sean_reid Posted January 13, 2009 Share #1 Posted January 13, 2009 Advertisement (gone after registration) Just sent to me from Leica: --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- LEICA M8 CHOSEN FOR CHICAGO ATHENAEUM’S 2008 GOOD DESIGN AWARD January 13, 2009 – The Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design and The European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies announced the LEICA M8 digital rangefinder camera as the recipient of the 2008 GOOD DESIGN award. The Jury for GOOD DESIGN based their decisions on aesthetic criteria stated in the original 1950 Program-criteria which measures innovation, form, materials, construction, concept, function and utility. Product appearance and aesthetic appeal is also considered. “We are incredibly pleased and honored to accept this award from this distinguished organization,” said CEO of Leica Camera AG, Dr. Andreas Kaufmann. “The M8, the world’s first professional digital rangefinder camera, has been celebrated since its release in 2006 and continues to impress and astonish photographers and designers alike. The digital successor of Leica’s famed M-series first introduced in 1954, the M8 seamlessly transfers Leica's core qualities of craftsmanship, lens superiority and practical design into the digital world.” This year the museum received hundreds of submissions from over 48 nations. The jury met in New York and Los Angeles in November and selected over 500 products and graphics worthy of the GOOD DESIGN Award for design distinction. The 2008 GOOD DESIGN show will premiere at the Chicago Athenaeum in June 2009. ABOUT THE GOOD DESIGN AWARDS The Chicago Athenaeum’s historic GOOD DESIGN program was founded in Chicago in 1950 by Edgar J. Kaufmann, Jr. with the participation of some of America’s most important designers: Eero Saarinen, Charles and Ray Eames, Alexander Girard, George Nelson, Florence Knoll, Harry Bretoia, Finn Juhl and Russel Wright – the pioneering greats of American and modern design. GOOD DESIGN remains the oldest and most important awards program worldwide. ABOUT LEICA CAMERA, AG Leica represents a union of craftsmanship, technology and experience. It is at once an extension of art, knowledge and philosophy, providing a state-of-the-art optical experience in a precision, hand-made photographic instrument. Leica Camera has a simple mission: to provide users with an incomparable experience, an instrument that defines an unsurpassed heritage and sets a standard of excellence for the industry to meet. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Advertisement Posted January 13, 2009 Posted January 13, 2009 Hi sean_reid, Take a look here Leica M8 Wins Design Award. I'm sure you'll find what you were looking for!
andit Posted January 13, 2009 Share #2 Posted January 13, 2009 All that I can say is Congratulations to Leica and to Dr Kaufmann and his team. May Leica still be around in many, many years. Well Done! Andreas Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vivek Iyer Posted January 13, 2009 Share #3 Posted January 13, 2009 How interesting! It is a distinguished architectural camera! Why did take so long?! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
brucek Posted January 13, 2009 Share #4 Posted January 13, 2009 Just sent to me from Leica: --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ABOUT THE GOOD DESIGN AWARDS The Chicago Athenaeum’s historic GOOD DESIGN program was founded in Chicago in 1950 by Edgar J. Kaufmann, Jr. Any relation to Leica's Dr. Kaufmann I wonder... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnbuckley Posted January 13, 2009 Share #5 Posted January 13, 2009 Any relation to Leica's Dr. Kaufmann I wonder... You may have heard of Edgar Kaufmann's father. He had the good design taste to offer a Chicago-area architect named Frank Lloyd Wright the opportunity to build a little Pennsylvania home with a stream running below it. They called the house Fallingwater. Good design sensibility then, and based on the judgment of the Chicago Athenaeum team, now as well.... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
mmk60 Posted January 13, 2009 Share #6 Posted January 13, 2009 Wonderful news and achievement. Congrats to Leica AG!!! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
epand56 Posted January 13, 2009 Share #7 Posted January 13, 2009 Advertisement (gone after registration) Great prize for all those photographers that like and use this awfully charming camera. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sean_reid Posted January 13, 2009 Author Share #8 Posted January 13, 2009 For people who are interested in product design, here's the full list of 2008 selections. Good Design 2008 Cheers, Sean Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
kameraguy Posted January 13, 2009 Share #9 Posted January 13, 2009 Amazing since the M design language has been around for many many years! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ljclark Posted January 13, 2009 Share #10 Posted January 13, 2009 Interesting...Imagine the judges' reaction to this aesthetic from a currently running topic: http://www.l-camera-forum.com/leica-forum/leica-m8-forum/74748-pimp-my-m8-2-a-3.html#post777594 This rendition could have pushed Leica far beyond anything attainable by the rest of the design world. Many would likely felt their competitive or aesthetic drive draining away -- once they cast eyes upon the Pink Prowler. Luckily, such excessive excellence is little known outside our select group. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
