Design enables innovation from idea to UK manufacturing

Thanks to CID’s design experience and links to UK manufacturers, both products have been created, designed and manufactured in the Cambridge area, demonstrating the world-leading capacity that the city provides.

A winner in the Medical/Scientific Machinery category, the ioLight microscope combines high resolution with true portability. It has a resolution of better than 1μm, which produces beautiful pictures of animal and plant cells and displays them wirelessly on a tablet or mobile phone. Initially crowdfunded and now seeing rapidly increasing sales, ioLight has won endorsements from Bayer, Cambridge University and The Eden Project.

"ioLight began with an innovative vision and patent application for a pocket microscope with the resolution of a lab microscope. This needed a folding design that locked the optical system to the microscope stage so rigidly that we could get the 1 micron resolution required to see cells,” said Andrew Monk, Founder, iolight.

“The brief we gave Cambridge Industrial Design was made even more difficult because the microscope needed to be small and low cost, while we also needed a scalable manufacturing process to serve a rapidly growing business. Many designers dislike briefs with multiple constraints, but working with Cambridge Industrial Design has helped us turn our idea into reality. CID delivered a really cool product that met all of ioLight's requirements and looked fantastic too."

The Tangent Wave Ripple brings post-production colour grading of film out of the studio and onto desktops. An entry level grading panel that disrupts the market, it allows users to adjust the colour mix of film as it is edited through a striking and compact control surface that does not compromise on essential ergonomics. The Ripple won in the TV, Video and Audio Equipment category.

“While we’ve successfully operated in the film production world for some time, the Ripple was a radically different product, both for us and our customers,” said Chris Rose, Director, Tangent Wave.

“We wanted to offer the same powerful flexibility as our large studio panels but in a portable, cost effective package. Cambridge Industrial Design understood exactly what we were looking to do, and was able to help us create a product that not only meets the technical needs of our users, but has a compelling design that opens up new markets for us.”

“The ioLight and Ripple projects demonstrate the importance of innovative, ergonomic design to successful and disruptive products,” said Alex Jones, director, Cambridge Industrial Design.

“In both cases we’ve worked with exciting UK companies to take their ideas from concept to reality – including full manufacturing in the UK. Recognition from the European Design Awards shows the strength of our approach – and how Cambridge design and ideas can lead the world.”

The European Product Design Awards were created to recognise the efforts of talented international product designers who aim to improve people’s daily lives with their practical, well-thought-out creations. They reward the strategic thinking and imagination which goes into making a great product.