Press Release
Dedao Focus7 eReader by William Volcoff and Yawei Zhang Wins the Bronze A' Design Award in Digital and Electronic Device Design
William Volcoff and Yawei Zhang of Wy&p acknowledged for digital and electronic device design by the international grand jury of the 2022 - 2023 A' Design Award & Competition
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
COMO, Italy, April 20, 2023 /DesignNewswire/ A' Design Award & Competition has confirmed the Bronze A' Design Award in the Digital and Electronic Device Design category for Dedao Focus7 eReader by William Volcoff and Yawei Zhang of Wy&p, designed for Dedao (Tianjin) Culture & Communication Co., Ltd.. The recognition forms part of the 2022 - 2023 A' Design Award & Competition and was decided through blind peer review by an international grand jury panel of established academics, design professionals and press members, who evaluated anonymized entries against predetermined criteria.
The Bronze A' Design Award Explained
The Bronze A' Design Award is given to outstanding designs that showcase a high degree of creativity and practicality. It recognizes the dedication and skill of designers who produce work that stands out for its thoughtful development and innovative use of materials and technology. These designs are acknowledged for their professional execution and potential to influence industry standards positively. Winning this award highlights the designer's ability to blend form and function effectively, offering solutions that enhance people's lives and wellbeing.
About Dedao Focus7 eReader
Dedao Focus7 is an eReader created for readers who value the feel of a printed book. The frame is made of aluminium alloy shaped by CNC machining, and the anodized surface resists slipping, wear and corrosion. The form recalls a folded page, a familiar gesture used to pause reading. The 7-inch E Ink screen has anti-glare glass and an anti-fingerprint coating. The weight of 210 grams is close to that of a pocket book, and the balanced structure reduces wrist strain. The packaging is ink-free, plastic-free and made of degradable pulp.
About William Volcoff and Yawei Zhang
I wore several hats for many years: managing my own design agency, doing business development and being the creative director behind each projects, mentoring and training my team while improving my own skills. I served different clients: from luxury power houses to technology start-ups to large scale government funded projects. Very different, and yet very similar: one common denominator during all these years was the need of being creative within a defined budget and, usually tight, time frame. Controlling budget and timeline while being creative is a challenging position where I excel.
About Wy&p
We are holistic design experts connecting products and brands into memorable experiences, online and offline.
Award Record
With this recognition, William Volcoff and Yawei Zhang of Wy&p is a winner of 2 A' Design Awards. The awards span the editions from 2019 - 2020 to 2022 - 2023 of the A' Design Award & Competition.
About the A' Digital and Electronic Device Design Award
The A' Consumer Electronics Design Award is an international design competition recognizing good consumer electronics designs by leading brands worldwide. The competition is organized within the A' Design Award & Competition and is open to consumer electronics designers, consumer electronics brands, consumer electronics manufacturers and electronic product manufacturers from all countries. Entries typically include smartphones, laptops, televisions, cameras, headphones and smartwatches. Awarded consumer electronics designs are published at https://designers.org/design-category/consumer-electronics
About A' Design Award & Competition
A' Design Award & Competition is an international, juried design accolade organized annually since 2008. The competition is open to entries from all countries. The A' Design Award has a philanthropic mission to advance society through good design by recognizing and promoting superior products, projects and services that benefit society, and by creating a global awareness and appreciation for good design practices and principles. Entries are peer reviewed and anonymously evaluated by an international grand jury panel of established academics, design professionals and press members against predetermined criteria such as functionality, ergonomics, engineering, presentation, innovation, usability, sustainability and technology, with score normalization applied to remove biases. Awards are conferred at Platinum, Gold, Silver, Bronze and Iron levels. The A' Design Prize granted to eligible laureates includes the award trophy, the certificate of design excellence, the hardcover yearbook, a lifetime license to use the A' Design Award winner logo, exhibition of awarded works, an invitation to the gala night and award ceremony in Italy, inclusion in the World Design Rankings and Designer Rankings, and public relations and publicity services. Registration, the upload of a work and the preliminary score are free of charge, and Professional and Digital Edition laureates are not contractually obliged to pay further fees to claim the A' Design Prize. Further information is available at https://competition.adesignaward.com
Press Resources
- Winner Page: https://designers.org/145505
- A' Design Award Page: https://competition.adesignaward.com/145505
- Media Showcase: https://www.designnewsroom.com/!145505
- Laureate Profile: https://designers.org/d/274873
- Further Information from the Laureate: https://www.wyandp.com/
Media Contact
Giulia Ferrari, Press Office
Designers.Org
Via Leone Leoni 32, 22100 Como, Italy
press@designers.org
+39 031 4491953
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Fact Sheet
The Work
- Project
- Dedao Focus7 eReader
- Function
- eReader
- Category
- Digital and Electronic Device Design
- Discipline
- Industrial Design
- Industry
- Electronics & Appliances
- Colors
- Gainsboro, Light Gray, Silver, Dark Gray and White Smoke
- Images
- 5
- Client
- Dedao (Tianjin) Culture & Communication Co., Ltd.
