Gold, Silver and Bronze International Design Excellence Awards (IDEA) winners from around the world attended the IDEA Ceremony on Sept. 19 at the beautiful National WWII Museum in New Orleans, LA. Awardees and International Design Conference (IDC) goers dressed to impress and waited with anticipation as the winners of each category and the special awards were revealed.
“The final results showcase a diverse cross section of high design and everyday products that are thoughtful and well considered,” commented IDEA Jury Chair Michael Kahwaji, IDSA, Senior Design Manager at Whirlpool Corp.
From a field of nearly 1,900 entries, the jury chose 145 winners, 32 of which are Gold winners. Onsite jurying was held in May at The Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation in Dearborn, MI. A full list of this year’s winners can be found in the IDEA gallery.
Here are some of the special award winners:
Best in Show Award: WIM – Interactive Stroke Therapy, designed by students Jenny Holmsten and Thomas Helmer of Umeå Institute of Design, is a new type of interactive stroke therapy that empowers and supports a patient’s recovery at home. “This project identified an incredibly important need and developed a meaningful, useful and beautiful solution while allowing the patients to gain back their independence,” stated IDEA 2018 juror Verena Paepcke-Hjeltness, IDSA.
Curator’s Choice Award, chosen by The Henry Ford’s Chief Curator and IDEA 2018 Juror Marc Greuther: SNOO, designed by the fuseproject design team and Dr. Harvey Karp of Happiest Baby, is a robotic bassinet that reacts to a baby’s cries and movements, creating the world’s safest crib. “A great product shouldn’t make you feel that you are compromising. Often in the category of infant products, parents have to sacrifice aesthetics for safety but SNOO brings both together and gives you an extra focus on convenience,” declared IDEA 2018 juror Jose Gamboa, IDSA.
Jury Chair’s Award, chosen by IDEA 2018 Jury Chair Michael Kahwaji, IDSA: Eargo, designed by Ammunition for Eargo, is a Class I, FDA-regulated hearing device designed for adults who experience mild to moderate hearing loss. “This design truly improves the human condition, making it worthy of IDSA’s highest honor,” remarked IDEA 2018 juror Cory Herbst, IDSA.
Plastics Innovation Award, chosen by sponsor Plastics Industry Association (PIA): Eargo – In choosing this Gold winner, PIA said, “The concept of developing a ‘sleekly designed’ hearing aid targeting younger adults was both interesting and innovative. As the Boomers and Gen-Xers age, this brings a new group to the hearing loss community, and creating a device with their demographics and interests in mind was not only creative, but socially responsible for these generations.”
People’s Choice Award, voted online by the public: TurboTax Visual System Redesign, designed by Intuit Consumer Design Team, developed a completely revolutionized, cohesive system that will purposefully flex along each customer’s unique journey and deliver an innovative experience end to end. “Perfect example of taking a nascent market, analyzing it and applying design methodologies to address broad market needs,” observed IDEA 2018 juror Jon Winebrenner.
After the ceremony attendees networked and enjoyed taking pictures on the red carpet sponsored by Autodesk Sketchbook, music, drinks and light fare at the IDEA 2018 Gala, sponsored by Samsung—also at The National WWII Museum.
IDEA 2018 winners will be featured in IDSA’s INNOVATION Yearbook of Design Excellence 2018. Congratulate the winners using #IDSAIDEA @IDSA on Twitter; Industrial Designers Society of America on Facebook and LinkedIn; and @IDSAdesign on Instagram.
