Conventional cameras provide a uniform UX environment that doesn’t accommodate people’s unique photographing habits. The Genie UX offers an environment tailored to the individual user.
Most tasks can be accomplished in the first layer of the menu, eliminating the cumbersome and time-consuming need to navigate through confusing menu choices.

Credits: JunHo Choi, NaRi Choi, and JinHo Choi of  Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. (South Korea)

Contact: MinJeong Kim: mj1003.kim@samsung.com

Preserve, who has been making toothbrushes from recycled #5 plastic food containers since 1997, wanted to further decrease its environmental impact. The Preserve Mail-Back Pack Toothbrush is the same toothbrush Preserve has always made with a mail-back pouch. After users are done with the toothbrush, they mail it back to Preserve, who transforms them into plastic lumber.

Credits: Preserve, Dr. Benjamin Linder. IDSA and Continuum for Preserve

Contact: Ed Milano: emilano@contiuuminnovation.com

The Leverage Freedom chair is designed to give wheelchair users the same access to the woods, trails and difficult terrain that mountain bike riders have. Its twin-lever drive and bicycle-style drivetrain gives riders the increased leverage to get over obstacles and climb steep grades.

Credits: Continuum design team with the MIT Mobility Lab

Contact: Ed Milano: emilano@continuuminnovation.com

The approach to this research intuitive was all about making young women feel comfortable talking about their intimate experiences and birth-control practices. The design team felt that it needed to do more than understand their lives and motivations; they needed to truly empathize with these women’s situations without making any judgments. So, during the interviews the designers spoke with women as peers rather than ad researchers.

Credits: IDEO Design Team for National Campaign for Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy

Contact: Katie Clark: kclark@ideo.com

Designers worked closely with the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy to address the challenge of unplanned pregnancy in women between the ages of 18 and 29. The result, Bedsider, is a birth-control support network that focuses on five key areas—awareness, motivational drivers, digital offerings, services and loyalty—and acts as a flexible vehicle for behavioral change.

Credits: IDEO Design Team for National Campaign for Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy

Contact: Katie Clark: kclark@ideo.com

The Daktari CD4 is a portable HIV diagnostic system that is robust enough to be used anywhere, from a doctor’s office to the most remote settings. It brings the HIV blood test to parts of the world where millions of people now have access to life-saving drugs, yet cannot receive the best treatment due to inadequate diagnostics. Currently, patients in many remote locations must often wait weeks to receive their HIV test results. The Daktari CD4 provides those same results in just minutes.

Credits: Continuum Design Team with Daktari

The Zen Cordless Prophy is a cordless piece of dental equipment designed as a prophylactic tool. Hygienists use it at the end of dental cleanings to polish teeth and to remove plaque and stains. Unlike corded devices, the Zen facilitates freedom of movement for the hygienist and reduces clutter around the patient during the procedure.

Credits: Stuart Karten, IDSA, Eric Olson, IDSA, Dennis Schroeder, Eric Schmid, Paul Kirley and Sumi Israchanpanich, IDSA of Stuart Karten Design for Discus Dental

Contact: Stuart Karten: anne@kartendesign.com

The Post-it® Z-Notes Natural Dispenser was designed with sustainability and life-cycle management in mind. It is constructed with natural raw materials only—just glass and 100 percent recycled cork, no plastics. Plus, while most dispensers on the market have a minimum of five pieces, this product has only two, making it very easy to assemble, disassemble and recycle.

Credits: 3M Design Lab & 3M Post-it® Team

Contact: Kevin Gilboe: kjgilboe@mmm.com

The In & Out Door helps people determine whether to push or pull the door by directing them to flatten either a protrusion or a hollow on the door. A push panel and pull handle are combined into a set and move organically at the same time. A spring is attached to push panel that returns to its original state.

Credits: Hwansoo Jeon of sadi (South Korea)

Contact: Hwansoo Jeon: baekseju1@hotmail.com

Color Elite is a user-friendly system of electronic swatches that integrate the traditional paper swatches into modern e-paper technology. By interfacing with the Internet, uses can access the latest color information, eliminating the inconvenience of housing a library of paper swatches and reducing paper waste.

Credits: Liao-Hsun Chen of National Taiwan University of Science and Technology (Taiwan)

Contact: Liao-Hsun Chen: hsun13149@gmail.com