The Recognition
- Laureate
- William Volcoff and Yawei Zhang
- Country
- China
- Brand
- Wy&p
- Recognition
- Bronze A' Design Award
- Edition
- 2022 - 2023
- Design ID
- #145505
Credits
- Team
- William Volcoff, Yawei Zhang, Shuangtian Lu, Bastien Henry, Yiming Zhou, Xiaosong Wu, Xilun Cao
Design Details
- Unique Properties
- Focus 7 eReader aims at book enthusiasts seeking meaningful aesthetics in their products. Focus 7 eReader reconnects you with the pleasure of holding a paper book. Subtle elements in the design symbolize this connection and leverage the overall reading experience.
- Inspiration
- Folding a page or the whole book is one of the most usual gesture we do while pausing our reading. The shape of a folding book represents this on-going process put on hold. It is also an invitation to restart the reading, a visual trigger to bring us back to a different world.
- Research
- Our research process was rather traditional and down-to-earth to match our client's basic understanding of design. Pushing too much innovation would have scared off their marketing team and alienated their engineers against our design intentions. We worked closely with their production team to solve any potential production issues. The Covid19 situation in China didn't really help us to meet face-to-face and set-up well organized interviews with group users. We had to change plans due to the massive lock down in Shanghai.
- Challenge
- Our key creative challenge was to differentiate our design without losing on the ergonomics. eReader are usually very sleek and minimalist in their design language. We didn't want to add decorative elements yet we wanted to add elements to visually connect to the universe of books. Traditional books have a tactile sensuality when flipping through pages, these lines created by each pages are our common memories framing the entire reading experience. We kept these lines to give extra tactile feedback to Dedao readers.
- Realization and Technology
- The whole frame is made of aluminium alloy using CNC processing. The anodized surface is anti-slippery, wear and corrosion resistant. The fully integrated structure places the centre of gravity inclined to the hand-held side, greatly reducing the wrist pain of long-term use. The 7-inch screen -mimicking pocket-book size- is ideal for students, office workers and regular readers. It boasts a double coating to prevent fingerprint residue and reduce environmental reflection. The ultra-thin glass backboard is anti-slippery, durable and provides similar tactile feedback as paper. The entire ink-free and plastic-free packaging is made of degradable pulp grouting process.
- Operation and Interaction
- On/Off button to start. Full touch screen to navigate the various menus and settings. Screen back light could be changed to adjust night reading situation.
- Project Duration and Location
- The project started in November 2021 in Shanghai and finished in April 2021 in Shenzhen after final confirmation with all production sites and suppliers. The eReader is going to be launch this October 2022 in China during Dedao annual conference and will be available from November 2022.
- Specifications
- Screen: E Ink with 300 ppi / Antigloss TP glass top + anti finger print coating, Specs: USB Type-C / Quad Cortex-A55 at 1.8GHz / Android 11 / 2GB RAM + 64GB ROM eReader Weight: 210 grams eReader size: 159*140.7*10 mm Packaging size: 16.5 x 18.5 x 3 cm 10 weeks battery on sleeping mode. 3.5 days battery on full use. 2 weeks battery with 1h use per day.
- Keywords
- ereader, tablet, book, eInk, CNC, aluminium,
