Design: Best of '88 A Compelling New Modernism

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The Sonin distance calculator is a practical device shaped wholly to its purpose. Toys, on the other hand, must maintain a precarious design balance: neither too whimsical and childish looking nor too sober and dull. Texas Instruments' Voyager, designed by the firm of RichardsonSmith, is just right -- chunky and merrily colored enough for four-year-olds and glamorous and grown-up enough for eight-year-olds. Through an earphone, a child is quizzed on dinosaurs or the solar system, and through a cockpit-style microphone, he or she gives yes-or-no, true-or-false answers, to which the headset responds with explanations and more questions. The software cassette's big handle and wavy edge declare that it is modular, to be plugged and unplugged. Like all good design, the Voyager elegantly explains itself.