What's sure to be the start of a good year to a select group of students, IDSA and the James Dyson Foundation have just announced all the details for their fourth annual Eye for Why design competition. We don't tend to promote a lot of student design contests, because there are just so dang many of them, but we've always been continually impressed by their selections of work and who doesn't love IDSA and everyone's favorite entrepreneur, James Dyson? It's a win-win all around and you can guarantee we'll be right there reporting on who wins come April. Here's some of the details:

This design competition encourages students to create an innovative product that reflects the Dyson commitment to intelligent and function-first design. For the first time, students will be able to submit their design and engage each other through a new online Eye for Why community found here. Winners will be honored at an award ceremony in April 2008 in New York City.

Continuing in the search to improve the way things work, Eye for Why will continue to challenge students to re-envision a product that excels in performance and surpasses competitors in both function and purpose by solving a pre-existing problem. Entries are not restricted by a theme or product group, rather they must focus on the total product. It must solve a problem, work well, and provide real advantages over existing offerings. Students will submit their entries online where they can share each other’s ideas, discuss design topics and be exposed to a national network of design students. With entries due on February 9, 2008, the contest is open to students at any of the National Association of Schools of Art & Design-accredited degree programs or individual student members of IDSA.