‘TOO Tone Clock’ Recognised in Australia’s International Good Design Awards for Design Excellence.
The Good Design Awards are the highest honour for design and innovation in the country and reward projects across 12 design disciplines and 30 subcategories.
TOO Tone Clock received a prestigious Good Design Award Winner Accolade in the Product Design category in recognition for outstanding design and innovation.
The Australian Good Design Awards is the country’s oldest and most prestigious international awards for design and innovation with a proud history dating back to 1958. The Awards celebrate the best new products and services on the Australian and international market, excellence in architectural design, precinct design, engineering, fashion, digital and communication design, and reward new and emerging areas of design including design strategy, social impact design, design research and up-and-coming design talent in the Next Gen category.
The 2021 Good Design Awards attracted a record number of submissions with 933 design projects evaluated by more than 70 Australian and international Jurors, including designers, engineers, architects and thought leaders. Each entry was evaluated according to a strict set of design evaluation criteria which includes good design, design innovation and design impact. Projects recognised with an Australian Good Design Award demonstrate excellence in professional design and highlight the impact a design-led approach has on business success and social and environmental outcomes.
The Good Design Awards Jury commented: “A clever, neat design that the customer can configure to their taste. It comes in great colours and is good quality too. ”
Dr. Brandon Gien, CEO of Good Design Australia said: “Receiving an Australian Good Design Award is testament to embedding design excellence at the heart of a product, service, place or experience. Although 2021 continues to be another challenging year, it is incredibly inspiring to see designers and businesses working together to find innovative, customer-centric design solutions to local and global challenges and to see them recognised and rewarded for their efforts through these prestigious Awards.”
“The importance of embracing good design principles is now more important than ever as many businesses around the world have had to completely re-think their business strategies to remain competitive. The standard of design excellence represented in this year’s Awards is the best I’ve ever seen in my 25 years of running these Awards, an encouraging sign that the design sector is flourishing,” Dr. Gien went on to say.
Entry Introduction
TOO Tone clock is a playful minimalistic wall clock consisting of two powder-coated aluminium parts. Customers can make up their own colour combination from a selection of 11 colours. The clocks are available in 3 sizes; Standard (25cm dia), Large (50cm dia) and an Extra Large (75cm dia).
Design Challenge
Our design challenge was to design a modern wall clock that would fit any interior colour palette and style. A customisable clock that would give customers as many colour variants as possible without having an impractical or unfeasible amount of powder-coating colours.
Design Solution
Our design solution was realised in a two-toned clock which had 3 distinct visual components; two folded aluminium parts making up the circular disk of the clock face and the clock hands. By giving customers the option to choose the colour of each of these components (11 powder-coated colours each for the two circular clock face segments and a choice of either black or white hands) they in effect had the option to choose from one of 242 different combinations.
Design Impact
Our focus is on putting the creative tools in the hands of our customers, enabling them to be part of the process. We also want our products to contribute to our customers' emotional wellbeing by adding a little fun and happiness to their everyday lives.
We considered materials for their environmental impact.
The clock face is made of aluminium, which is 100% recyclable and on a percentage basis, it is the most recycled of any industrial metal. Powder coating was chosen as the finish, as it produces less hazardous waste than conventional liquid coatings.
Other key features:
On our website, we have a live view app, where customers can play around with different colour combinations and see exactly what it will look like.
A further feature of the clock is that it can also be rotated around the axis of the hanging mechanism to create different visual effects.
Form
TOO Tone Clock's aesthetic is characterised by its clean elegant lines, its simple geometric shape and its colours. Its archetypical clock form makes it simple and intuitive to understand. The choice of colours can either give it a restrained and sophisticated or a bold and playful personality, elevating it from a mere utilitarian object to a functional art piece.
Function
As a minimalistic time-piece TOO Tone Clock performs its function undeniably and effortlessly. The clock movement has a very low noise level which advances the user experience.
Sustainability
Materials and finishes were chosen for their environmental impact.
The clock face is made of aluminium, which is 100% recyclable. On a percentage basis, aluminium is the most recycled of any industrial metal. Powder coating was chosen as the finish, as it produces less hazardous waste than conventional liquid coatings.
The quartz movement is very energy efficient, it uses only one AA battery which can last for one to two years.
Quality
TOO Tone Clock features a high-quality German UTS quartz clock movement mechanism. The folded aluminium face and all other components are crafted locally to the highest standards and corresponds well with the desired price point. Lightweight Aluminium as the material is very appropriate as the whole clock face is only supported by the movement mechanism's steel axis and needed to be as light as possible to avoid damaging the mechanism. Folding the 2mm thick Aluminium gives it sufficient strength and rigidity, especially for the Extra Large (75cm diameter) size.
Innovation
TOO Tone Clock's concept is original and innovative; it rethinks the concept of wall clocks entirely and brings a unique and distinctive product to the home decor market. Its clever construction and lightweight material allow us at TOO Designs to offer it at a much larger size than any modern clock currently available on the market worldwide.
View TOO tone Clock on The Good Design Awards Website
