360° mirror Ciclope wins the 2012 BraunPrize for IED Torino

Marica Vizzuso, student of the Istituto Europeo di Design, carries off the prize in the Italy section at the high prestige world contest Marica Vizzuso, graduated in the Three-year post-diploma Course in Industrial Design IED Turin a.y. '11/12, triumphed at the 2012 Braun Prize which saw the participation, for the students section, of 1850 projects from more than 70 countries. At the final prize-giving ceremony at Kronberg in Germany, the young industrial designer’s Ciclope project beat Italian competitors, winning the prize for the national section - Italy. The Braun competition, directed towards international promotion of young designers, throwing a bridge between the new design talents and sector companies, required the development of innovative design ideas and solutions for the industrial design segment, to be applied to everyday life. The students participated in the contest in February 2012, developing the thesis project that marks the end of the three-year course of studies. Each designer worked on implementation of a project, complete with a life size model of the concept. For their respective submissions, the class considered the wellbeing of society as a principle of study and research on the basis of three binding assessment criteria: DESIGN as the combination of innovation, usability, ergonomics and aesthetics, TECHNOLOGY as the use of innovative technology to improve product functionality and SUSTAINABILITY as the environmental compatibility of the product concept. Marica Vizzuso’s research project started from analysis of one of the most frequent activities of daily life: a woman arranging her hair before a mirror. "Observing my mother and sister doing their hair - declares the designer - I realized that, using both hands to style their hair, they were unable to take a second mirror able to provide a rear view in real-time, i.e. a 360° view. I, therefore, had the idea of creating a third hand that is, at the same time, also a third arm and third eye”. Ciclope is a screen that, when switched on, becomes a 360° mirror thanks to connection to a webcam located on a flexible, mobile arm. The webcam is activated by a side button of the screen which, in turn, also acts as a mirror as it is covered with a reflecting film on the glass that hides the LCD screen. The multi-touch system of the display also provides secondary functions such as connection to internet, selection of games and music. Once the display has been switched on, the webcam transmits the images filmed and can also be focussed on a selected detail with simultaneous viewing of several parts of the face while carrying out other beauty care actions. Other functions of Ciclope include a photographic memory that saves preferred images in a gallery. The thesis projects of the Three-year post-diploma Course in Industrial Design a.y. '11/12, which participated in the 2012 BraunPrize, were carried out under the supervision of Andrea Filippi, Coordinator of the IED Turin Course in Industrial Design and Marco Valente, Director of the IED Turin Design School.