DCA's industrial design team win three 2014 Red Dot Concept Awards

Dan Salisbury has created Amped, a new way for guitarists to rock out in the comfort of their own home. It balances a highly visual and intuitive interface with a stripped back design tailored for superior sound quality. This culminates in a bespoke home-use amplifier and takes it away from the stage for the first time.

The idea for Amped was driven by the lack of options available for guitarists who predominantly play in their own homes. Existing amplifiers are great for on stage but when they’re taken into the home, the dramatic change in environment completely alters how they are used; sound distribution becomes very narrow, on-the-fly setting changes are awkward and their bulky appearance becomes inherently challenging. Consequently, the design for Amped was driven on three fronts; great sound, simple usability and considered aesthetic.

Edouard Guesne has created Luma, a portable video projector. Its minimal size combined with its integrated handle encourages you to pick it up and transport it between rooms within a domestic dwelling or take it on your travels and watch your favourite movies anywhere.

Existing video projectors often adhere to a common design language. Some projectors are advertised as being portable but their precious, box-like aesthetic does little to visually communicate this to the user. Luma’s form is completely relevant to the usage scenario, its compact form combined with its integrated handle encourages you to pick it up and transport it between rooms or take it on your travels and watch your favourite movies anywhere.

Etienne Bougeot has created the Thaumatrope watch. Thaumatrope is one of the earliest animation principles. Commonly a disc with different images on either side, which when rotated quickly creates the illusion of movement. This is often illustrated by a bird in a cage.

The Thaumatrope watch builds on this principle and brings a physical dimension and motion to time. Indeed, by twirling the dial or the “cage”, it rotates in an axis engaged by the crown and allows to change the hands’ position. Time is in movement in the cage referring to the bird of the Thaumatrope illusion.

By balancing the weight of the glass and battery cap, the whole face is allowed to spin freely. The addition of a silicon battery cover removes the need for tools in replacing a dead battery and the magnetic clasp reduces the number of components needed in securing the watch to your wrist.