(Singapore, 2 March 2011) – One of the world's most prestigious design competitions, the International Forum Design Awards (iF), has once again recognised Sony's ability to create and deliver outstanding design. Of only 50 awards presented from a total of 2,756 entries, Sony beat its own record by collecting four prestigious Gold Awards for outstanding product design for its Handycam NEX-VG10, BRAVIA NX800 TV Series, α NEX-5 digital camera and VPL-FX500L / VPL-FX30 projectors. Spanning Sony's entire product offering, iF also celebrated Sony's industry leading product designs by presenting an impressive 20 awards.

Sony always strives to push the boundaries of design to provide users with improved form and function. Having been a striking presence at last year's Milano Salone Internationale del Mobile design fair, with its industry acclaimed 'Contemplating Monolithic Design' exhibition, these awards further demonstrate how Sony is creatively working towards new areas in design. Epitomising this is one of Sony's Gold Award winners, the BRAVIA NX800 TV series, which follows a new thinking in home electronics design. With the aim of enhancing contemporary living, the designers removed all unnecessary outer buttons and used perfectly selected materials to make the TV look just as good off as it does on. The design of the BRAVIA NX800 TV series embodies Sony's award-winning 'Monolithic Design' encapsulated by its 2010 home entertainment range and continues across the brand new BRAVIA HX92/NX72 series launching this year.

Masayoshi Tsuchiya, Senior General Manager, Sony Corporation Creative Center, said of the achievements, "This year marks the 50th year of Sony Design and it is fitting that we have won multiple awards for our innovation and creativity from iF. At Sony we are very proud of our rich design heritage which is a core part of our brand’s reputation as an industry leader. We have produced many innovations in the past year with the first ever compact DSLR in the 'α' NEX-5, creating a whole new concept in the digital camera market, and the world's first consumer HD camcorder with interchangeable lenses. Sony Design is constantly looking into the future and continually striving to create something original, and human-focused design is an essential part of this. Receiving this prestigious recognition in our anniversary year provides considerable motivation for us as a design led brand."

iF Gold Awards

α NEX-5

Speaking on how Sony cultivated a new category in a flooded digital camera market, Executive Art Director, Takuya Niitsu, commented, "For some time, we've sensed latent needs in the camera market, seeing how some people are unsatisfied with the creative power of compacts but put off by the bulkiness of digital SLRs. The perfect solution was a smaller camera with superb image quality, and this is why we developed mirrorless DSLRs. We needed to make a bold statement in design and the NEX-5 was the world’s smallest and lightest interchangeable lens digital camera.”  Besides the award winning product design, the designers also focused on usability by building an elegant, uncluttered user interface,  featuring a new ‘never-get-lost’ menu which collected a Communication Design Award.

Handycam NEX-VG10  

Building on 25 years of continuous Handycam® innovation, the NEX-VG10E  was the world’s first consumer HD camcorder with interchangeable lenses . It was also the first Handycam® featuring an extra-large Exmor APS HD CMOS sensor that allowed for the creation of exquisitely cinematic background defocus effects. Through its professional-like features such as a 14.2 effective megapixel sensor and interchangeable lenses, the NEX-VG10E opened up unprecedented artistic possibilities for everyday video enthusiasts.

BRAVIA NX800 Series 

The NX800 Series, also known as the award-winning 'Monolithic Design' range of BRAVIA TVs was designed to enhance contemporary living with both an elegant design and connection to a huge choice of entertainment experiences. The design essence of 'Monolithic Design' stems from the idea of the most beautiful, simplified and minimal design making the TVs look effortlessly graceful. Despite their simplicity on the outside, they are packed with the latest innovations for easy access to a world of entertainment and  the design philosophy will  continue to be available for consumer with the brand new BRAVIA HX92/NX72 series launching this year.

VPL-FX500L / VPL-FX30 (projector)     

These Gold Award winning projectors are designed for fixed installation applications such as boardrooms, show rooms, auditoriums and concert halls.

“An innovator and pioneer in display panel technologies, Sony continues to gather momentum with its VPL-FX500L and VPL-FX30 projectors which merge optimum performance seamlessly with stylish intelligent designs. Both projectors sport smooth, white matte finishing, allowing them to easily blend with white ceilings when installed, giving a minimalist and unobtrusive look.  Its ease of use, low maintenance, and outstanding features such as Sony’s Bright Era technology and XGA resolution of 1024 x 768 pixels make these two projectors the ultimate choice,” said Mr. Tsuyoshi Nagata, General Manager for Visual Printer Marketing Division, Business & Professional Products Asia Pacific Company (BPPA), Sony Electronics Asia Pacific.

Please see below for the full list of iF award-winning products from Sony.

Interchangeable Lens Camera

Alpha NEX-3  
Alpha NEX-5  

LCD TV

BRAVIA EX500 Series 
BRAVIA NX800 Series    

Blu-ray Disc Player

BDP-S370

Blu-ray Home Theatre System

BDV-F500 

Compact Digital Camera

Cyber-shot DSC-T99/T99D     
PC Headset
DR-320DPV
DR-350USB

Digital Handheld Microphone

DWM-01  

Camcorder

Handycam NEX-VG10     

Monitor Headphones

MDR-Z1000 
MDR-EX510SL
MDR-EX1000

Water Housing
MPK-THG/THJ
MPK-WF
SPK-CXA

Car Navigation
nav-u NV-U75/U75V/U76V/U76VT  

Digital Photo Frame

S-Frame DPF-XR100/80 

Notebook

VAIO P Series  
VAIO Z Series 

Business Projector

VPL-FX500L
VPL-FX30

Digital Media Player

Walkman S Series     
 

About iF Design Awards

Since their introduction in the year 1953, the International Forum (iF) design awards have been a reliable indicator of outstanding quality in design. The iF logo, awarded by international experts, is trusted the world over and denotes proven design quality. 1,121 companies from 43 different nations competed for an iF product design award 2011, submitting a total of 2,756 products for adjudication by an international panel of experts. 993 products merited an iF product design award 2011, with 50 of them also selected to receive an iF gold award.

About Sony Design

The first Sony Design Centre was founded in Tokyo in 1961. Since this time, designers at Sony have strived to develop innovative products under the philosophy of ‘building high-performance, easy-to-use and beautiful products with a distinctive Sony flair’. Over the years and in line with the overall Sony strategy, Design at Sony developed globally and today designers of various nationalities and backgrounds are playing active roles in Sony Design from locations in the US, UK, Singapore and China. Sony Design Global Web Site:  http://www.sony.net/design/

About Sony Electronics Asia Pacific Pte. Ltd.

Based in Singapore, Sony Electronics Asia Pacific Pte. Ltd. is a subsidiary of Sony Corporation.  It serves as the regional management and marketing headquarters for Sony’s consumer as well as broadcasting and professional products, overseeing Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa regions. For more information on Sony’s products and services in Asia Pacific, please visit www.sony-asia.com

About make.believe

“make.believe” (make dot believe) is a Group-wide brand message that unites Sony’s communications initiatives across electronics, games, movies, music, mobile phones and network services. “make.believe” symbolises the spirit of Sony – the power of creativity, the ability to turn ideas into reality and the belief that anything you can imagine, you can make real.