Fujitsu Mobile Phone Design Award Winners 2009

Fujitsu Limited and Fujitsu Design Limited today announced the winners of the Fujitsu Mobile Phone Design Award 2009.

The design contest was announced in May 2009 to gather innovative ideas from the public as a way to enhance the designs of state-of-the-art mobile phones offered by Fujitsu.

Roughly 2,000 submissions were received throughout June and July, from which a total of 24 winning entries have been selected: one Grand Prize, two Runner-up Prizes (one per category), six Judge’s Special Awards (one per judge), and 15 Honorable Mentions.

Winners were selected through a rigorous judging process by a panel of judges that included product designer Mr. Toshiyuki Kita, art director Mr. Manabu Mizuno, Nikkei Design Magazine’s chief editor Mr. Kazuya Shimokawa, and the Japan Design Association’s chairman, art director Mr. Katsumi Asaba.

The awards will be presented on October 6, 2009 on the main stage of Fujitsu’s booth at CEATEC JAPAN 2009, being held at Makuhari Messe. The nine winning designs–Grand Prize, Runner-up Prizes, and Judge’s Special Awards–will be on display.

Winning Designs

Grand Prize

Title: Gesture
Designer: Jin-gwon GO
Description: With advances in graphic user interfaces, functions become icons for easy use. The design features an interface that can be operated according to the user’s hand gestures when operating the mobile.

Runner-up Prize (Practical Category)

Title: soap.
Designer: YAN
Description: A mobile phone designed for children to promote the idea that well-being is tied to cleanliness. As a child, everybody learns to wash up soon after coming home. This phone is designed to be washable.

Runner-up Prize (Dream Category)

Title: FOLD-A-PHONE
Designers: Hanna Sahlen / Sachiko Munakata
Description: A paper-thin handset that can be folded into a compact shape and unfolded for use as a phone.

Judge’s Special Award (awarded by Toshiyuki Kita, product designer)

Title: Adjustick
Designer: Izumi Tanaka
Description: A stick-like design that displays the minimal information through simple manipulation. It also projects a usable screen and keyboard.

Judge’s Special Award (awarded by Manabu Mizuno, art director)

Title: Osusowa Keitai (“Sliced-up Phone”)
Designers: Kan Yasuma, Yo Ishigaki, Yoshihisa Tanaka
Description: Multiple mobile phones that can be connected and used as one. This enables one phone to share its battery’s charge with another, or for several to be joined together to form one large television screen.

Judge’s Special Award (awarded by Kazuya Shimokawa, chief editor of Nikkei Design Magazine)

Title: chamelephone
Designer: Hiroyuki Tabuchi
Description: The mobile phone’s body can mimic and take on the texture of the surface that it is placed on.

Judge’s Special Award (awarded by Katsumi Asaba, chairman of Japan Design Association)

Title: F-Circle
Designer: Yuji Ito
Description: The design’s distinctive and timeless appearance, a departure from the typical rectangular mobile shape, is intended for use throughout the years.

Judge’s Special Award (awarded by Hideyuki Saso, corporate senior vice president, Fujitsu Limited)

Title: KAORA (Tile)
Designer: Wataru Igarashi
Description: “Screens have to be flat”–the goal of this design was to break convention and create a distinctive design allowing user-friendliness previously unheard of.

Judge’s Special Award (awarded by Kimitaka Kato, president of Fujitsu Design Limited¹)

Title: Amoeba Phone
Designer: Kwak yeon
Description: The entire surface of the mobile phone is a touchscreen, increasing usability, while its interior concave shape is designed to fit the user’s face when they are talking on the phone.

Contest Outline

• Name: Fujitsu Mobile Phone Design Award 2009 in collaboration with the Japan Design Association
• Hosts: Fujitsu Limited, Fujitsu Design Limited
• Partner: Japan Design Association (NPO)
• Theme: Designs for Fujitsu mobile phones
  1. Practical Category: Mobile Phones for 2011
     A chance to let your dreams blossom – we are looking for inspirational designs. Winning designs in this category may be commercialized. Design requirements: the design must show that the mobile phone is keyboard-equipped, operable with one hand, and utilizes an LCD screen of 3″ or larger.
  2. Dream Category: Mobile Phones of the Future
     Futuristic mobile phone designs that reflect your free and uninhibited imagination – we are interested in futuristic designs illustrating cutting-edge technologies as well as interface designs that open up new ways of use, which in turn can inspire new design ideas for Fujitsu’s line of mobile phones.
• Entry Period: June 5 to July 31, 2009
• Eligibility: Designers in and outside of Japan (professionals, amateurs, and students)
• (Information available only in Japanese, but submissions accepted in English)
• Submission Method: Use the entry form available at the official website of Fujitsu Mobile Phone Design Award 2009
• Submission Materials: Presentation design board (A3-size jpeg or PDF file, maximum 10 MB)
• Judging Process: Finalists will be selected through preliminary, secondary, and final rounds of judging
• Panel of Judges:
  • Toshiyuki Kita, product designer
  • Manabu Mizuno, art director
  • Kazuya Shimokawa, chief editor of Nikkei Design Magazine
  • Katsumi Asaba, chairman of the Japan Design Association
  • Hideyuki Saso, corporate senior vice president, Fujitsu Limited
  • Kimitaka Kato, president of Fujitsu Design Limited
• Prizes:
  • Grand Prize: One award (2,000,000 yen²)
  • Runner-up Prizes: One award per category (500,000 yen)
  • Judge’s Special Award: One award per judge (100,000 yen)
  • Honorable Mention: Multiple awards
• Award Presentation
  • When: Tuesday, October 6, 2009, 14:00 – 14:30
  • Where: Main stage of Fujitsu’s booth at CEATEC JAPAN 2009
  • Prizes Awarded: one Grand Prize, two Runner-up Prizes (one per category), and six Judge’s Special Awards (one per judge)

¹ Fujitsu Design Limited: Head office: Kawasaki City, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan; president: Kimitaka Kato.
² 2,000,000 yen: Please note that income taxes will be deducted from the prize money before payment.