THE GOODS : Simple Pleasures : High-tech gadets aren’t everything. This year’s crop of award-winning product designs proves less is more.

When the eight jurors for this year’s Industrial Design Excellence Awards started their two days of judging, the first task was to view a slide show incorporating all 766 entries. “It was sensory overload and a very, very taxing experience,” said juror Shaun Jackson of Ann Arbor, Mich., of the visual flood of housewares, tools, computers, toys, gadgets, automobiles, furniture and electronics.

But it was also a valuable overview, he added. “Since you see so many well-designed products, you also look for items that jump out at you--that represent solutions to a problem you can relate to, or that is indicative of society today.”

In this respect the annual competition is considered a bellwether in terms of what’s happening in the American marketplace.

“It is a window on the state of current product development,” said Kristina Goodrich of the Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA), which established the competition in 1980 to spotlight the country’s best product designs.

Sifting through the 766 entries, one of the largest fields since the program began, the judges scored each product in five categories: design innovation, benefits to user, benefits to the manufacturer/client, ecological responsibility and visual appeal.

This year’s competition produced 33 gold, 56 silver and 61 bronze award winners. All the products have been introduced commercially in the past year. The awards will be officially presented Sept. 16 at the IDSA annual meeting.

“I think the American consumer has become more design-aware in purchasing,” Goodrich said. “We are seeing household products that are well-done aesthetically, as well as functional.”

The jurors, all distinguished designers, echoed her observation.

“It’s nice to see the consistently high level of product design in the United States,” said Liz Powell of San Francisco, senior vice president for design at Sony Signatures and chairwoman of the juror committee.

“There is also a great sense of vitality when you look at all these entries,” she added. “It makes you feel good that there are so many talented practitioners out there.”

Although the number of entries was large, one of the trends that emerged, she said, was a growing sense of economy--partly because of environmental considerations. “They are cutting back on the number of products and also sharing parts.”

A typical example, she said, is the growing amount of “telephone-items,” such as a bedroom telephone that combines the functions of a phone and an alarm clock (with the choice of a ring, chime or music), so that two staple bedside items have become one. Another telephone offers a key pad Rolodex in addition to the standard number key pad.

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Yet despite the stepped-up pace of technology evident in this year’s competition, an equally strong theme running through the winning designs was simplicity. This was particularly evident in the gold-medal winners in the Consumer Category, pictured here.

“Sometimes it is just a very simple kind of innovation that makes life easier,” Powell said. She cited the no-hands SnakeLight as a good example. “Anyone who’s had the experience of a tool in one hand and a flashlight in the other will recognize that.”

The IDSA’s Goodrich considers it encouraging that an item such as a dental flosser or kick board can still be improved. “It means there are still wonderful opportunities for innovation in everyday products, and in new and better ways of doing simple things,” she said. And, she added, it demonstrates that technology is our servant and shouldn’t be the purpose of a product.

“It came out repeatedly during the jury discussions that design is at its best when it does what it needs to, and no more. Knowing when to stop is really as much a part of excellence as knowing when to begin.

“For instance, you don’t need a motorized flosser.”

Jackson, whose juror categories included the consumer entries, thinks the trend toward simplicity is a natural human reaction to an increasingly mechanized world.

“I think there is a nascent interest in simplicity because of the saturation of technology in our lives today,” he said. “We start to look to things that are quantifiable, self-evident and easy to understand.”

And he expects the counter-trend to continue.

“That’s in a great part the aging of the baby boom generation. They are the ones who really embraced this technology, but, as they get older, they are rejecting it.”