Point Innovation wins the 2008 Dell Regeneration Competition
May 20, 2008, Austin, TX - Congratulations go to the Industrial Design team of Point Innovation, for their design of Evolve, the "laptop/PC" designed to change over time and adapt to many uses. As team member Vas Obeyesekere explained in an interview with Dell upon hearing of the award: "This design was meant to shed and replace pieces as they became outdated, so the whole system could function indefinitely. The probable end to the system would be when the paradigm of computing shifts away from a PC." A graduate of the University of Houston's ID program now working at Point Innovation, Obeyesekere and team win $10,000 for being both one of the five Finalists and the $15,000 People's Vote winner.
With more than 3,000 votes cast, the Evolve received 48% of the votes and the program as a whole generated an outstanding number of thoughtful comments on the five Finalists.
"We held the ReGeneration competition to launch a dialog about what constitutes sustainability and it did that in spades!" said Joseph Jasinski, IDSA, senior industrial design manager, Dell Inc. "The results show design thinking and the design process at its finest.
"Our thanks to everyone who submitted concepts, contributed comments and voted. You got the dialog going with your open critiques and explorations. Now the most important part of the ReGeneration competition starts-continuing that dialog," Jasinski remarked. "The ReGen initiative is just the beginning of a worldwide discussion on what it means to be green, and we want the design community to continue contributing to the exchange."
Juror Martin Charter, Centre for Sustainable Design, praised Evolve, saying, "The key word here is journey. The entrant has thought through the entire journey of the product." Jeremy Faludi, juror from Worldchanging.org, lauded the designer for knowing the cutting edge in green materials and putting it all together. The Evolve concept can transform between mobile and home computing configurations, can expand or contract its module based components to meet any user's needs, and has an aesthetic fitting most modern environments, despite its subtle green branding.
The competition Finalists generated rich discussion regarding what constitutes sustainable design, as well as what priorities should be address. For instance, several comments criticized Obeyesekere for not pushing the aesthetics far enough. "I think that is a valid point," he replies. "The purpose of this design was to reach the masses, and I felt it was crucial to keep it visually similar to what they are used to. If I could rework it, I would spend more time on the aesthetics. Also, there was a negative reaction to me choosing black as the primary color. That was specifically for manufacturing. Recycled material can be most effectively produced in black."
Obeyesekere remarked on how important the competition and IDSA's endorsement was, saying, "It reflects the design community's commitment to green design. As the people who create products, it is our intrinsic responsibility, more than any other person, to think green. When I was younger, the deteriorating climate frightened me. Now I realize we live in an exciting time, where our generation could be the one to save this planet. This could be the design field's finest hour."
"IDSA is very proud to have lent its endorsement to this first-of-its-kind competition," remarked Frank Tyneski, IDSA's executive director. "Clearly the tremendous innovation demonstrated by the winner, finalists and all of the entrants shows how ready the industrial design profession is to bring sustainability to the world of computers. Congratulations to Dell for a fantastic showing!"
