70 users help analyser win Danish design prize

Edited by the Engineeringtalk editorial team Mar 30, 2005

Bruel and Kjaer has received the Danish Design Prize 2004 for its Type 2250 handheld analyser that the company developed in cooperation with users in four countries including the UK.

Bruel and Kjaer has received the Danish Design Prize 2004 for its Type 2250 handheld analyser that the company developed in co-operation with users in four countries including the UK.

The company decided to involve 70 professional users from the UK and three other countries in the development of its latest handheld analyser Type 2250.

The award-winning result is a completely new instrument design that is easy and reliable to use, even under extreme conditions said the company.

The fourth generation platform is specially designed to be adaptable to future needs, while meeting the ergonomic requirements of users.

The professional users involved in the instrument's development set many design requirements for the new generation of sound analysers by demanding a combination of user-friendliness, superior ergonomic design and innovative technology said Bruel and Kjaer.

Besides providing a series of answers to users' practical problems, the analyser can be held securely and easily operated with only one hand.

Its display is easily read under all conditions ranging from bright sunshine to total darkness, claimed the company.

Customers can also choose whether their analyser is supplied as an off-the-shelf standard model or one adapted for specific technical requirements.

"If we are to maintain our position in the market, we must focus more and more on the needs, requirements, ideas and dreams of our customers".

"That is why we involve our customers to a greater extent in the development of our products".

"Input from users is vital to us, not only for the development of individual products, but also for our strategies and marketing", said Thomas Konigsfeldt, Marketing Manager at Bruel and Kjaer.

Explaining why the Type 2250 won the Design Prize Award the jury's statement said: "This sound level meter combines outstanding design and state of the art technology".

"With the Type 2250 handheld analyser Bruel and Kjaer has gone the full nine yards and fully met the expectations to a market leader".

"A coherent design expression and ergonomics at its best without aesthetic compromise".

"Evident in exquisite detailing, which is also testimony to good choices in terms of materials and manufacturing processes".

"A user interface that lives up to the ambitions of being easy, safe and consistent to operate".

"The design is clearly influenced by the users who have, laudably, been at the centre of the design process".

"Thus, the user may choose to buy the product off the shelf, or in a version adapted to specific desires and requirements".

"The result is a sound meter that pushes the envelope for potential requirements to instrument design".

"It is nice to handle, has a simple and straightforward user interface and is practically hard to put down".

The Type 2250 analyser is designed to make it easy to find and review data and features a large, high-resolution, touch-sensitive colour screen offering clear status and measurement progress indication using traffic light indicators.

The analyser's built-in microphone allows spoken comments to be attached to measurements for easy documentation, and different colour schemes for the display make it easy to view in bright daylight as well as at night.

The instrument has a 120dB dynamic range with a 3Hz to 20kHz broadband linear frequency range and with the use of optional modules is capable of real-time frequency analysis in 1/1- or 1/3-octave bands, said Bruel and Kjaer.