Characteristics of the World's Design Awards - Case Study of the iF Design Award
SYRINX has won 25 international design awards.
We would like to introduce the characteristics of the design awards we have won through our challenges to date.
Two Main Types of Design Awards
Awards related to product design can be broadly classified into two types:
Those with physical product judging and those without physical product judging. In the latter case, evaluation is based solely on text, images, and videos.
Conducting physical product judging requires significant effort from the judging side, including preparing large venues, coordinating judges' schedules, and managing product receipt and return. However, material feel, tactile sensation, and weight are crucial elements that can only be conveyed by touching the actual product.
Generally, more prestigious design awards involve physical product judging, which also increases the difficulty of winning.
Examples of awards with physical product judging
- iF Design Award (Germany, one of the world's top three awards)
- Red Dot Design Award (Germany, one of the world's top three awards)
- IDEA Award (USA, one of the world's top three awards)
- German Design Award (Germany)
- DFA Award (Hong Kong)
- Omotenashi Selection (Japan)
- Good Design Award (Japan)
Transparency of Judging
Even for design awards with physical product judging, the judging process is often unclear.
There is also an aspect where it can be easily influenced by the judges' subjectivity, and if a product fails once, it can be difficult to get a different result even if re-entered the following year.
However, the iF Design Award is a special case.
For this award, each judge's score from the preliminary to the final judging, the final score, and the award criteria are disclosed, ensuring transparency and objectivity in the process.
iF Design Award Evaluation Criteria
The image below is the scorecard when Hitoe Fold Aria won the iF Design Award.
Although this award primarily focuses on industrial products, Hitoe Fold Aria received high evaluations in all categories, significantly exceeding the criteria. We can also see differences in evaluation by judges at the preliminary judging stage.
The more recognized a design award is, the more transparent the judging process should be. However, for many awards, the details are not disclosed, making it difficult to understand the reasons for rejection.
In that respect, the iF Design Award's approach is excellent.
In addition, a distinctive feature of the Omotenashi Selection is that comments from the selection committee members are provided, allowing direct insight into their impressions of the judging.
