Good industrial design catches one’s eye, but good industrial design is not without purpose. The winners of IBO’s 2012 Design Awards for analytical instrumentation highlight the successful interplay of form and function, creating a distinct appearance that serves to increase the instrument’s usability and communicate a product message that resonates with end-users. In each case, the winning systems advance the industrial design of their respective technology categories, enhancing the instrument’s capabilities and interaction with the end-user.

The IBO Industrial Design Awards are chosen based on the product’s physical appearance, not performance, and are selected from the hundreds of new analytical instruments that IBO views throughout the year at trade shows, in publications and online. For this year’s Awards, eligible products began commercial shipments between August 2011 and July 2012. Criteria includes innovation, aesthetic appeal and end-user features.

Gold Award

The Gold Award for the 2012 IBO Industrial Design Awards goes to Agilent Technologies’ Cary 630 FT-IR spectrometer. Benchtop lab spectrometers have been shrinking in size for years, but this system takes a leap. The 3.8 kg (8 lb), 16 x 13 x 13 cm (6 x 12 x 5 in) system is designed for routine applications, with a spectral resolution of less than 2 cm-1. The color contrast and rounded corners create a modern appearance, while five interchangeable sample accessories (diamond attenuated total reflectance [ATR], transmission, TumblIR, DialPath, diffuse reflectance) create an integrated look.

In designing the Cary 630, Agilent worked with industrial design firm CobaltNiche. The Cary 630 took a year and a half to develop. Key to the system’s design was its modularity, according to Jeff Comerford, Agilent marketing manager for Molecular Spectroscopy. “This relationship between the engine and sample modules provided the key idea behind the instrument’s design and user experience. For example, the design considered the mechanical action of mounting modules, easy sample mounting and even customer installation of the system,” he said. The Cary 630’s appearance also had to “speak” to its end-users. “As the Cary 630 is an instrument used for routine applications, its industrial design needed to reflect simplicity of use and robustness. In addition, the development team wanted the visual language to be both intelligent and approachable.”

The aesthetic priority involved a new approach focused on form, contrast and texture, which is reflected both in the instrument’s overall appearance as well as details. “For example, the chamfer encircling the top face of engine and sample modules tends to reduce perceived size, as well as creating a unifying element linking the otherwise different-sized modules,” noted Mr. Comerford. Also, he explained, the trim moldings “disguise deep bosses in the main molding necessary to provide an air-tight seal; help rationalize the rear face of the instrument, which neatly integrates a humidity indicator window and cable entry points; minimizes the depth of the sealed and backlit power button, which sits underneath; [and] introduces a greater degree of dark charcoal tones, visually tying the instrument closer to smaller instruments.”

Similarly, the Cary 630’s usability was the result of its industrial design. Mr. Comerford cited increased functionality due to: “being able to easily add/remove accessories through small, ergonomically designed covers for the engine and accessories; having a positive ‘lock-in’ mechanism ensures that the accessories are always connected correctly to the engine; the lever to remove the accessory is readily located to allow simple removing of accessories; [and] the flat top of the ATR accessory provides a simple interface to mount samples.”

In addition, the outer materials contribute to the overall design approach, creating a positive impression. “The materials used for the covers were carefully chosen for rigidity (sealing), chemical resistance and surface finish. They create a high-quality and robust feel that is highly valued by customers,” noted Mr. Comerford. “In comparison, other instruments in this class of product have a ‘hollowly plastic’ feel and look that questions the overall quality of the system.”

The Cary 630’s industrial design has clearly made an impression on customers, according to Mr. Comerford. “I would say that the industrial design has been one of the key factors that have made this product extremely successful during its short time in the market. While the performance speaks for itself, leading the way in this ‘routine’ class of FT-IR instruments, the feedback we have got from our customers has been more than positive regarding the design.”

The design elements communicate the product’s message, enhancing it marketability. “I would even go as far as to say that some customers have purchased the instrument based on the look and feel of the design, as it represents ‘new technology,’ ‘small footprint’ (which is a key factor as many labs are bench space challenged), ‘ease-of-use,’ ‘robustness’ and is simply an exciting design that makes you want to have it once you have seen one in person!”

Silver Award

Size is also important to the design success of Advion’s expression CMS (compact MS), IBO’s 2012 Silver Award winner for analytical instrument industrial design. The expression CMS measures 26 x 11 x 22 in (66 x 28 x 56 cm) and weighs 70 lb (32 kg). The expression is distinguished from other single quadruple MS systems by its narrow width and signature design features, including the curvature of its front top; a blue-framed window; and recessed, squared vent area at the bottom front. Such features keep the expression from being boxy, differentiating it from similar MS systems and contributing to its compact and distinctive appearance.

The expression CMS is designed specifically for chemists for applications such as real-time reaction monitoring, mass confirmations of flash fractions and LC/MS. It works with either electrospray ionization or atmospheric pressure chemical ionization and has an m/z range of 10–1200. Priced at $49,900 in the US and $55,000 internationally, the system began shipping earlier this year (see IBO 3/15/12). Advion worked with Insync Design on the expression CMS, which took at total of four-and-a-half years to develop.

