August 6, 2008—The Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA) and BusinessWeek have released the list of the 2008 International Design Excellence Awards (IDEA), which IDSA calls “a celebration of the most innovative and exciting product and product concept designs of the year.”
This year’s winners exhibit a focus on sustainability, great attention to detail and, in a slowing economy, many offer surprisingly affordable price points. IDSA and BusinessWeek also noted a trend of designing existing products for a new market.
Out of 1517 entries, 35 were awarded the coveted Gold award, while 77 received Silver awards and 93 won Bronze awards. For the first time this year, 389 finalists were named in addition to the winners.
For the first time, the expert jury bestowed two “Best in Show” awards: one to SizeChina, a design research project that assembled data from a representative cross-section of people from mainland China to create the first-ever digital database of Chinese head and face shapes; and the other to Apple’s now-iconic iPhone.
Showing a continuing upward trend in international participation, 109 designs from 25 countries outside the US were given an IDEA Award. 2008 also marked the inaugural year of IDEA/Brasil, organized by Objeto Brasil and endorsed by IDSA, to spur interest in design from Brazilian corporations as well as to heighten global awareness of Brazil’s rich design heritage. Out of 53 pre-judged Brazilian finalists, 12 were honored with IDEA Awards.
Award categories include: Commercial & Industrial Products; Communication Tools; Computer Equipment; Design Strategy; Ecodesign; Entertainment; Environments; Home Living;
Interactive Product Experiences; Leisure & Recreation; Medical & Scientific Products; Office & Productivity; Packaging & Graphics; Personal Accessories; Research; Student Designs; and Transportation.
A “People’s Choice” award will also be presented when the winners are honored in a formal ceremony at the Arizona Biltmore in Phoenix on September 13, at the end of the 2008 IDSA National Conference & Education Symposium. Winners will be displayed in the Conference Design Gallery.
For a slideshow of this year’s winners, visit the IDEA ’08 Web site.
