2008 IDEA winners named

The Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA) and BusinessWeek magazine on Thursday announced the winners of the 2008 International Design Excellence Awards (IDEA). IDSA has been recognizing design excellence in products from around the globe, including environmental frendliness, packaging, and strategy, among others, since 1980. This year, 17 categories were included, and designs from student took the most trophies ever, taking 16 percent of all the awards and 6 of the 35 gold prizes.

The products entered ranged from postcards and condom dispensers and wrappers to bulldozers and sprayers. Some of the more appropriate winners included Apple's iPhone (2G) which won the only gold medal in the Communication Tools category, while the MacBook Air shared Golds with One Laptop Per Child's XO Laptop, and Apple's Wireless Keyboard in the Computer Equipment category. OLPC XO Laptop's Sugar User Interface took the silver medal in the Interactive Product Experiences category and in total, the portable computer won two gold, one silver and one bronze award.

The International awards also show the strength of countries, judging by the number of awards originating from each. The US was the far and away winner, taking 114 IDEAs, with Korea second at 19, and Brazil at 12.

For a full list of winning products and finalists, visit IDSA's results webpage.

By Electronista Staff