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| A' Design Award | |
|---|---|
| Name | A' Design Award |
| Awarded for | International design excellence |
| Presenter | Ongoing |
| Country | International |
| First awarded | 2009 |
A' Design Award
The A' Design Award is an international design competition recognizing excellence in product design, industrial design, graphic design, fashion design, architecture and related creative works. Founded in 2009, the program operates across multiple countries and attracts participation from designers, studios, corporations and institutions seeking recognition, promotion and certification for innovative projects. The award interfaces with international exhibitions, trade fairs and media outlets to disseminate winning works globally.
The competition began in 2009 amid increased interest in global design circuits that include events such as Milan Design Week, Salone del Mobile, London Design Festival, ICFF, Tokyo Design Week, Biennale di Venezia, Dutch Design Week, Munich Creative Business Week, Stockholm Design Week, Copenhagen Design Week, Paris Design Week, Design Miami, Moscow Design Week, Rotterdam Design Festival, Beijing Design Week, Seoul Design Festival, Hong Kong DesignFair, São Paulo Design Week, Singapore Design Week, Frankfurt Book Fair, NYCxDesign, Designblok, Triennale Milano, Cooper Hewitt, Victoria and Albert Museum, Museum of Modern Art, Vitra Design Museum, Centre Pompidou, Ludwig Museum, Tate Modern and Design Museum. Early participants included studios associated with Philippe Starck, Karim Rashid, Patricia Urquiola, HAY (company), Epson, Bosch, Philips, IKEA, Herman Miller, Nendo, Zaha Hadid Architects, Foster + Partners, Bjarke Ingels Group, Herzog & de Meuron, SOM (Skidmore, Owings & Merrill), Gensler, MVRDV, UNStudio, Snohetta, OMA, Kengo Kuma, Tadao Ando, Shigeru Ban, MAD Architects, BIG (company), Heatherwick Studio, Snøhetta, Kenya Hara and Naoto Fukasawa. Over time the competition expanded categories and established annual exhibitions in multiple cities, forming partnerships with journals, universities and trade organizations such as Istituto Europeo di Design, Royal College of Art, Politecnico di Milano, Pratt Institute, Parsons School of Design, Rhode Island School of Design, Central Saint Martins, ETH Zurich, Delft University of Technology, Tongji University, Tsinghua University, KAIST, Chulalongkorn University and National University of Singapore.
The award is administered by an entity that coordinates global promotion, physical trophies, gala presentations and licensing of winner marks, interacting with agencies and institutions like European Commission, United Nations Industrial Development Organization, World Intellectual Property Organization, World Economic Forum, International Council of Societies of Industrial Design, International Federation of Interior Architects/Designers, International Chamber of Commerce and regional ministries of culture and tourism including Ministry of Culture (Italy), United States Department of Commerce, China Ministry of Culture and Tourism, UK Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, Italian Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities, Singapore Ministry of Communications and Information and municipal cultural bureaus of Milan, London, New York City, Tokyo and Shanghai. Governance typically involves an appointed board, advisory committees including academics and professionals from institutions like Harvard Graduate School of Design, Yale School of Architecture, MIT Media Lab and Columbia GSAPP, and partnerships with galleries such as David Zwirner, Gagosian Gallery and Pace Gallery for exhibitions.
Categories span product design, industrial design, furniture design, packaging design, visual communication, branding, service design, web design, mobile apps, furniture, architecture, urban design, landscape, fashion, textile, lighting, transportation, medical devices, robotics and concept designs. The competition evaluates entries against criteria often cited in design discourse alongside standards referenced by organizations like ISO, IEC, ANSI, UL LLC, CE marking and certification bodies including SGS and TÜV SÜD. Jury considerations reference principles echoed by theorists and practitioners associated with Dieter Rams, Charles and Ray Eames, Le Corbusier, Frank Lloyd Wright, Marcel Breuer, Mies van der Rohe, Eileen Gray, Alvar Aalto, Arne Jacobsen, Isamu Noguchi, Raymond Loewy, Norman Foster, Kenzo Tange and Louis Kahn. Categories are periodically updated to reflect technologies championed by companies and institutions such as Intel, Samsung, Apple Inc., Google, Microsoft, Tesla, Inc., SpaceX, Siemens, GE Healthcare and Philips Healthcare.
Submission typically involves online entry with supporting media, technical specifications and statements of intent, mirroring procedures used by competitions like Red Dot Design Award, iF Design Award, Compasso d'Oro, Good Design Awards (Japan), Designpreis Deutschland and IDEA Awards. The jury is composed of academics, design professionals, industry experts and press from organizations and schools including Design Management Institute, Industrial Designers Society of America, British Design Council, Dezeen Awards, Wallpaper*, Domus, Architectural Digest, Designboom, Core77, Fast Company, Wired, Lonely Planet and The New York Times design desk. Evaluation stages include preliminary review, technical assessment, public voting and final jury deliberation, with transparency measures influenced by practices at Transparency International and standards promoted by International Organization for Standardization (ISO).
Winners have included projects from corporations, studios and individuals associated with entities such as IKEA, Herman Miller, Vitra, Muuto, Hay (company), B&B Italia, Cassina, Kartell, Flos, FLOS (lighting), Artemide, Bang & Olufsen, Sony, Samsung Electronics, Dyson, LG Electronics, Whirlpool Corporation, Kia Motors, BMW, Audi', Mercedes-Benz, Toyota, Volvo Cars, Polestar, Lexus, Tesla, Inc., Boeing, Airbus, Gio Ponti, Lea Ceramiche, Fantini, Moooi, Marcel Breuer and independent designers who later received recognition from Compasso d'Oro and Red Dot. Notable awarded works have been exhibited alongside shows at Triennale Milano, Venice Architecture Biennale, Milan Triennial, London Design Biennale, Stockholm Furniture Fair, SaloneSatellite and auctions with houses like Sotheby's and Christie's.
Proponents argue the competition amplifies visibility for winners, aiding business opportunities with retailers such as Habitat (retailer), Conran Shop, MoMA Design Store, Heals (furniture store), The Conran Shop and distributors in markets like European Union, United States, China, Japan, South Korea, Brazil, India and Australia. Critics compare the program to debates surrounding awards like Red Dot Design Award and iF Design Award, raising concerns about entry fees, promotional practices, the commercialization of recognition noted in commentary from publications including Dezeen, Wallpaper*, Designboom and Core77, and questions about long-term cultural impact debated by scholars at Royal College of Art, Politecnico di Milano and Harvard Graduate School of Design. Discussions about accessibility, transparency and selection bias reference broader conversations involving Transparency International, Open Data Institute and academic critiques published in journals affiliated with MIT Press, Routledge and Elsevier.
Category:Design awards