Clear winners...

Integration of design and functionality

DESIGN PRIZES: Danish designers are constantly winning prizes all over the world. Recently 10 Danish designed products received the world’s sought-after Red Dot Award. For Danes themselves however, it is still The Danish Design Prize, awarded by the Danish Design Centre, which is highest on the designers’ wish list. All forms of design can be selected. The assessment is based on function, aesthetics, sustainability and totality, but also considers user benefits, usage and communication value, just like form expressions and design solutions have to be seen in a greater strategic context. Among the 14 winners from 2004, three were outstanding.

The Danish medico company Coloplast received two prizes in the ’personal use’ category for products which integrate design and function in the best way. One of them is a sterile, surface treated and ready-touse catheter specially designed for women. The other is the extremely flexible plaster X-Treme Flex, which is based on research in moist wound healing. The plaster has been developed by Coloplast, and is marketed and sold by Johnson & Johnson under the name Compeed. Both products are the result of innovative development work, of the kind which has helped make Coloplast a global market leader in ostomy products. The company has a turnover of almost EUR 1 billion, of which more than a third comes from products which were not known four years ago. The fusion of design, function and life quality applies particularly to the female catheter SpeediCath Compact. The design challenge was to get an advanced sterile catheter to appear as a very common everyday item – and not a hospitalassociated product.

Attractive and active wheelchair for children

The company R82 won The Danish De sign Prize in the ’personal use’ category for its ’Cheetah’ wheelchair. R82 produces auxiliary equipment for handicapped children and youngsters. In the assessment of the wheelchair, its functionality and extreme manoeuvrability were emphasised. The wheelchair can be continuously adjusted to exactly suit the child’s level of activity. The seat’s construction ensures that the centre of gravity is maintained regardless of position.

     The structure of the chair is very flexible and can grow with the child, both in the length and width, and can be mounted on three or four wheels. The aluminium and glass reinforced plastic construction makes the chair light, safe, comfortable to sit in and easy to transport. The upholstery is easy to remove and cleaning is straightforward. The assessment states that the chair immediately appeals to be used. It expresses play and action and gives the small user, who has not chosen to be dependent on the chair, a positive and active image.

A Ferrari among wheelchairs
The ’Cheetah’ wheelchair was created in collaboration between experts from R82 and successful Aarhusbased design company 3PART. The two founders of 3PART, Henning Therkelsen and Simon Skafdrup, and several staff had been previously involved in auxiliary equipment during their studies and had developed a variety of vision projects. The most striking of these, Chairling, developed by Rasmus Thygesen, was awarded The Danish Vision Prize, but was never put into production.

     “They were all vision projects,” says Simon Skafdrup. “Several of the ideas and the experiences benefited us when R82 made contact with us and asked if we would be part of creating the wheelchair of the future.” ’Cheetah’ is the result of more than three years’ collaboration, and was designated the most radical product in auxiliary equipment for physically disabled individuals for many years. The wheelchair has helped give the users, children with impaired motor function, a whole new selfconfidence.

     “It’s a bit like a Ferrari” says Simon Skafdrup, who explains: “There is builtin speed in the design and that means a lot to children with impaired motor function who are forced to use a wheelchair. It has a wow effect which is beyond price.” The international rehabilitation industry was formerly characterised by a lot of small companies which more or less copied each other’s products. R82, which is among the world’s largest in the field, wanted a wheelchair that would be difficult to copy. In that task they have succeeded, says Simon Skafdrup.

     “First and foremost it has something to do with the materials. Several of the chair’s central components are made of glass reinforced plastic which is injection moulded, requiring large investments in tools. The components are therefore costly to copy, and in addition there are a number of features built into the chair. It was for instance a requirement from US users that the chair had to be able to grow with the user. In contrast to Denmark where wheelchairs are provided by the

public sector and changed according to age, a wheelchair in the US is mostly the user’s property. For growing children especially, that can add up to a significant cost. ’Cheetah’ can grow by 40% in height, width and depth.” Along with product development, 3PART prepared together with R82’s management and employees, a complete branding concept. R82 wanted to achieve greater visibility on the worldwide market and create a greater sense of cohesion between the company’s values and the messages being communicated to the world at large.

     When the new concept, together with the wheelchair, was presented at Europe’s largest fair for health aids in Düsseldorf, it resulted in the largest number of people in the company’s history visiting the R82 booth.

Durable commercial art 

For 50 years, the Danish Coop’s ground coffee brand ’Cirkel’ has retained high popularity in Denmark. And throughout its history the brand has been marketed with artist Aage Sikker Hansen’s profile drawing of a beautiful coffee girl, which received Danish Design Centre’s Classic Prize. The jury stated that Sikker Hansen had brought art into everyday life. The coffee