The title of Warren Berger's recently published book -- "Glimmer: How Design Can Transform Your Life and Maybe Even the World" -- is ambitious. The typical understanding of what "design" means to many of us is the way something looks or feels: the look of an iPod or a movie poster, furniture or everyday appliances, for example. But, what if it was, as Berger says, "a way of looking at the world with an eye toward changing it?"

A total of 18 South African designed products received excellence awards at a function hosted by the SABS Design Institute last night. The function was attended by dignitaries from government and industry, the crème de la crème of South Africa’s product design fraternity and the media.

 Most of the design awards went to the home and office ware category, with the Kubic Innovator LED system, the Willow Lamp Moonflower Chandelier, the Vector gate-opening system, a range of innovative taps and the SKALA business furniture systems receiving awards.

Prominent Paints considers painting a professional field and an art form. The company believes that by recognising and awarding excellence in the industry, it can help raise the bar in terms of service, quality standards, innovation and painting methods. As such, the company is hosting the Prominent Paints Painter of the Year competition again this year.

Concept devices go where most product designers fear to tread. They are dream gadgets that hint at possibilities beyond what current technology can support — or what current fashion can accept. And that’s just why we like them. They may be fantasies, but concept designs point at a future that today’s designers aspire towards.

• Future Phones Dazzle With Design
  

A major source of the concept phones this year has been Fujitsu, which ran a mobile-phone–design contest. But other companies such as NTT DoCoMo and KDDI also offered their futuristic phone ideas. Of course, these phones aren’t real. Some of them aren’t even in the prototype stage. Yet they are interesting because they provide a glimpse of what lies ahead — even if it’s still only on paper.