News release: 29th May 2001

Abuzz wins 2001 Australian Design Award for Industrial Design

Australian-owned multimedia touchscreen company, Abuzz Technologies, has seized an Australian Design Award for Industrial Design, amongst heavyweight players such as General Motors Holden & Breville.

Standards Australia recognised Abuzz for their touchscreen information kiosk, The Buz, designed originally for BMW Australia vehicle showrooms. "We're really thrilled to be accepting this award, especially since we're a relatively young business, formed less than four years ago", said CEO, Morgan Drew.

'The Buz' is used by BMW customers to assist with model selection by providing details on vehicle options and accesories. It also helps to capture customer information such as contact and communication details.

BMW were searching for a kiosk to use as an interactive marketing and communication medium in their showrooms.

"We had to meet stringent criteria ranging from ergonomics, originality, marketability as well as environmental considerations for the Award," Drew said from his Sydney studio.

"Then to win the design award itself we had to convince the judges that our product was the best in what proved to be a very strong design field."

Judges were instructed to consider the worth of individual products as examples of design excellence for presentation to the public and their contribution to the Australian design identity.

"It's rare in Australia to be given the opportunity to find clients, such as BMW, willing to invest in both functional design and aesthetics", Drew said.

"Abuzz focuses on design and aesthetics. So often interactive communication tools are housed in unappealing enclosures whereby functionality and the touch-screen mechanism is developed without consideration for the entire form or the environment in which the kiosk is to be displayed ? they need to invite people to use them."

'The Buz' is the most recent addition to a successful range of touch-screen kiosks that have been developed by Abuzz, Australia's premium kiosk design and manufacturing company.

"Australia should be proud of its design abilities and we should benefit from these abilities by increasing our export capabilities."

Abuzz exports to 14 countries, including the United States, Germany and the United Kingdom.

For further information on Abuzz Technologies and other applications for touch-screen kiosks, contact:
Damien Edmonds
Abuzz Technologies
P: 02 9698 1588
M: 0418 414 008
www.abuzz.com.au
www.designawards.com.au

PDF of Buz