Indian design amongst world's best

Water shortage woes plague almost all Indian cities and villages. Storing and rationing water have thus become a norm in most households across India. But space constraints make it a daunting task indeed.

But don't lose heart, here is a solution. Instead of buckets, use stackets. Stackets? Er... what is that? A stacket, is a square bucket that can be arranged in stacks, and is almost 18 per cent more space efficient.

Designed by Jashish Kambli and Vijay Kumar of Futuring Design, Stacket won the bronze 2009 International Design Excellence Award. Earlier, the stacket had won the Reddot Award.

The Industrial Designers Society of America, BusinessWeek, Target and Autodesk recently unveiled the winners of the 2009 International Design Excellence Award (IDEA) competition.

Out of 1,631 entries, 31 were awarded the coveted gold award, while 47 received silver and 72 won bronze.

Sixty-six designs from 15 countries outside the United States were given an IDEA Award.

While India's Stacket was the sole winner from the country, let's take a look at some of the winners of the coveted gold.

Nike Trash Talk

The jury bestowed this year's 'Best in Show' award to Nike's Trash Talk, a performance basketball shoe made from manufacturing waste.

This shoe, championed by NBA star Steve Nash, incorporates as many leftover materials - leather and synthetic leather, foam and rubber - as possible without sacrificing any of the performance that comes with shoes made from virgin materials.

The Trash Talk was designed by Kasey Jarvis, Andreas Harlow, Fred Dojan, and Dan Johnson, of Nike, USA.

The TegeraPro Vibration Control

Vibrations from industrial work can cause serious and permanent hand injuries, which are costly for individuals and companies.

Designed by Marcus Gabrielsson, Hans Nystrom, Olle Bobjer, Maria Benktzon, Henrik Olsson, and Peter Ejvinsson of Ergonomidesign (Sweden) the TegeraPro Vibration Control gloves use a foam material specially designed to insulate the hands.

The graphic elements on the gloves communicate the functionality before a wearer even tries them on.

Samsung BD-P4600 Blu-ray Disc Player

Designed by Jaehyung Kim, Yunje Kang, and Koungwon Park, Samsung Electronics (South Korea), the BD-P4600 looks like an artwork made of glass.

This is Blu-ray taken to the next level, a state-of-the-art player with Samsung's iconic Touch of Colour design.

With high definition video and audio decoding, plus unparalleled wireless connectivity and 1 GB internal flash memory, you can connect to BD Live features, your PC and your TV for a myriad of entertainment options.

Its colour and appearance change in different lighting.

Apple LED Cinema Display

The 24-inch LED Cinema display is designed precisely for the new MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, and new Mac desktops.

And with a built-in iSight camera, microphone, speakers, and MagSafe charger, it doesn't just expand the screen - it expands your whole experience.

The display is suspended by an aluminum stand with an adjustable hinge that makes tilting the display almost effortless.

It was designed by the Industrial Design Team of Apple (US).

Samsung BTS1 Dual-Cooking Oven

This novel oven features an adjustable cooking space that provides a range of cooking options in a compact, energy efficient design. The oven can accommodate one large item or can be divided into two individually controlled compartments.

The divider, composed of two steel plates with a layer of air in between, means that users can cook one large dish and a small dish in a small space or two dishes with different cooking requirements at the same time.

This oven also reduces the time and energy needed to clean the oven with a new steam-cleaning system.

It was designed by Kang-Doo Kim, Joo-Hee Lee, Seon-Ju Lee, Chan-Young Lee and Ji-Young Shin of Samsung Electronics (South Korea).

Apple MacBook

At only 0.95-inches tall and weighing just 4.5 pounds, the 13-inch, full-featured, aluminum MacBook is a compact and durable notebook.

Featuring the new NVIDIA GeForce 9400M graphics processor, MacBook delivers outstanding 3D game play on a consumer notebook, with up to five times faster graphics performance than the previous generation.

Samsung LED 7000 Series

The Luxia combines an ultra-slim LED TV with state-of-the-art design.

The depth of colour on the exterior was achieved through the use of an environmentally friendly process.

The design emphasises the advanced technology, the slim profile and the emotional experience. The TV can be wall mounted or placed on a glass stand.

It was designed by Junho Yang, Minhyouk Bu and Yunje Kang of Samsung Electronics (South Korea).

 Wedze Virtuous jacket

Designed by Wedze Design Team (France) and Fanny Troesch of Oxylane Group (France), this jacket also features a removable vest that a wearer can inflate via a small tube.

So when you're cold, just blow up the vest. Inflation provides a six degree increase in temperature.

When hot, the wearer can deflate and detach the vest and use the outer jacket on its own.

ICON A5 Amphibious Sport Aircraft

Powered by a 100hp Rotax 912 ULS engine achieving an estimated maximum speed of 105 kts (120 mph) and a range of 300 nm, the amphibious, two-seat, composite carbon fiber plane features a sportscar inspired cockpit and retractable landing gear for flying off land and water.

The standout element is the folding wing design which allows the plane to be towed on the road like a speed boat and stored at home rather than paying for space at an airport.

A full-scale prototype of the ICON A5 is scheduled to begin flight tests this summer with first deliveries expected to be in late 2010. Pricing for the standard model has been set at $139,000.

Its designers are Steen Strand, Diego Miralles, Kirk Hawkins, Matthew Gionta, Jon Karkow of ICON Aircraft (US); Randy Rodriguez, Steve Moneypenny, Jim McJunkin, Brenda Parkin, Bruce Campbell of Nissan Design America (US); Troy Lee of Troy Lee Designs (US); Bill Moggridge of David Kelley (US) and Stewart Reed of Art Center College of Design (US).

Human-Centered Design Toolkit

Human-Centered Design is a process used for decades to create new solutions for companies and organizations. Human-Centered Design can help you enhance the lives of people.

This process has been specially-adapted for organizations like yours that work with people in Africa, Asia, and Latin America.

Human-Centered Design (HCD) will help you hear people's needs in new ways, create innovative solutions to meet these needs, and deliver solutions with financial sustainability in mind.

Tatyana Mamut, Jessica Hastings, Fidel Calderon, Scott Tong, and Sandy Speicher of IDEO (US) are its creators.