Partec’s CUBE 6 Flow Cytometer Wins “Red Dot: Best of the Best” Design Award 2013

The ‘CUBE 6’ by German biotechnology and diagnostics company Partec filled the 37-member jury of experts for the “red dot award: product design 2013” with enthusiasm. With its unique flow cytometry system, Partec proved its ultimate design strength in an international comparison. As a well-earned prize, Partec was awarded the “red dot: best of the best” for its smart and impressive product creation. 4,662 products were entered in the “red dot award: product design 2013”, but only a very select few were given the honour of being considered for the top award in one of the world’s most renowned competitions.

The CUBE 6 made the cut: with the "red dot: best of the best", it is guaranteed global visibility. Because on 1 July 2013, all eyes of the top names in international design will be focused on Essen, Germany. The red dot gala in the Aalto Theater is always the final highlight of the "red dot award: product design". Over the past years, the awards ceremony has become established as a celebratory ceremony with international guests. The Partec CUBE 6 will then be put on display during a four-week special exhibition in the red dot design museum.

The CUBE 6 instrument allows individual cells to be analysed and sorted based on a range of cellular properties, featuring acquisition rates of up to 100,000 cells per minute. The key technology flow cytometry is used in immunology in areas such as leukaemia, lymphoma and HIV/AIDS, in cancer diagnosis and research, in microbiology, in agricultural and aquacultural research and in industrial applications in sectors such as food and pharmaceuticals.

The key figures behind the award-winning product design were Jens Kaschlik, proprietor and manager of Berlin design agency formfreunde, Professor Wolfgang Göhde, inventor of fluorescence-based flow cytometry and executive director for Partec's Münster offices, Dipl.-Ing. Tobias Henkel, director of technical product development, and Roland Göhde, executive director for Partec's Görlitz operations. The CUBE product presentation was developed by Münster design agency cyclos design GmbH, who were given a brief to develop a communicative design.

Product portfolio featuring an innovative combination of design, ergonomics, performance and cost-effectiveness

The assessment criteria of the jury included degree of innovation, functionality, formal quality, ergonomics, durability, symbolic and emotional content, product periphery, self-explanatory quality and ecological compatibility.

“The prestigious ‘red dot best of the best‘ quality seal of design approval granted for the CUBE 6 flow cytometer is underlining Partec’s uniquely innovative approach to high-performance instrument development in life sciences, diagnostics and biotechnology,” says Roland Göhde. “The Partec product portfolio can be generally characterized by the combination of groundbreaking all-in-one design with outstanding ergonomics, whilst featuring optimal performance. Besides the CUBE 6 instrument, this also includes the CUBE 8 flow cytometer, red dot design award winner 2012 and iF design award winner 2013, and the CyFox® DNA/RNA gel electrophoresis device having received the ‘red dot award: product design 2013‘.

Prof. Dr. Peter Zec, initiator and CEO of the red dot, has pointed out that strong design competence and economic success nowadays go hand in hand: “The winners of the ‘red dot award: product design 2013‘ are the protagonists of a highly developed design culture and design industry. These days it is becoming more and more difficult to distinguish between well-designed products. It is often only in the details that the special qualities become apparent. However, those product creations that pass the test before the critical eyes of the international red dot jury will not disappear into the crowd and will be able to fend off global competition.”

The winning products in the red dot design museum

With around 2,000 products spread over an area of more than 4,000 squaremeters, the red dot design museum houses the largest exhibition of contemporary design worldwide. From 2 to 28 July 2013, the museum will host the traditional special exhibition of the award-winning products. In “Design on stage – winners red dot award: product design 2013”, design enthusiasts can marvel at the latest trends at close quarters. Visitors are expressly invited to handle the pieces, allowing them to experience live in the breathtaking atmosphere of the red dot design museum the prize-winning design of the CyFlow® Cube 6 flow cytometry sytem and the CyFox® DNA/RNA gel electrophoresis device from Partec.

The red dot design award

With the red dot design award, the Design Zentrum Nordrhein Westfalen created one of the world’s most acclaimed competitions. The prize, the “red dot”, has established itself internationally as one of the most sought-after quality marks for excellent design. The Design Zentrum Nordrhein Westfalen displays the award-winning products in the red dot design museum for at least one year. In order to appraise the diversity in the field of design in a professional manner, the red dot design award breaks down into different disciplines: the “red dot award: product design”, “red dot award: communication design” and “red dot award: design concept”.