BraunPrizeBlog

It sometimes takes relentless efforts in order to get what you want ;-) In this case my efforts to convince the three external members of the BraunPrize jury (Moni Wolf, Mark Breitenberg and Benjamin Holch) of staying for a short wrap up video were successful.

I was even more happy that all of them agreed since I’ve already bothered them with individual video interviews last time at the first jury session; you remember? This time I got them all in a body and in contrast to my usual approach of preparing interviews in advance this one was completely spontaneous which fortunately was not to the disadvantage of fun and insight.

However you should view/listen yourself what the three have to share. One issue where they unanimously agreed upon was that the degree of perfection the BraunPrize team under the lead of Gerlinde Kress has demonstrated was by far the best prepared event they’ve experienced.

For me this also results in a competition with equal opportunities since the right timing and form of presentation is essential when it comes to deem of more than 900 entries. Usually such works remains unrecognized for participants like you therefore I’m more than happy that it has been the jury who acknowledges these efforts and shares them with us.

Last but not least a personal note: For the next couple of weeks it will be summer vacation time for this blog as well. For sure you can leave your comments whenever you want or ask the BraunPrize team any questions directly by email at: info at braunprize dot com

I will be back in charge later in August and share some closer information during the weeks to come until the grand finale BraunPrize 2007 ceremony on September 12th. Have a nice summer and stay tuned!

Second jury member in a row was Udo Milutzki. Udo is actually with Braun for 47 years (that’s continuity, folks!) in various postions and today he’s Gillette’s Vice President Engineering and Product Program Management.

For Milutzki it has been the second time he’s been member of the jury and from my perspective the fact that the BraunPrize jury explicitly acknowledges the engineering discipline makes it again different from other design competitions where mostly design experts are engaged.

One key insight Milutzki is sharing is that “Design” at Braun is being considered as an equity which not only in terms of a function, but also as a way of living the brand. Accordingly he sees the “application of design” (in its broadest sense) not only in Braun’s products, but also in corporate architecture as well as corporate spirit and behaviour at Braun Design.

Anyway instead of reading my summary you should rather listen to him directly. Simply click on the video shot below:

Just before the rest of us is rushing forward to the annual summer vacation I’d thought it might be nice to share a set of three videos interviews I’ve made at the second and last BraunPrize jury session on June, 13th.

You must know that it’s not always easy to get the folks in front of a camera after two stressful days of discussion, collaboration and argue; therefore some moaning [in German] before the interview guaranteed ;-) In any case I was more than happy that Peter Schneider and Udo Milutzki agreed on some short interviews on their impressions and experiences with the BraunPrize 2007.

First in row was Peter Schneider who in contrast to the stereotype “Designer Diva” you would usually expect to meet candidly answered my questions regarding an event he now assisted for the 8th time ever since 1986! So from my view “consistency” is exactly what Peter Schneider expresses with his remark right at the beginning of the interview and what characterizes the atmosphere at the jury sessions: “I feel as part of the family”.

Having said this in the interview Peter shares with us what still fascinated him about the BraunPrize beyond his formal role as head of design at Braun. Beyond this are discussing the changing role of design at Braun and in general as well as his impressions about the record scoring submissions this year.

Last but not least he tells us about his view on the phenomenon that among others one main motivation for students to take part in the BraunPrize is indeed its linkage to and heritage from the company’s history. Having participated in the BraunPrize seems to serve as some sort of “quality seal”: A great deal for the participants and an appreciation of the work of the jury. Well that definitively can be called a win-win deal!

This second jury session has been somehow different from the first one since this time the jury has been able to focus on a wider set of criteria (applied to ‘only’ 68 submissions) in contrast to selecting from a range of 903 submissions as last time. As said in my previous posting I’ve been only able to join the jury for their last day (Wednesday, June 13th to be precise). As they’ve been pretty productive I unfortunately missed the part when they’ve narrowed down their selections from 68 to the 24 BraunPrize Exhibition participants and 4 finalists.

So, while writing this posting I’ve just thought about asking Gerlinde Kress (head of project management of the BraunPrize) to share at least some snippets from the final jury statements which will accompany the objects along with the BraunPrize 2007 exhibition. This will give you an impression about the level of precision and aggregation of the jury judgments. I’ll keep you posted on this!

On the other hand the time buffer the jury realized by efficient discussions has enabled me to conduct some more video interviews as promised. This time I’ve been able to get udo Milutzki, Vice President of Gillette/Braun engineering and Peter Schneider, Chairman of the BraunPrize Jury for some ten minutes interviews. And as a bonus I’ve also been able to get the three external jury members: Moni Wolf (Motorola), Mark Breitenberg (Art Center College, Pasadena) and Benjamin Holch (frog design) for an informal chat in front of the camera.

I’m currently scanning and processing the material and I will post them within the next couple of days. Stay tuned .-)

Hi there! I’m back again at the BraunPrize jury session here in Kronberg and the jury gathered for their final discussions. I arrived last night and joined a larger group of the BraunPrize team including jury members and we’ve had some nice food and good conversations.

