The International Design Excellence Awards (IDEA)® 2022 Ceremony & Gala, held at Benaroya Hall in Seattle, WA on September 12, 2022 and produced by the Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA)®, included the grand unveiling of the placements of this year’s Gold, Silver, Bronze, and Special IDEA winners.
2022 was the second year in a row that IDEA received the most entries in the competition’s history, going back to 1980. Rising above a sea of other design awards programs, the prestigious IDEA remains the gold standard.
Of this year’s more than 2,200 entries from 30 countries, 167 were selected to receive top awards. These winners represent 17 countries: 82 Bronze, 55 Silver, and 30 Gold.
See all the 2022 winners in the IDEA Gallery.
On the first day of the International Design Conference (IDC)® 2022, also produced by IDSA, the IDEA Ceremony & Gala honored the world’s best designs across 20 categories, including a new category added in 2021: Concepts & Speculative Design.
The IDEA 2022 Ceremony was co-hosted by Erika Avery, IDSA, Ceremonial Jury Chair and Industrial Designer at GE Appliances; Jason Belaire, IDSA, Chair of IDSA’s Board of Directors; and Marc Greuther, Vice President of Historical Resources and Chief Curator at The Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation.
TOP AWARDS
All the Gold, Silver, and Bronze IDEA 2022 winners were announced during the ceremony, followed by the top awards of the night:
- IDEA 2022 BEST IN SHOW AWARD: Microsoft Surface Adaptive Kit, designed by Microsoft Windows and Devices Design Team, Windows and Devices Accessibility Team, and Microsoft Inclusive Tech Lab for Microsoft Corp.
- IDEA 2022 JURY CHAIR AWARD (selected by Tim Allen, IDSA and Erika Avery, IDSA): Sonos Global Packaging System, designed by Michelle Enright, Ben Blanchard, Jeremiah Etchison, IDSA and the Sonos Global Packaging Team
- IDEA 2022 CURATOR’S CHOICE AWARD (selected by Marc Greuther): UbiHub APAI, designed by the Ubicquia Design Team
- IDEA 2022 PEOPLE’S CHOICE AWARD (chosen by popular vote): Topgolf Next Generation Golf Ball Dispenser, designed by IN2Innovation for Topgolf
View all design images, credits, and more information about the IDEA 2022 winners (Gold, Silver, Bronze, and Special Awards) in the IDEA Gallery.
A DIVERSE AND ESTEEMED JURY
The IDEA 2022 Jury was led by Tim Allen, IDSA, Global Head of Design at Instacart, as Chair and Erika Avery, IDSA, as the Ceremonial Jury Chair. The other 45 jurors include top design leaders at Amazon, Astro Studios, Estée Lauder, Dell, Google, HP, Kohler, Lenovo, Meta, Microsoft, Procter & Gamble, Revlon, Smart Design, and more.
Over two rounds of judging, the IDEA Jury selected the winners based on five criteria that have remained unchanged in the 42-year history of the program: Design Innovation, Benefit to the User, Benefit to the Client, Benefit to Society, and Appropriate Aesthetics. IDEA’s high standard for design excellence and rigorous judging process have set the benchmark for all other design awards programs to follow, cementing IDEA’s preeminent status and global renown.
The IDEA 2023 Jury Chair was also announced during the ceremony: Shujan Bertrand, IDSA. She is the founder of Aplat, a women-run culinary design company creating modern sustainable products for sharing food, wine, and flowers. Based in San Francisco, CA, Bertrand is an advocate for sustainable local manufacturing, supporting local organic farms and food producers, and using the art of origami principles for zero waste design and manufacturing. Through Aplat, she hopes to grow awareness for responsible design, creating new partnerships with sustainable companies and organizations who care about people and the planet.
A NEW ENVIRONMENTAL INITIATIVE
Through an ongoing partnership with The Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, MI, and for the first time in IDEA’s history, both organizations are working together to continue improving IDSA’s environmental stewardship. IDSA and The Henry Ford have been working collaboratively to set higher benchmarks and standards in sustainable event operations through IDSA’s largest flagship awards program: IDEA.
After entry products have been judged and permanently curated at The Henry Ford Museum, the remaining products will be returned, donated, and recycled through a local e-waste management program—eliminating harmful landfill disposal.
We would like to encourage and implement IDEA’s first and only standardized circular system through this year’s partnership program to reduce carbon emissions and improve environmental stewardship, and we look forward to those results in the fall of 2022.
Learn more about the annual IDEA program at www.IDSA.org/IDEA.
Learn more about the annual International Design Conference at www.InternationalDesignConference.com.
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