Award-winning designs

A silicon putty with endless applications to build, repair or improve. A political campaign printed on bundles of worthless banknotes. A hundred little pandas that swivel to follow you around the room. The designs of the future are anything but predictable.

Alexander McQueen's catwalk presentation was broadcast live by Nick Knight’s SHOWstudio.On 16 March, London student Min-Kyu Choi's reinvention of the everyday three-pin plug won the 2010 Brit Insurance Design Award.

This design was chosen from the winners of seven categories: architecture, fashion, furniture, graphic, interactive, product and transport, taken from 100 shortlisted designs.

Antony Gormley, Chair of the Jury, commented, "The seven winners provide a snapshot of some of the most outstanding designs from the past 12 months and reflect the important role design plays in improving people’s lives.”

Brit Insurance Design Awards 2010

The Trillion Dollar Campaign was printed on worthless banknotes.Even divided between seven different categories, the design entries can be extremely divergent. Some designs are used in everyday life, like the BBC iPlayer and Amazon’s Kindle e-book.

Other designs are yet to take hold, but have a ‘simple solution’ appeal that could make them massively popular. Watch out for the ‘Sugru’ silicone clay that can customise or repair almost anything you own. Similarly, the internet broadcast of Alexander McQueen, reaching an audience far beyond the fashion elite, could define the future of catwalk presentations.

Designs can also be political, like the famous Obama poster, last year’s winner. A nominee for best graphic design was The Zimbabwean Newspaper’s Trillion Dollar Campaign, the exiled newspaper’s unique method of advertising on valueless Zimbabwe currency – cheaper to print on than paper.

Jason Bruges Studio’s 'Panda Eyes' follow you around the room.Another campaigning design, nominated for best interactive, was Jason Bruges Studio’s ‘Panda Eyes’ for the World Wildlife Fund – a hundred rotating pandas set to track and follow any movement.

Some designs do not have such direct applicability, but are influenced by art. Dilight’s ‘L-E-D-LED-L-ED’ is an installation of light-emitting beads that visitors can interact with to create their own shapes. While Brian Eno and Peter Chilvers have created 'Bloom', an iPhone application that responds to touch with music and visuals.

Award-winning designs

Grassworks furniture is made entirely from bamboo.From seven categories, one winning design was selected from each. Celebrating the most outstanding designs of the past year, they reflect international trends and creative innovation.

• Architecture: Monterrey Housing; a ‘half-house’ solution to social housing, giving residents the opportunity for self-build expansions
• Fashion: Alexander McQueen Spring/Summer 2010; this live internet catwalk presentation proved massively popular, opening McQueen’s designs to a much larger audience
• Furniture: Grassworks; flat-pack furniture with no screws or glue, made entirely from environmentally-friendly bamboo.
• Graphic: The Newspaper Club; low-cost, small print runs allow anyone to produce a newspaper.
• Interactive: The EyeWriter; eye-tracking glasses that enables paralysed artists to draw by moving their eyes.
• Product: Folding Plug; reducing a bulky UK three-pin plug to something that folds to just 10mm wide.
• Transport: E430 Electric Aircraft, able to fly for three hours with minimal noise and vibration, all for the cost of £5.

Alex Newson, curator of the Brit Insurance Designs of the Year exhibition, said, “It’s interesting to see how themes of sustainability and social responsibility have emerged in this year nominations, revealing both the importance of economical and social change in design over the last twelve months. It’s a broad field and an exciting celebration of design.”

Top design: the folding plug

Min-Kyu Choi's plug folds to 10mm.Originally designed in 1947, the UK electrical plug has changed little and is now often bulkier than the equipment it powers. Spurred by having to carry around a plug thicker than his laptop, Min-Kyu Choi designed a model that folds down to a width of just 10mm.

Like all the best designs, this simple, inspired solution has universal appeal. Choi is also expanding the concept to include a three-appliance multi-plug and USB charger, reduced to the size of a single traditional plug.

Deyan Sudjic, director of the Design Museum, said: "It's great to see such a practical but elegant demonstration of what design can do to make everyday life so much better. Min-Kyu Choi is a designer just setting out on his career and he clearly has a great future ahead of him."