While having dinner I’ve learned that the jury is far ahead of the given schedule and they’ve already narrowed down the remaining 68 submissions down to 24 final entries which will be included in the BraunPrize exhibition later on. Furthermore I’m also happy to share the news that the 4 finalists are already selected as well … sorry folks, but I’m not allowed to go any deeper with my descriptions here.

Accordingly the jury can now use most of the day to work on discussing and formulating the underlying rationale of their decisions for each of the 24 objects. In this context it’s interesting to observe (especially from an outsider’s perspective) that judging in such a contest is far from simply having a good time! Accordingly just a few minutes ago Peter Schneider urged the jury to not simply praise the designs for the sake of praisal, but also to demonstrate that even though in many cases we already see a considerable conceptual quality it’s still a long way from concepts to ready-to-manufacture products.

While the BraunPrize team and I made a considerable number of photos directly from the jury meeting we’re unfortunately not allowed to publish any photo which shows any of the models … So for those of you sitting in front of their computer screens at the other side of the globe you have to wait until September 12th, 2007 (The official BraunPrize Forum). On the other hand while reviewing my photo shots I’ve been able to identify at least some which I consider as legitimate to share ;-)

So if you’d like to catch a little bit of the jury session atmosphere simply click on the Flickr! badge on the right hand side of this blog. Once you’ve been directed to Flickr you can select the folder “Jury Session 2”. Leave your comments here on this blog or directly at Flickr.

Time passed so quickly ever since the first jury session back in March this year. Nevertheless I’m more than excited that I will meet the BraunPrize Jury again next week for the second and last ‘closed’ round of judging the final 68 entries from 17 nations.

In contrast to the last jury session which focused more on identifying the most promising ideas/concepts/designs from a total of 941 submissions this time the jury will be able to experience some sort of ‘look & feel’. All second stage finalists have been asked to send in their models/mockups/prototypes which will be displayed at the Kronberg town hall.

As last time Braun will install a web cam which lets you track what’s going on in real time at the jury session. For sure I’ll let you know when the web cam is online. Maybe I’ll also have the chance to make some photo shots (from a distance) of some of the models. I’ll check this out.

In any case I will also try to get Peter Schneider, Chairman of the BraunPrize Jury and Udo Milutzki, Vice President of Gillette/Braun engineering in front of my camera and conduct short interviews with them. Hopefully the other members of the jury will also join me for another short statement on their impressions as well.

Sooo … stay tuned for the second jury meeting taking place from June 11–13th, 2007. I will join the jury on late Tuesday evening and will spend the whole Wednesday with them. Realtime blogging guaranteed!

Last but not least today I’m happy to share the last video of the BraunPrize 2007 Jury with you. I was happy enough to get also Moni Wolf in front of the camera after she and the jury have spent two full days of scanning, evaluating, judging and discussing. Even though I simply joined them for one day I can say that beside some good fun and laughter they had a tough assignment to scan and select the ‘semi-final’ 68 entries out of a total of 941 submissions.

Together with Mark Breitenberg she has had the longest trip to Kronberg/Germany as she’s working as the Director of Design for Motorola iDEN at their corporate headquarters in Florida, USA.

As all of the BraunPrize jury members she also has an impressive bio. After all what I like most about the configuration of the BraunPrize jury is the balanced selection regarding their expertise and professional background. Together with two voices from Braun/Gilette itself represented by Peter Schneider (Design) and Udo Milutzki (Engineering) the jury comprises the academic stake represented by Mark Breitenberg, the practice view via Moni Wolf and as a novelty the BraunPrize participants’ view via Benjamin Holch.

According to my perception Moni clearly contributes valuable input due to her combined background in Design (Diploma from FH Schwäbisch Gmünd, Germany) and a more IT influenced Master’s Degree (Master of Art) from Ohio State University, USA. Accordingly she has identified several submissions dealing around and with new (communication) technology. However in contrast to several showcase examples out there on the market this term BraunPrize participants submitted many ideas with solutions that are possible to be made with given technology aiming at making peoples lifes a better one.

So from my perspective the BraunPrize seems to have somehow gained an image that it related more to the ‘serious’ or ‘caring’ dimensions of products which is on one hand addressing Braun’s current product range, but on the other hand more or less ignoring its heritage of consumer products like HiFi Stereo Systems and the likes … seems that the generation of young designers graduating these days don’t stick that rigid to the ‘Old Braun’ as generations of design journalists and enthusiasts still do ;-)

In any case I’m already looking forward to meeting the jury again in a couple of weeks when they have to work hard again on selecting the finalists of the BraunPrize. These final entries will presented be to an invited audience in September 2007 made up of representatives from the design sector as well as figures from the worlds of industry, technology and the media with a special interest in the field of design. The overall winner of the 2007 BraunPrize will be selected on the basis of the votes cast by the guest jurors attending the Forum. 

