Honor Underscores Plantronics Design Innovation
Plantronics
(NYSE: PLT) today announced that its Voyager®
PRO UC Bluetooth® headset has been named a 2011 International Design
Excellence Award (IDEA) winner by the Industrial Designers Society of
America (IDSA). This prestigious award celebrates design excellence in
products, sustainability, interaction design, packaging, strategy,
research and concepts. Voyager PRO UC was named a Silver Award winner in
the Communications Tools category.
The Plantronics design team was challenged to design a headset that
would deliver superior comfort, long battery life, and unmatched sound
quality in an aesthetically appealing form. The Voyager PRO line of
headsets takes its inspiration from the design of classic sound tubes
and retro microphones that echo designs from the “Jet Age” - a nod to
Plantronics’ beginnings as a headset manufacturer for NASA. This retro
theme is incorporated throughout the product, culminating in the
sweeping flare of the battery compartment that ensures the perfect
weight and balance for maximum comfort.
“We consider it an honor to receive an award for design excellence from
IDSA,” said Darrin Caddes, vice president of corporate design for
Plantronics. “We’ve received many design awards in recent years but this
one is of particular relevance to us as it comes as recognition from our
peers in the design community. We design our products to complement
human anatomy and act as an extension of the end user and do our best to
create solutions that not only deliver best in class audio performance,
but also provide a simple and seamless user experience.”
Voyager PRO UC combines Plantronics’ award-winning Voyager PRO Bluetooth
headset with a plug-and-play Bluetooth USB adapter to deliver richer
wideband audio on softphones along with the Voyager PRO headset’s
superior noise and wind cancellation on both mobile phones and
softphones. Additionally, Voyager PRO UC delivers advanced hardware and
software that seamlessly eliminates communication complexity by
detecting presence and integrating with PC applications - dramatically
enhancing the headset experience.
Caddes continued, “Our goal is to extend the notion of comfort beyond
ergonomics and well into the products form factor and total product
experience. It’s one thing to ask someone if their headset is
comfortable, and another entirely to ask them if they’re comfortable in
their headset. It takes a team of very talented designers and engineers
to pull this off and we feel the Voyager Pro line exemplifies what we
like to call Simply Smarter Communications.”
About The IDSA
The IDSA is one of the world’s oldest, largest, member-driven societies
for product design, industrial design, interaction design, human
factors, ergonomics, design research, design management, universal
design and related design fields. For detailed descriptions, photos and
contact information on this year’s IDEA winners, visit http://www.idsa.org/idea-2011-gallery.
The 2011 IDEA jury included 20 international design experts coming from
design consultancies, corporations and universities. Judging criteria
focused on eight areas of industrial design excellence: innovation;
benefit to the user; benefit to society; benefit to the client; visual
appeal and appropriate aesthetics; usability, emotional factors and
unmet needs for the design research category; and internal factors,
methods, strategic value, and implementation for the design strategy
category. Best in Show, Curator’s Choice, People’s Choice, and the
Responsibility Awards will be announced during the IDSA International
Conference in New Orleans, September 17, 2011.
About Plantronics - Simply Smarter CommunicationsTM
Plantronics is a global leader in audio communications for businesses
and consumers. We have pioneered new trends in audio technology for 50
years, creating innovative products that allow people to simply
communicate. From unified communication solutions to Bluetooth®
headsets, we deliver uncompromising quality, an ideal experience, and
extraordinary service. Plantronics is used by every company in the
Fortune 100, as well as 911 dispatch, air traffic control and the New
York Stock Exchange. For more information, please visit www.plantronics.com
or call (800) 544-4660.
Plantronics, Simply Smarter Communications and Voyager are trademarks or
registered trademarks of Plantronics, Inc. The Bluetooth trademark is
owned by Bluetooth SIG, Inc. and any use of the mark by Plantronics,
Inc. is under license. All other trademarks are the property of the
respective owners.
Genevieve Haldeman
Vice President, Global Communications
Work genevieve.haldeman@plantronics.com
Lerin O'Neill
Mobile and Gaming
Work lerin.oneill@plantronics.com
Office 831-458-7595