iF

The iF product design award has been around for half a century and is now considered to be one of The Three Major Design Awards. The international jury from The Hanover Industrie Forum Design award hundreds of iF labels each year at the Hanover Exhibition Centre to new products of outstanding design quality deserving of international recognition.

Every year some 2 000 products from about 40 countries are judged by renowned experts, guaranteeing the product designer a recognised place on the cutting edge of contemporary design.

• http://webserver.ifdesign.de — List of winners
• http://www.ifdesign.de — The website in English

Naturally the winners are far from shy about displaying their winning labels on web sites, blogs, feeds and brochures:

• Philips Lighting winner
• Sony wins 14
• Bodum Bora Bora Teapot
• Nokia winner from 2005
• Marike winner
• Ben-Q-Siemens winner
• Atrac Life
• Designafairs

There are deadlines for submissions (usually around October), and then the exhibition itself. It’s quite a buzz, and it pushes new products and new designers into the fore as well as drawing attention to well designed and innovative articles. The media tend to run with the latest communications gadgets and the fanciest electronic wizardry, but ever more people are recognising design classics from bygone eras, they may have designed a kitchen or bathroom or renovated a property, and they will certainly have seen the changes in lifestyle afforded by all sorts of products from TVs and digital radios to gym equipment.

In such a brand and designer-label and celebrity-designer environment, the iF label can help cut through the product specifications and the shopping channel/ glossy magazine hard-sell. For many iF is a shorthand or short cut to the best new products.

Related:

• JIDPO G-Mark

JIDPO G-Mark

For 50 years ‘The Japan Industrial Design Promotion Organization’ (‘JIDPO’) has awarded the prestigious ‘G-Mark’ of ‘Good Design’ on more than 32 000 products.

The judging of the 16 categories is more rigorous than most design competitions; in considering competition entries, the judges have to take over 40 specific factors into account. Aesthetics are important, but design is good when the product is also appropriate for its purpose and environment.

Design is good when it “gives rise to social and cultural values. It contributes to a broadening of the social base. And it contributes to the realization of a sustainable society.”
–JIDPO

Visit the English version of JIDPO’s site (www.jidpo.or.jp/en/) it seems that after 50 years of mainly promoting Japanese Design to the world, JIDPO is changing under Mr.Hikoharu Kure’s leadership to promoting 21st century design for people of all walks of life and not just for Japan or for industry.

• Japan Design – Good Design Award 50 Years — Exhibition from 2006-04-05/10 10:30/23:00 daily at La Triennale di Milano, Italy

• Visit the G-Mark web site at www.g-mark.org/english/

Related:

• iF