The Design Zentrum Nordrhein-Westfalen in Essen, Germany,
has been recognising design innovation since 1955, this was rebranded the Red
Dot Award: Product Design at the start of the new millennium. Function, environmental
impact and the degree of innovation are just some of the evaluation criteria.
As the years ticked by it has evolved into a leading international product
award: for 2014 no less than four hundred international experts discussed and
evaluated 4815 submissions from 53 countries.
The jury only bestows the award on the design that
captures the imagination through the standard of workmanship and sheer
innovation. \”If nothing else, this is reflected by the actual number of
designs that win the Red Dot Award,\” states Professor Dr Peter Zec,
Initiator and CEO of Red Dot, \”compared to other international design
competitions, it\’s far fewer.\”
This year it was the design of the D80 amplifier that won
over the forty strong jury of experts, to achieve winner status. Red Dot
describe the D80 as a four channel Class D amplifier with digital signal
processing providing loudspeaker specific configurations, user-definable
equalisation and delay functions combined with comprehensive management and
protection functionality. The TFT colour display allows for quick access to all
settings, while data input is managed via the rotary encoder on the front panel.
For easier operation, the front panel with integrated display is
tilted upwards. According to the jury, the high
performance D80 amplifier won the award for its outstanding user-friendliness,
\”All functions can easily be set via the touchscreen and the rotary
knob.\”
From the very first concept board, the d&b
development team had extraordinary partners at their side: BTism Mediendesign
in Köln and Botta-Design from Taunusstein, west of Frankfurt. Drawing on their partners\’
input and the results of their own research, the d&b design team, Christoph
Kluck, responsible for software, Fritz W. Wurster, responsable for design, and
Claus Renftle, responsible for electronics, ensured every single detail was
just the way it should be.
An exhibition of award winners opened on 7th July 2014 as
part of the traditional Red Dot Gala in the Red Dot Design Museum Essen. The
award winning D80 will be on display to the general public for four weeks
before it moves to the permanent exhibition at the museum.
To find out more go to http://www.red-dot.de/presse