Link: sevenload.com

Oops, this has taken slightly longer than announced to get back to blogging … my apologies for this! However as you might have noticed from other blogs (you hopefully read as well) regular postings does not necessarily mean ‘daily’ postings ;-) On the other hand we for sure plan to blog more ‘frequently ‘ than within the last month. But, … enough on this for now.

As promised recently today I’d like to share the video session I’ve had with the BraunPrize 2003 winner Benjamin Holch. Beside Peter Schneider (Head of Braun Design and BraunPrize winner of 1972) this has been the first time that a former BraunPrize winner has been nominated for a BraunPrize jury.

From my perspective bringing in a young design talent like Benjamin who still has close mental links to the way design graduates think (he graduated in 2002) enriches the jury process with a balanced and if you’d like to ‘graduate perspective’.

Accordingly in the interview Benjamin share some of his personal observations why he thinks the BraunPrize is special. For him it’s the openness of the competition as there is no obligation to submit any design which is addressing either the product context of Braun or of any of the Jury members’ contexts. What he acknowledges on the other hand is that from a historic perspective the BraunPrize has not really been the place to see so called fun or leisure products to win.

Instead from his view very often product designs from a medical context aiming to help people with any kind of health problems or to be more general ‘serious product designs’ have succeeded. Even though I’m not supposed to share any details about the jury process I could imagine that this time also some ‘fun product designs’ will have a chance … Anyway at its last instance the so called ‘BraunPrize Forum’ comprising some >200 international representatives from the design sector as well as figures from the worlds of industry, technology and the media with a special interest in the field of design will decide upon the final winner (so don’t blame the jury afterwards ;-).

Anyway watch the video, listen what Benjamin has to share and if you’d like to comment here on this blog or over at sevenload:

Link: sevenload.com

As you might have guessed the afternoon part of the BraunPrize Jury session went a little bit different than the morning part. First of all and in line with my 12:25 hrs. note I must repeat that I’m more than impressed by the discipline & focus of the jury members as well as the degree of organization of the overall setup.

At the end of the day/afternoon all external jury members agreed that condensing from a total of 941 entries down to 68 entries hasn’t been possible without the great preparation the BraunPrize team has provided beforehand. Kudos to Gerlinde Kress, Christine Bachmann and Claudio Schneider on behalf of the whole BraunPrize team!

Anyway after lunch the jury did another walk around looking at the final 68 entries they’ve agreed upon at the end of the morning. Luckily enough I’ve had the chance to at least grab three of the total of five jury members for a short interview. For reasons of general convenience I’ve decided to go first for the three external jury members and include at the next jury meeting in June Peter Schneider as well as Udo Milutzki.

As you will notice from background noise in the video(s) below I only had a total of some 45 minutes to conduct the interviews as they’ve already started to take down the the poster walls and tables at the Kronberg town hall.

So my first interview partner has been Mark Breitenberg. Mark is the Dean of Undergraduate Education at Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California. He holds a PhD. in Literature and Critical Theory from the University of California and has published many articles in the fields of literary history, English literature, Shakespeare, and design education. Mark is also a member Executive Board of the International Council of Societies of Industrial Design (ICSID), where he serves as the Chair of Education and leads ICSID’s Global Education Network.

I must admit that this has been my first sort of ‘Video Show’ I’ve done so after watching the film I’ve discovered lots of issues to improve (note the bump with my chair at 01:30 min ;-) One thing I’ve directly changed was that I’ve moved the camera a little bit closer to the remaining interviews. Accordingly you will have to turn up the volume a little bit in order to follow Mark’s answers. My apologies for this! On the other hand I still find the interview highly interesting and it gives you a good impression of what kind of person Mark is. And I can confirm he is a really friendly, co-operative and nice guy ;-)

Link: sevenload.com

What I’ve find most interesting about Mark is his background and knowledge in Literature and Critical Theory and the way he’s applying this knowledge to the field of Design. Here#s just a short quote from the interview:

“When I look at a product it’s not only the thing, but it’s the story it tells. The story of the human experience, the human psychology of everything that goes into it …”

So, instead of regurgitating just watch the show and absorb.

P.S.: Next in line will be BraunPrize 2003 winner and these days jury member Benjamin Holch from frogdesign. I’ll post the video within the next couple of days.

May I take the opportunity to re-publish a comment by leading BraunPrize Project Manager Gerlinde Kress which she’s just left here.

“After careful assessment the BraunPrize jury selected 68 entries out of the 941 submitted projects for the second round of judging.

All the BraunPrize participants who reached the next stage have already been informed and asked to send in their design model by May 31st, 2007.

Within the next few days all the others will also receive an e-mail with their result of the first jury session.

Please understand that we could not publish details of the results before the Award Ceremony in September.

In any case the BraunPrize team wishes all participants all the best in the future.”

This means: Check your mailboxes and we keep our fingers crossed that you belong to the lucky “second round” group!

In any case I hope this blog as well as the interviews with the jury members and all the information to remain will help you to understand better why your entry might have succeeded or failed. After all let’s keep connected via this blog and you might want to comment on any of the posting to come!