ENTER NOW! THE 2023 INTERNATIONAL DESIGN EXCELLENCE AWARDS (IDEA) IS OPEN FOR SUBMISSIONS

The International Design Excellence Award (IDEA) has been bestowed upon some of the most innovative products in the world, like the iPhone, MacBook Pro, Tesla Model S, Oculus Rift, and the Xbox. Now in its 43rd edition, and with 20 diverse categories, IDEA is accepting entries to its annual design award program, so you can have your creative work share the same platform with some of the greatest, most iconic products in the world!

Held every single year since its inception in 1980, the International Design Excellence Award is an initiative by the Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA), America’s foremost and oldest organization for Industrial Designers. Its objective – To recognize exceptional achievement in industrial design across an ever-growing roster of diverse categories that now include the likes of design strategy, branding, digital interaction, social impact, service design, and many more. “Design awards, especially the esteemed IDEA, matter. They motivate design teams, boost client economics and help to reinforce a progressive design culture within our society,” says Dan Harden, IDSA member, founder of Whipsaw, and multi-IDEA winner.

Winning an IDEA is a milestone that can help shape the trajectory of your career, putting your design on the world stage and earning it recognition from industry leaders. Aside from multiple categories, the award accepts entries across a wide range of experience levels, with a dedicated category just for student designers. IDEA recognizes products and services that encourage, inspire, and push humanity forward. The IDEA Jury rigorously reviews each entry across five distinct criteria which are unique to the IDEA competition: Design Innovation, Benefit to User, Benefit to Client/Brand, Benefit to Society, and Appropriate Aesthetics. Winners receive significant international publicity and global exposure, including high-profile industry promotion by IDSA and across media outlets, and are awarded the iconic 5-piece IDEA trophy that can be pulled apart to reveal the letters which spell “IDEA”. In addition to receiving the highly coveted trophy, all winners are featured in IDSA’s annual Yearbook of Design Excellence, a standout collector’s edition magazine distributed to a global audience of design professionals and business executives. Winning IDEA products are also eligible to become part of the permanent collection of The Henry Ford Museum, where they remain ever-present symbols of ingenuity and mastery of craft.

Entries for the 43rd annual International Design Excellence Awards (IDEA)® are now open to all creatives including individual designers, studios, and students, through the official deadline of March 6th, 2023. The 20 IDEA 2023 categories are Automotive & Transportation, Branding, Children’s Products, Commercial & Industrial Products, Concepts & Speculative Design, Consumer Technology, Design Strategy, Digital Interaction, Environments, Home, Furniture & Lighting, Lifestyle & Accessories, Medical & Health, Office & Accessories, Outdoor & Gardens, Packaging, Service Design, Social Impact Design, Sports, Leisure & Recreation, and Student Designs (including any physical or digital product, service, or experience created during collegiate student coursework).

Heading the IDEA Jury group this year is IDSA member and founder of Aplat, Shujan Bertrand. Based in San Francisco, California, Shujan is an advocate for sustainability in design and uses the art of origami principles for zero-waste design and manufacturing in her work. An industrial designer with over 20 years of product design, Shujan will lead a diverse IDEA Jury that includes top designers from Google, Lenovo, Estee Lauder, Astro Studios, Meta, Microsoft, Amazon, Kohler, Smart Design, and more. IDEA 2023 winners will be honored at the IDEA Ceremony & Gala in New York City as part of the International Design Conference 2023 (August 23-25, 2023).

Head to the IDEA Website to submit your entry to this year’s award program, or scroll down to see some of our favorite and notable winners from last year’s awards!

Microsoft Surface Adaptive Kit by Windows and Devices Design Team (Best In Show)

he Microsoft Surface Adaptive Kit is a unique award-winning solution, co-designed with people living with disabilities to help make using and navigating devices easier. The kit comes with four cards containing 40 products, allowing for a broad range of adaptive customizations that create accessible experiences for a wide spectrum of needs. For instance, the label kit can be used to identify important keys, match ports and cables, and open compatible devices and accessories. The kit works with a wide host of devices, making them more accessible, and easier to navigate for all.

Moxie by fuseproject for Embodied (Gold)

Designed by fuseproject for Embodied, the Moxie robot companion helps aid in the social, emotional and cognitive development of 5 to 10-year-olds through play-based learning and teaching turn-taking and eye contact. It introduces emotional intelligence through artificial intelligence, using the anthropomorphic design of a friendly robot to help children get more used to this ‘age of exponential change’, giving them the emotional, social, and cognitive skills they need to navigate a complex, ever-evolving world. Rather than being an ‘assistant’, Moxie takes on the role of a friend that understands its young user and machine-learns in the process to help it be more useful and educational.