Design priorities include the expression’s size, enabling both portability on a cart and placement in a fume hood to increase usability. “Users can roll up a cart and bring the expression CMS to the workflow, versus taking the work to a central lab and waiting for an answer,” explained Jamey Jones, vice president of Operations and Technology at Advion. According to CEO and President David Patteson, “We were strongly advised by our customer development partners to use as little horizontal bench space as possible, while preserving minimal depth. This was such that a chemist could use the mass spec in a fume hood and close the sash—something heretofore being impossible.” Creating the compact size to fit in a fume hood also necessitated a focus on the expression CMS’s width. “As a result, Advion developed internal parts with these requirements in the forefront, which resulted in a system which would fit in any conventional fume hood and take up only 11 inches width,” said Mr. Jones.

The design also had to enable suitable access from the front, contributing to the end-user’s experience. “[W]e expanded the design to include a customer requirement that, once installed, the unit should never have to be swiveled or accessed at its rear,” said Mr. Patteson. “This made it necessary that we make the ‘business end’ of the mass spec essentially entirely front accessed for every feature (fluidics, ion sources, routine maintenance, computer connections, chromatography and column connectivity, etc.). Then we added a front-accessed bonnet, which houses the ion sources.” As Mr. Jones explained, “Putting the user-access controls on the front of the mass spectrometer ensures every expression CMS user, irrespective of physical size, has access to the system’s full capabilities.” However, doing so presented challenges. “The aesthetic challenge was to do this without crowding the front and ensuring the mass spectrometer was ergonomically safe as well,” explained Mr. Patteson. It also provided a design opportunity. “This may sound a bit silly, but we wanted to stray a bit from the ‘humdrum square-ish’ kit on the bench today.”

Driving the industrial design decisions was market research, said Mr. Jones. “Size, user access and ergonomics were the primary requirements for industrial design. It had to be at least capable of performing well in a hood, or a bench, or a transportable cart.” Asked about the importance of the industrial design for the expression CMS’s sales and marketing, Mr. Patteson told IBO, “It is a major factor. This is a different product: a high quality mass spec in half the size and for half the price. The fact that it looks demonstrably different makes it stand out as actually being different.”

Bronze Award

Malvern Instruments’ Mastersizer 3000 particle-size analyzer is the 2012 IBO Design Award Bronze winner. Utilizing design features characteristic of other Malvern particle-sizing systems, the Mastersizer 3000 presents a wholly different appearance from most lab instruments, with a gray, shiny, slightly rounded casing, creating a sophisticated yet inviting appearance. Three accessories for wet and dry dispersion echo these design themes, combining a sense of playfulness with a high-technology look.

The Mastersizer 3000 measures 690 x 300 x 450 mm (27 x 12 x 17 in) and weighs 30 kg (66 lb). The system utilizes laser diffraction to measure the distribution of particle sizes 10 nm–3.5 mm in suspensions, emulsions and dry powders. It features a footprint almost half the size of Malvern’s other Mastersizer systems. The system is priced £28,000–£40,000 ($44,444–$63,492 = £0.63 = $1).

All of the design work for the Mastersizer 3000 was done in house, according to Carl Levoguer, product marketing manager. “One of the key requirements was that the instrument should be small enough for modern quality control labs and ergonomically easy to use, especially for user-based maintenance tasks,” he said. “Also, the footprint of the Mastersizer 3000 accessories is much smaller, meaning that less storage space is required for accessories when not in use.”

As an example of the ergonomic considerations, Dr. Levoguer described the Hydro EV wet dispersion accessory. “[It] is designed to take a range of different laboratory beakers. The hinged design allows the user to place or remove the beaker with the stirrer mechanism out of place, yet the accessory is still perfectly balanced, and has been designed so that stirrer mechanism closes down into place without needing to move/adjust the beaker.”

The visual appeal also contributes to brand identity. “We wanted the overall appearance to be striking yet familiar to users of our existing Mastersizer products,” explained Dr. Levoguer. “We also wanted the design to be in keeping with Malvern’s new brand identity, embodied in the colors and finishes used, as well as our brand characteristics of quality and simplicity and our brand values of innovation and confidence,” he added. “This led to an overall design where all parts with which the user interacts have hints of the appearance and styling of luxury household kitchen appliances, everyday objects with which most people will be familiar,” he noted.

One of the design of the challenges was “ensuring simple automation of manual tasks, such as inserting/removing the measurement cell [and] reducing instrument weight while maintaining a high level of robustness,” said Dr. Levoguer. The handle on the top of the system indicates how to change the cell. Ease of use features include automation of cell insertion, tool-less maintenance access and rapid switching of accessories. An example, he said, is the measurement cell, which ”is designed to be accessed just with the flip of lever to release the windows. This allows easy access for cleaning/maintenance if required, and no special tool or user skill is required to reseal the system properly afterwards.”