darvin2138 Posted January 14, 2009 Share #11 Posted January 14, 2009 Congrats Leica Team!!! I am proud to own one .. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
imported_reinierv Posted January 14, 2009 Share #12 Posted January 14, 2009 now go for a technology award Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
gfspencer Posted January 14, 2009 Share #13 Posted January 14, 2009 For people who are interested in product design, here's the full list of 2008 selections. Good Design 2008 Cheers, Sean Dang, I've got good taste! iMac with keyboard, iPod, Fiskars Shears, BMW R1200GS, LEICA M8 . . . . Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sean_reid Posted January 14, 2009 Author Share #14 Posted January 14, 2009 Though I don't purchase things based primarily on design I do think the M8 design is quite clean and elegant (though there are still functional improvements needed for ISO control for example) and I also think the design of many current Apple products is outstanding. Cheers, Sean Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
imported_reinierv Posted January 14, 2009 Share #15 Posted January 14, 2009 and then to think it is a 2006 design Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sdai Posted January 14, 2009 Share #16 Posted January 14, 2009 The current M design has been in its shape since early 1950s', so they've only decided it give an award to it more than half a century later??? Perhaps they've only discovered photography yesterday. I have some reward money to the Pyramids' architect, where shall I send them? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
vikasmg Posted January 14, 2009 Share #17 Posted January 14, 2009 Though I don't purchase things based primarily on design I do think the M8 design is quite clean and elegant (though there are still functional improvements needed for ISO control for example) and I also think the design of many current Apple products is outstanding. Cheers, Sean It's wonderful that Leica received this recognition. And Leica's good design is not limited to the M8. The infamous Panasonic-v/s-Leica debate comes up frequently with regard to LX-3 and D-Lux 4 and other similar Leica/Panasonic twins and people question whether this or that feature is worth the extra cost. My position is that even if other things were equal, just the better quality of design is reason enough to pay the extra cost! While technologically they are wonders, there are few products more unsightly than the typical modern SLR. In this regard the Leica S2 points the way to a refreshingly elegant approach! Regarding Apple, design was also a major (though not only) reason for me to finally switch from PCs to Apple computers :-) - Vikas Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ken_tanaka Posted January 14, 2009 Share #18 Posted January 14, 2009 I, too, congratulate Leica on this recognition. But I do feel compelled to offer something of a caveat. I live quite close to where the Chicago Athenaeum museum has been over the years. (It has not existed at all for quite a spell, since it seems to have again lost its lease.) As you can see from its history this "Chicago Athenaeum" has been more conceptual than physical over its years. A shifting group of industrial designers, architects, and intellectuals make an annual list of "cool stuff". Fine. But I could not suppress a smile when I read that the M8 made the latest "cool stuff" list. It was a perfect fit. If this list's constituents have featured any common hallmark over the years it's been form-over-function. (I write this as someone who's bought many products featured on their lists over the years, and as someone who has spent many visits to the Chicago Athenaeum's former "museum" and store.) The Leica M8 is certainly the photographic equivalent of the pricey Luxo Heron lamps that I purchased from the Athenaeum's store years ago. They, too, could most accurately be described as looked-terrific-but-kinda-worked-good-most-of-the-time. They, too, carried design-premium prices incommensurate with their functional value and market-relative performance. So I only wonder what took Leica so long to get one of their cameras on this esteemed intellectual list? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TimF Posted January 14, 2009 Share #19 Posted January 14, 2009 The current M design has been in its shape since early 1950s', so they've only decided it give an award to it more than half a century later??? Perhaps they've only discovered photography yesterday. I have some reward money to the Pyramids' architect, where shall I send them? Well, the M3 won a "best gadget ever" award from a magazine a couple of years ago. Little changes it seems. Well done to Leica anyway. Now how about recognition for the lens designers too. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Luis D Posted January 14, 2009 Share #20 Posted January 14, 2009 Is great the M8 gets an award from a museum commitee for style and design, but I will like to see the M8 get an award from digital technology experts and/or photojournalism agency. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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