Best New Product Designs Announced, Phila. based Bresslergroup Wins - IDEA 06 Winners Selected

Best New Product Designs Announced, Phila. based Bresslergroup Wins - IDEA 06 Winners Selected Philadelphia, PA - June 30, 2006 - Some of the world's hottest designs, innovative problem-solvers and coolest concepts were among the winners of the 2006 Industrial Design Excellence Award (IDEA) competition, a celebration of the best product designs of the year. Among the Gold winners was Philadelphia's product design firm Bresslergroup's design of the SignalOne Vocal Smoke Detector, the first to let parents record their own voice to wake their kids.

Breathtaking aesthetics, rugged engineering and enhanced usability characterized entries in categories as diverse as consumer electronics, housewares, transportation, sporting goods, furniture and medical and scientific equipment. Exceptional design, intelligent functionality and innovation ultimately captivated the jury. Remarking on the smoke detector, juror Aura Oslapas, IDSA, principal, A+O Design Methods said, "a highly commendable example of collaboration between academia and industry, resulting in a critically important product idea and a beautifully designed object."
A new Eco-Design category saluted those products that employ environmentally sustainable principles and solutions. These were the dominant trends when BusinessWeek magazine announced the winners today.

The jury awarded 27 entries the coveted Gold award, while 39 entries received Silver awards and 42 won Bronze awards. IDEA is co-sponsored by BusinessWeek and the Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA).

"With the rapid changes occurring in technology, commerce and society, it takes real leadership to define meaningful new products and services and deliver them to the market," said Jury Chair Chris Conley, IDSA, co-founder and director of Chicago-based consulting firm Gravity Tank. "Consumers expect new products and services to not only serve their needs, but to delight them. The 2006 IDEA winners represent the best of global product design and the best people and firms working to realize design's potential in everyday life."

In this third year of being open to all international entries, the jury recognized 35 designs from 19 countries outside the US-Australia, Austria, Canada, PR China, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, Japan, Korea, The Netherlands, Portugal, Singapore, Sweden, Taiwan, Turkey and the United Kingdom. Total international entries from 28 countries totaled 499, up from 423 in 2005.

"This year's winners shared a few things in common," remarked juror Robyn Waters, founder and president, RW Trend LLC, and author of the upcoming book The Hummer and the Mini: Navigating the Contradictions of the New Trend Landscape. "The best of the best found a way to cut through the clutter and simplify product and message. The winning designers were able to tune into the hearts and the minds of the customer, not just into market trends, and deliver smart products that reframed entire categories. Many leveraged ethnographic research to get there, which I believe is an incredibly important part of design strategy."

Juror Alistair Hamilton, IDSA, vice president, corporate innovation and design, Symbol Technologies, commented, "It is difficult to pinpoint a certain trend or quality to the 2006 IDEA winners. As a collection they represent the diversity of successful design from the sculptural to the practical, and the systemic to the simple. The breadth and high level of sophistication of the entries was remarkable, and I think this jury demanded a level of surprise for a design to emerge as a winner. So it seems that it is not enough to make a great next generation anymore; design solutions that contained something unexpected drew the most interest, conversation and recognition."

The BusinessWeek IDEA report hits newsstands June 30 with an in-depth analysis of the winners. IDSA's quarterly magazine, Innovation, will publish information on the Gold, Bronze and Silver winners in its annual Yearbook this fall. Panasonic and The Timberland Company were the top winners from the corporate world, with six and three awards, respectively. And unlike previous years, no one design firm won an overwhelming number of awards. A jury of 18 leading thinkers in the design world, led by Conley, spent many days previewing entries online and two days of intense, face-to-face evaluation and debate on IDEA, one of the world's most prestigious design competitions. Judging criteria for each entry focused on five areas of industrial design excellence: design innovation, benefit to the user, benefit to the client/business, ecological responsibility, and appropriate aesthetics and appeal. The jury also chose a "Best in Show" award winner from among the 27 Gold-winning entries.

A "People's Choice" award will also be presented this year when the winners are honored at a black tie ceremony at the Hilton Austin in Austin, TX, Wednesday, September 20, the final day of "Elements of Change," the highly anticipated 2006 IDSA National Conference and Education Symposium. Many of the winners will be featured in the conference's Design Gallery and Expo. All 106 winners with descriptions, photos and contacts will be featured on IDSA's web site (www.idsa.org), June 30, 2006.

About the SignalOne Safety Vocal Smoke Detector The SignalOne Safety Vocal Smoke Detector is the first to let parents record their own voice to wake their kids. In 2000, over 40,000 children under age 14 were seriously injured and another 1,200 died in home fires. Nearly 55% of children ages 5 and under who die from home fires are asleep at the time. In combination with the University of Georgia and Victoria University in Australia, SignalOne Safety worked with Bresslergroup to develop and prove the effectiveness of Vocal Smoke Detectors (VSD). The Victoria University study found that a recorded familiar / parental voice woke 100% of children studied versus only 57% who woke to the traditional temporal tone, or beeping alarm.

Bresslergroup, a full service product development firm in Philadelphia, was brought onto the project to help SingalOne design and engineer this important new product. The product needed to call attention to differentiating features, be easy to use and cost effective. The resulting design is the first smoke alarm on the market to feature a voice recorded alarm.

The VSD parental voice is not only familiar it is instructive. Fire prevention experts recommend that the recorded message be tied to family fire drill procedures to tell children what's happening and remind them what they're supposed to do. "Sally, Wake up! There's a fire in the house; GET OUT OF BED - do like we practiced and climb out the window. We'll meet you outside." Drilling helps ensure effective evacuation in the event of a fire, so the product features a large central button which is ringed by a fully lit light pipe when the device is activated.

The soft forms of the device accentuate the primary feature -- the directional speaker housing -- while wrapping the technology in a kid friendly package. The speaker grill feature is reminiscent of quality audio equipment. The product is a neutral white. The color works in any room and the soft forms and low profile meld effectively into the ceiling. The design language fits children's room environments yet still looks professional / trustworthy.

The interface makes it easy for parents to record the voice alarm message through a combination of written directions as well as step-by-step verbal recorded prompts. The device fits in anyone's palm for easy installation and battery changing. Other features include an adjustable ceiling mount ring which allows the speaker to be pointed directly at the child's bed from anywhere in the room -- to maximize decibel level "at the pillow."

The VSD is SignalOne Safety's first product and has achieved mass distribution through major retail channels. Publicity and acclaim for the product has been widespread including coverage on most all major networks and top media market affiliates including NBC Nightly News and Good Morning America.

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