Sony Design Excellence Recognised with 16 International Awards

Sony’s design excellence has been recognised for the second time in as many months. 16 products spanning the entire spectrum of the Sony range have been awarded the ‘red dot award:product design 2009’ by one of the largest international design competitions for their high quality design.

Demonstrating Sony’s pioneering approach to design, the high-end Sony NSA-PF1 360° glass speaker was among just 49 entries from over 3,000 submissions to be awarded an elite ‘best of the best’ distinction for ‘highest design quality’ in the red dot product design awards. The speaker fell into the small category of products which embody ‘courageous forms which have the potential of influencing our product culture in the long-term and of pointing a direction for future designs.’

The red dot accolades exemplify the extent to which Sony challenges the norms of technological design to provide quality products which are, quite simply, like no other. “Sony invests in and strongly believes in design to drive our brand values, that of quality and excellence,” commented Mr. Kazumasa Sato, Head of Sony’s Creative Center. “We are extremely pleased to receive this recognition; to have the ‘red dot’ quality label on our products shows our dedication to designing innovative and ease-of-use products.”

Designer of the honoured NSA-PF1, Mr. Takahiro Tsuge, Senior Producer, Creative Center Sony Corporation, explained the challenges when seeing ideas through to concept realisation, “With the NSA-PF1, I was able to concentrate on expressing its technical distinctions. However, with a configuration comprised of only a few fundamental components, all of which were functionally crucial, the challenge was to achieve an aesthetic product while still maximizing its functionality, one of our core design values.”

Sony also received 17 product design awards including 3 Gold awards from the independent design institution, International Forum Design (iF) in March, 2009.

Sony Creative Center will receive the ‘red dot award:product design’ at a ceremony held on 29th June 2009 in Essen, Germany.

‘red dot: ‘best of the best’
NSA-PF1 Speaker System
The NSA-PF1 is a unique, single, elegant column, combining glass, leather and room-enhancing illumination. Delivering music over 360º, it provides a sonic and visual focal-point for any room. In a world where the trend toward music being enjoyed solo is accelerating, the NSA-PF1 represents a new set of values, encouraging people to gather together to chat and make music enjoyment more sociable. It offers a new type of audio pleasure which will enhance communication. The shape is the material embodiment of the concept of surrounding a unit with people listening to music, just like listening to a mini-concert. The priority in designing this speaker system was not to create high specifications or features, but instead, to create a design that can be used as an interior item that fits into various life styles and scenes.

‘red dot’
Digital Still Camera Cyber-shot™ DSC-T700
Digital Still Camera Cyber-shot™ DSC-T77
Digital Still Camera Cyber-shot™ DSC-W300
Active Style Headphones Series
Digital Audio Player WALKMAN® S Series
Headphones MDR-EX500
Picture Frame LCD TV BRAVIA EX1
Digital SLR Camera α900
Home Theater System DAV-F500
HDV Camcorder HVR-Z7
Digital Photo Frame S-Frame™ DPF-V Series
VAIO Z Series
Digital Camcorder Handycam® HDR-TG1/TG3
Digital Camcorder Handycam® HDR-CX120/CX100/CX105E/106E
Digital Camcorder Handycam® DCR-SX Series

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