Winning an award is one of the most satisfying ways of receiving professional recognition and promoting designs and products. International competitions are a showcase for a sector that is constantly innovating and highly competitive and in which obtaining an award translates into an advantage over the competition and an increase in sales.
These are some of the most prestigious international awards in the industrial design sector:
The North Rhine-Westphalian design centre in Essen, Germany, gives the Red Dot Award to the best product design, design concept and communication design every year. The award is divided into 31 participation categories for industrial design and thousands of entries are received from dozens of countries every year. Our Delica tray won this award in 2007.
The iF awards given annually by the International Forum Design (iF) are considered the Oscars of product and industrial design. Since 1953, this German competition has awarded excellence in 19 industrial design categories ranging from the design of lighting to office furniture and including car accessories and components. Besides awards for professionals and companies, there is a category for students aimed at young designers that finished their studies in the two years prior to the competition.
IDEA® International Design Excellence Awards
Since 1980, the annual competition of the Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA) has been giving awards to the best international designs in 21 categories, one of which is restricted to design students. Every category has three winners who receive the gold, silver and bronze awards. The winning products are included in the Innovation Yearbook of Design Excellence published by the IDSA and they form part of the permanent collection of the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan. The excellence criteria the jury uses to determine the excellence of a product are its innovation, benefits for the user, customers and society, and the product’s aesthetic values.
The Good Design programme is one of the most solidly established industrial design competitions worldwide. Created in 1950 by the Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design, it is currently held in collaboration with the European Centre
for Architecture, Art, Design and Urban Studies. For 65 years these awards have recognised excellence in the fields of industrial and graphic design in products ranging from a humble paperclip to a Boeing 787. The jury of the Good Design awards comprises distinguished professionals and specialists whose decision is based on innovation criteria, the use of new technologies, form, materials, construction, concept, function, usefulness, energy efficiency and sensitivity to the environment.
The Delta Awards are considered the most important design awards in Spain and they are recognised internationally as well.
These awards are given by ADI-FAD, the Association of Industrial Design located in Barcelona with links to FAD (Fostering Arts and Design). ADI-FAD was founded in 1960 and its purpose is to promote industrial design as a tool for social progress. Based on this aim, the association’s prestigious Delta Awards are held every other year to recognise industrial designers and manufacturing companies.
The Delica tray, designed by Zoocreative, won the Gold Delta Award at the 2005 ADI-FAD Awards, and the Aurea dish drainer designed by Ernest Perera was a finalist in the 2009 Delta Awards.
Competitions in the industrial design sector are always a controversial subject for several reasons, including the selection of the jury members and copyright protection. Let us know what you think about these international competitions in the comments and please share this article on social media.
Reference: Delica
