An IT Sligo Mechanical Engineering and Tool Design graduate was awarded The Grand Prix Award at the 2011 IDA Design Awards.
Tourlestrane native, Greg Tobin, and his colleague at Spear Product Design, Honora Egan, won the award for their design of the ‘Read Assist’ product which helps people with dyslexia and reading difficulties to become more confident readers.
The concept of the design was developed by Sheila Byrne to aid her daughter with mild dyslexia. Sheila realised that her daughter was having difficulty in focusing on one line at a time when trying to read.
The ‘Read assist’ is a simple and beautiful design solution to a problem which, according to the Dyslexia Association of Ireland, between 2-10% of the population suffers from.
Greg Tobin said that not only the final product design, but the entire package is what makes the ‘Read assist’ such a fantastic innovation, “Obviously it is a great honour to receive not only the award for product design but for overall Grand prix design winner, it is an amazing achievement. What makes ‘Read assist’ such a great product is not only the excellence in design but the packaging, branding and continuous product development. We worked tirelessly to ensure every detail was right and I think that really shines through in the product which is available today.
“With such an educated workforce in Ireland there is no reason we cannot become an innovation hub within Europe and it is nice to see the government put so much emphasis on innovation recently. This is a truly unique product, an Irish product designed by an Irish design team, hopefully its success can be emulated across the country,” he said.
Captions: Margaret Crerar of Miele, Carol Coffey IDI President, Grand Prix Winners Honora Egan & Greg Tobin from Spear Technologies
Caption: Read Assist, the product for which IT Sligo graduate Greg Tobin was awarded The Grand Prix Award at the 2011 IDA Design Awards.