Philips Design

File:Paste tense Future Sense Philips Design Book 2005.jpg

’past tense, future sense’, new book commemorating 80 years of design in Philips

Philips Design is a global design agency of Dutch Philips Electronics . Headquartered in Eindhoven, The Netherlands, the agency also has offices in Paris, London, Vienna, Amersfoort, New York, Seattle, Atlanta, Boston, Pune, Hong-Kong, Singapore, and Taipei. The agency offers a wide range of design services, ranging from product design, and packaging design, identity design, environment design, interface and interaction design, to (and increasingly) design of the total user experience, innovation design, and expertise in understanding people, cultures and societies.

In 1998, Philips Design became an independent unit within the Philips Group, able to provide design services to all business divisions of Philips as well to selected external clients. The company employs around 450 professionals from a wide range of disciplines (more than 40% of them are women, and average age of an employee is 28 years).

History

The agency's history can be tacked back to the mid-1920s, when Louis Kalff established, under a patronage of Anton Philips, one of the company's founders, Advertising Section of Philips. In 1960-s Philips' Board of Management established Industrial Design Bureau headed by Rein Veersema. In 1969 under the competence was renamed into Concern Industrial Design Centre (CIDC), lead by Norwegian Knut Yran. In 1980 Robert Blaich, was appointed a new Director of CIDC, In 1991, he was succeeded Stefano Marzano, current CEO and Chief Art Director of Philips Design.

Design Legends

Over more than 80 years of its history Philips Design's team designed a number of now legendary products in the area of Consumer Electronics, Domestic Appliances, Medical Devices, Lighting and Corporate identity.

Among the best-known designs are

• 1938 Philips Chapel radio
• 1959 Philishave shaver
• 1963 Compact cassette
• 1966 Philips Brandname and Logo (‘Philips’ Shield’)
• 1982 Roller radio
• 1996 Billy Blender
• 1998 Coolskin shaver

Current Project Portfolio

Philips Design offers a wide range of design solutions to both Philips and external clients. Among most noticeable design achievements of the recent years are

• Libra , Moile X-Ray Machine (2001)
• Metal ‘Cuby’, Kettle (2003)
• Wearable Key, Digital Camera (2003)
• City Line, Vacuum cleaner (2004)
• Ambilight, Flat TV (2004)
• Ambient Hospital (2004)

Philips Design also produced a range of design solutions in collaboration with such companies as Renault, Leolux, Alessi, Nike, Olivetti, Cappellini, and Securitas, among many others.

Visionary Design Projects

Since 1990-s Philips Design conducted a range of visionary projects, exploring future landscapes of interaction between people and new technologies. Ideas and design concepts created during these exploratory projects inspired manufacturers, researchers and designers, as well as generated feedback from general public.

Philips Design’s own research efforts are focused on the cutting-edge domains such as Ambient intelligence, Wearable Electronics, Experience Design, Open Tools and Connected Planet. Among the most

• Vision of the Future (1995)
• LiMe – Living Memory (1997)
• Pogo (2000)
• Delphi – Exploration into Possible Futures (2001)
• MIME – Multiple Intimate Media Environments (2002)

Design Awards

Philips Designs innovative designs are consistency awarded and recognized as outstanding in the industry. Among the most recent awards are

• iF Awards 2005
• Good Design Awards 2005
• I.D. Magazine Annual Design Review 2005
• Dutch Design Prize 2005

External links

• Philips Design website
• Philips Design’s award archive