BraunPrizeBlog

09:15 > The jury gathered on stage and the discussions from last night are continuing. The great thing to see is that the composition of the jury again is simply brilliant with people of different cultural backgrounds and gender involved.

09:25 > I just got informed that the jury is very well in their schedule with some 110 submission still to be discussed. Like 2 years ago I’m fascinated how transparent the judging process actually is. Every submission is displayed on a computer screen that is visible to all jury members. Beside the written documentation each jury member has the option to ask for more details to be displayed on screen and Till Winkler (member of the BraunPrize Team) is quickly browsing for additional information supplied by the submitter.

09:30 > Now it gets interesting: We’re currently discussing a ‘music making gadget’ where product semantics as well as possible target group are not in line. Unfortunately I’m not allowed to disclose any detailed information on the submission. To make a long story short: For all 5 jury members the submission ‘means’ something different and the visual clues of the gadget/product are creating very (!) different associations … so what’s the advice here …?

09:35 > Now Peter Schneider (and I admire him for this attitude) reminds the jury on the fact to accept a degree of “fuzziness” and also allow for submissions that do not make sense to ‘established’ viewers; (keeps the BraunPrize ‘young’).

09:45 > I think I am allowed to share that they are currently discussing another approach to ‘washing clothes’. May I cite Peter Schneider: “This is a very good example of a gadget that makes a simple activity very complicated” … Next!

09:50 > >They are now watching a video that explains a submission in more detail. So it seems that proper documentation is key in case you are considering to submit something for the BraunPrize 2011! … So the devil sits in the detail: The video has no sound for a documentation of a product that is built around making ’sound’ … that does not make sense (for the jury … as well as for me ;-)

09:56 > A quick try of a live video stream, but with sound disabled due to BraunPrize rules. In the video you can see BraunPrize the jury members passionately discussing a quite smart submission on working safety.

10:18 > As it seems additional documentation of submissions by video has become a sort of essential ‘feature’ for BraunPrize entries … yet still I love how the jury is giving attention also to so many details … would wish that managers would give details similar attention once in a while ;-)

10:30 > We’re currently challenged by a submission that is documenting an idea in a 300 (!) pages ‘book’ … kind of a distraction for a jury having to judge more than 1.000 entries … :(

10:38 > At the moment the question has been raised to which degree ‘conscious’ can (also) be connected to ‘lifestyle’ objects … Kind of challenge to combine sustainability, fun, hedonism, environmental, responsibility, and the likes …

10:50 > What I personally see a challenge for the jury is to equally weight design for fun & lifestyle in comparison to design for purpose (like disaster recovery) … I think both have their right for existence, but design for purpose has definitively more charm (at least for me).

11:30 > Break!

12:02 > Another submission that placed its short and precise proposal on more than 300 pages … not a good idea I suppose ;-(

12:06 > Another video:

12:14 > Guys you need to be aware that the jury has got internet access and can check instantly whether any deign has been released before! Accordingly the jury just kicked out a more or less copycat!

12:23 > The BraunPrize jury in action:

12:46 > OK I forgot to let you guys know that we’ve been out for lunch ;-( Some photos to be found here.

15:15 > I think I’d rather go now for doing more videos on what the jury is doing. Seems to give you a more ‘lively’ view on what this judging is all about. After all for reasons of non-disclosure rules of the BraunPrize proceedings you will understand that I have to mute the sound.

17:10 > So even though the time span between my last update and now suggests that nothing happened, I can confirm that the jury has been lively discussing various entries from various product categories like: Wheelchairs, Sports Equipment, Washing Machines (a classic! ;-). From what I’ve understood currently there are some 47 submissions that have been accepted for the second round and the jury is heading for some final 60 - 70 entries. Way to go …

17:14 > Oh I’ve just forgotten that in the meantime I’ve done the first interview with jury member Florian Seiffert. Still needs to be edited, but I will be sharing the videos here on the blog over the next couple of days.

17:28 > I currently hear a lot of ‘No’s’ ;-( - After seeing a lot of ‘Yes’ in the morning …

17:55 > Seems that the jury ended with 57 submissions that make it to the second round! Great Work and well done according to Peter Schneider! … and here’s a last video shot taken while evaluating the last submissions: