David Chavez's concept design has received the ultimate Spark! Award. The Spark design competition is a bold new forum that recognizes the best ideas and best designs of professionals and up-and-coming designers alike. The ultimate Spark! Award is the highest recognition awarded and was only given to 17 designs of the hundreds of entries.
A recent Industrial Design graduate, Chavez currently resides in Orange County, Calif. This Spark! Award is the second design award that he has received this year; just on the heels of his recently awarded Bronze IDEA (International Design Excellence Award).
"Haptica is a moveable Braille timepiece designed for the visually impaired. It brings precision and discretion to the user and provides a next generation solution that will improve the quality of life for a consumer market that is oftentimes over looked," said David Chavez. "It's great to be recognized among such eminent designers and firms like Yves Behar, Whipsaw, James Dyson, Smart Design and others."
According to Chavez, current Braille timepieces help users orient the watch hands in relation to the watch face but can lead to an inaccurate time assessment. Digital devices use sound to communicate the time, thus inhibiting the user from checking their watch unnoticed. "Haptica provides the perfect solution by displaying a real-time readout in Braille, which the wearer can scan with their finger to check the time," Chavez noted.
The Spark Awards Exhibition 2008 put more than 360 entries under the microscope last month, with the best being selected by a jury of prestigious names in global design. Jury members for the 2008 Spark Design competition included the President of Smart Design, Dan Formosa and Josh Morenstein, Design Director at Fuseproject, to name a few.
This year's winners are exhibited at the new Autodesk Design Gallery at One Market in San Francisco, Calif. An awards reception celebrating the Spark! Award winning designs was held on October 3, 2008 at the Autodesk Design Gallery.