ViewLite Plus wins red dot design award

Very exciting news from the product design front Dataflex won a red dot honourable mention 2012 design award in the product design category for the new, previously unannounced and soon to be released ViewLite Plus (ViewLite+) monitor arm!

We are really proud to have won such a prestigious award and quite surprised to be honest. After all, its not every day an international jury awards you a red dot and this was the first time we submitted an entry.

Maybe we could have seen this coming? Its sibling, the FIRA certified regular ViewLite, won the Dutch GIO award (Good Industrial Design) last year and perhaps that should have been a clue. On the other hand, the red dot design award contest is one of the worlds largest and most distinguished design competitions. More than 14,000 participants from over 70 nations in 2011 alone document the relevance of the internationally sought-after red dot.

Roderik Mos, Horst Forstbach and Tijs Horn received the award at the red dot gala in Essen.

About the ViewLite Plus

The ViewLite Plus dynamic monitor arm is a unique product. Instead of using a conventional height adjustment mechanism based on either a coil spring or gas strut, it uses Single Direction Bearings (SDB). Our SDB mechanism completely balances the chosen position of the monitor. It provides enough friction to prevent the screen from sagging, and almost no friction at all when the user is moving the monitor upwards. This method completely eliminates the necessity for springs or gas struts.

Because of the constant force applied in conventional mechanisms to counter balance the monitor weight, a hazardous situation can arise while this load is removed. The ViewLite Plus lacks this constant tension and is therefore entirely safe under all circumstances. Also the need for tweaking the monitor balance belongs to the past since any and all other hardware (i.e. laptops, tablets or different sizes and weights of monitors) will not affect the balance and previously set height position.

Environmental Sustainability

When compared to coil springs and gas struts, the life-time of our SDB mechanism is far greater than anything currently on the market. Additionally, the use of recycled aluminium as a main material and implementing design for disassembly further improve sustainability.

Installation & Cable Management

Because of the open extensions of the ViewLite Plus, cable management is unlike anything else. It has become an integral part of the design. The quick-install-release-system simplifies installation and disassembly, which is a big time-saver. Especially in large projects.

About the award

When a product receives an honourable mention; it stands for outstanding design and belonging to the best in the industry. The red dot website goes on to say that; it(the award) recognises particularly well-executed aspects of design work, and is awarded to products with excellent detail solutions.

In 2012, 1,800 companies and designers from 58 countries registered to the red dot award: product design and grabbed their chance to prove their design ability in an international comparison with renowned designers and up-and-coming talents. Within the competition's 19 different categories, a total of 4,515 registrations have been submitted. But only the best were awarded. At Dataflex we appreciate a healthy competitive environment. The red dot contest surely qualifies as such. To win this award comes as a very pleasant surprise indeed and fuels our design teams efforts in shaping our next innovative practical solution.

About the design team

The ViewLite Plus was developed in-house by our product designer Tijs Horn and product manager Roderik Mos. Together they form the small and flexible R&D team at Dataflex.

They designed the sleek height adjustable module first, before implementing any height controlling mechanism, forcing themselves to look for other ways to achieve parallel height adjustment. This approach was taken because they wanted to imagine a height adjustable arm free of the bulkiness that comes with conventional mechanisms.

A release-date for the ViewLite Plus will be given in the near future. If you want to stay up-to-date on any developments concerning this product, be sure to come back to the news section on our website often. Alternatively, you can subscribe to our newsletter and well send important updates straight to your inbox.