Sony Bags 4 Gold iF Design Awards

March 2011, Singapore – Sony won 4 of 50 awards presented from a total of 2,756 entries at the International Forum Design Awards (iF) on 2 March 2011.

The four Gold Awards were for Sony’s product designs for its Handycam NEX-VG10, BRAVIA NX 800 TV Series, α NEX-5 digital camera and VPL-FX500L / VPL-FX30 projectors.

Sony strives to push the boundaries of design to provide users with improved form and function.  Its presence at last year’s Milano Salone Internationale del Mobile design fair, with its industry acclaimed ‘Contemplating Monolithic Design’ exhibition and awards further demonstrate how Sony is creatively working towards new areas in design.

Designers removed all the unnecessary outer buttons of the BRAVIA NX800 TV series.  Using materials to make the TV look just as good off as it does on, this design embodies Sony’s award-winning ‘Monolithic Design’ encapsulated by its 2010 home entertainment range and continues across the brand new BRAVIA HX92/NX72 series launching this year.

Masayoshi Tsuchiya, Senior General Manager, Sony Corporation Creative Center, said of the achievements, “This year marks the 50th year of Sony Design and it is fitting that we have won multiple awards for our innovation and creativity from iF. At Sony we are very proud of our rich design heritage which is a core part of our brand’s reputation as an industry leader. We have produced many innovations in the past year with the first ever compact DSLR in the ‘α’ NEX-5, creating a whole new concept in the digital camera market, and the world’s first consumer HD camcorder with interchangeable lenses. Sony Design is constantly looking into the future and continually striving to create something original, and human-focused design is an essential part of this. Receiving this prestigious recognition in our anniversary year provides considerable motivation for us as a design led brand.”

α NEX-5
Speaking on how Sony cultivated a new category in a flooded digital camera market, Executive Art Director, Takuya Niitsu, commented, “For some time, we’ve sensed latent needs in the camera market, seeing how some people are unsatisfied with the creative power of compacts but put off by the bulkiness of digital SLRs. The perfect solution was a smaller camera with superb image quality, and this is why we developed mirrorless DSLRs. We needed to make a bold statement in design and the NEX-5 was the world’s smallest and lightest interchangeable lens digital camera.”  Besides the award winning product design, the designers also focused on usability by building an elegant, uncluttered user interface,  featuring a new ‘never-get-lost’ menu which collected a Communication Design Award.

Handycam NEX-VG10
Building on 25 years of continuous Handycam® innovation, the NEX-VG10E  was the world’s first consumer HD camcorder with interchangeable lenses[1]. It was also the first Handycam® featuring an extra-large Exmor APS HD CMOS sensor that allowed for the creation of exquisitely cinematic background defocus effects. Through its professional-like features such as a 14.2 effective megapixel sensor and interchangeable lenses, the NEX-VG10E opened up unprecedented artistic possibilities for everyday video enthusiasts.

BRAVIA NX800 Series
The NX800 Series, also known as the award-winning ‘Monolithic Design’ range of BRAVIA TVs was designed to enhance contemporary living with both an elegant design and connection to a huge choice of entertainment experiences. The design essence of ‘Monolithic Design’ stems from the idea of the most beautiful, simplified and minimal design making the TVs look effortlessly graceful. Despite their simplicity on the outside, they are packed with the latest innovations for easy access to a world of entertainment and  the design philosophy will  continue to be available for consumer with the brand new BRAVIA HX92/NX72 series launching this year.

VPL-FX500L / VPL-FX30 (projector)
These Gold Award winning projectors are designed for fixed installation applications such as boardrooms, show rooms, auditoriums and concert halls.

“An innovator and pioneer in display panel technologies, Sony continues to gather momentum with its VPL-FX500L and VPL-FX30 projectors which merge optimum performance seamlessly with stylish intelligent designs. Both projectors sport smooth, white matte finishing, allowing them to easily blend with white ceilings when installed, giving a minimalist and unobtrusive look.  Its ease of use, low maintenance, and outstanding features such as Sony’s Bright Era technology and XGA resolution of 1024 x 768 pixels make these two projectors the ultimate choice,” said Mr. Tsuyoshi Nagata, General Manager for Visual Printer Marketing Division, Business & Professional Products Asia Pacific Company (BPPA), Sony Electronics Asia Pacific.

Here’re the other iF award-winning products from Sony.

Interchangeable Lens Camera
Alpha NEX-3
Alpha NEX-5

LCD TV
BRAVIA EX500 Series
BRAVIA NX800 Series

Blu-ray Disc Player
BDP-S370

Blu-ray Home Theatre System
BDV-F500

Compact Digital Camera
Cyber-shot DSC-T99/T99D

PC Headset
DR-320DPV
DR-350USB

Digital Handheld Microphone
DWM-01

Camcorder
Handycam NEX-VG10

Monitor Headphones
MDR-Z1000
MDR-EX510SL
MDR-EX1000

Water Housing
MPK-THG/THJ
MPK-WF
SPK-CXA

Car Navigation
nav-u NV-U75/U75V/U76V/U76VT

Digital Photo Frame
S-Frame DPF-XR100/80

Notebook
VAIO P Series
VAIO Z Series

Business Projector
VPL-FX500L
VPL-FX30

Digital Media Player
Walkman S Series

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