2012 International Design Excellence Awards Accepting Entries, Dec. 1

New categories introduced for 2012

DULLES, Va., Nov. 22, 2011 – On Dec. 1, The Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA) will open its International Design Excellence Awards® (IDEA) 2012 program to designers, students and companies worldwide. For 32 years, IDEA has recognized design excellence in products, sustainability, interaction design, packaging, strategy, research and concepts. This year IDSA introduces six new categories to IDEA: digital design; social impact design; bathroom, spas and wellness; gardens and outdoors; kitchens; and living room and bedroom. The awards program honors products that have been in distribution and available for sale between February 2010 and February 2011. For the third year, The Henry Ford in Dearborn, MI, will house the winners in its permanent collection.

“Great design makes sense and makes complex things tangible, beautiful and meaningful,” said IDEA 2012 Chair Rhys Newman, head of advanced design at Nokia. “IDEA represents a genuine recognition of quality, impact and influence of great design not just for what design is now, but for the value design will have in the future.

“In 2010, the jury decided that the concept of the designer’s responsibility towards the world, its people and their cultures must be a more important part of the criteria for excellence. For 2012 there is a new category, social impact design, added to reflect the professions deepening interest and commitment to help solve some of the world’s larger systemic issues,” said Clive Roux, CEO of IDSA.

A panel of independent design experts will use the following criteria in selecting winning designs:

Innovation: design, experience, manufacturing
Benefit to the user: performance, comfort, safety, ease of use, usability, user interface, ergonomics, universal function and access, quality of life, affordability
Responsibility: benefit to society, environment, culture and economy
Benefit to the client: profitability, increased sales, brand reputation, employee morale
Visual appeal and appropriate aesthetics
Design research category insights: usability, emotional factors, unmet needs, testing rigor and reliability
Design strategy category: internal factors and methods, strategic value and implementation

IDEA accepts entries in the following areas:

Industry Segments:

Bathroom, spas and wellness
Commercial and industrial products
Communication tools
Computer equipment
Entertainment
Environments
Gardens and outdoors
Home living
Kitchens
Leisure and recreation
Living room and bedroom
Medical and scientific products
Office and productivity
Personal accessories
Service design
Social impact design
Transportation

Design Segments:

Design strategy
Digital design
Packaging and graphics
Student designs
Research

Go here for complete contest information.
See last year's winners.

About IDEA
Started in 1980, the IDEA program fosters business and public understanding about the impact of industrial design excellence on the quality of life and the economy. The Henry Ford houses IDEA winners in its permanent collection to continue to tell the story of American innovation. Curve magazine, Core 77 and Yanko Design are media sponsors for IDEA 2012.

About IDSA
With its roots reaching back to 1938 and founded in 1965, the Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA) is the world’s oldest, largest, member-driven society for industrial design. IDSA represents professionals in product design, interaction design, human factors, ergonomics, design research, design management, universal design and related design fields. The society produces the renowned International Design Excellence Award® (IDEA) competition annually; hosts the International Design Conference and five regional conferences each year; and publishes Innovation, a quarterly journal on design, and designBytes, a weekly e-newsletter highlighting the latest headlines in the design world. IDSA's charitable arm, the Design Foundation, supports the dissemination of undergraduate and graduate scholarships annually to further industrial design education. The organization has more than 3,000 members in 29 professional chapters in the U.S. and internationally.

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