overstressed during extreme stunts, freestyle and glide, with built-in structural features that offer more protection, higher strength to minimize breakage. In addition to offering high tensile strength, durable chain structure and stylish design, the “Kool Knight Chain” also fits all types of sprockets with different number of cogs, as well as giving riders the best power transmission and safety.

Product: QCM-330 / Smartphone

Category: 04. Telecommunications

Company: Qisda Corp.

Design: Qisda Corp.

The QCM-330, a smartphone for mobile Internet users, sports a “super-long” 4-inch widescreen display with 1:1.25 aspect ratio, the standard 1280 x 1024 resolution of PC displays. Coupled with 3.5G and Wi-Fi wireless connection and touch screen, it enables full-size browsing on the phone, as well as viewing web content by scrolling up and down. The built-in G-sensor makes it easy to switch between talking and Internet functions: hold it horizontally to go online, or vertically to activate talking. The display has a silver metal bezel contour to highlight the navigation key and to render a sleek feel.