The greatest designs of modern times

What constitutes great design? Fortune magazine recently published the findings of IIT Institute of Design research project, 100 Great Designs of Modern Times. This concludes a near yearlong effort to update Jay Doblin’s original study - 100 Best Products of Modern Times, first published in 1959. IDE’s dean Ena Voûte, participated in the research and three of her great design choices are featured in the final presentation: Lego Building Blocks, Post-Its and Philip’sHue Lighting System.

The 100 products, which have made our lives simpler, better, and more stylish, and with Ena’s choices can be seen in the presentation 100 Great Designs of Modern Times.

About her choices:

Lego Building Blocks - Lego (Hillary Fisher Page), 1939 _{- no. 9-page 41}
Ena describes Lego as: “building Blocks to make your imagination and fantasies come to life. Super for development of kids and a different means to express your ‘design’ than text or drawing. I spent hours with it when young”.

Post-Its - 3M (Spencer Silver and Arthur Fry), 1977 _{- no. 15- page 47}
About the post-its, Ena comments: “still very much used by me being a visual person that recollects what needs doing by making it visible”.

Hue Lighting System - Phillips (Signify), 2012 _{- no. 21-page 53}
And about the Hue Lighting System: “light points are the network for communication, hidden in a light bulb, but capable of much more”.

You can also visit fortune.com and id.iit.edu for more information.