Exhibits:
Winning IDEAs Selected Product Designs 2008
This exhibition features a collection of International Design Excellence Award (IDEA) winners. The IDEA Awards are presented annually by IDSA (Industrial Designers Society of America), with selections made by an international jury of professional designers and academics. Each day, we live and work with products and objects whoe functionality, beauty and availability are taken for granted.The Cameron Art Museum's exhibition features a selection of the award-winning designs drawn from the 2008 IDEA competition.
Who Judges? 20 judges were on the team that choose the 2008 winners. They come from varied backgrounds and from different companies.
- Backgrounds: Environmental Studies, Marketing Design, Art, Architecture, Product Design, Industrial Engineers, Professors, Entrepreneurs
- Companies: The head judge is from Microsoft, another is from Nike (their Design Director of Kids Footwear), one judge got his degree in Product Design from NC State University.
Each year the team of judges is different.
Judging criteria: When you judge a running race it is on time. When you judge a music competition it is on sound. When you judge a golf match it is on points. How do you judge a design competition...What are the criteria?
- Innovation (design, manufacturing)
- Benefit to user (performance, comfort, safety, ease of use, affordability, ergonomics)
- Benefit to society and natural ecology (improves education, meets needs of low income population, low ecological impact materials and processes, waste reduction, recyclable, reduces disease, addresses toxicity)
- Benefit to client (profitablity, increased sales, brand reputation, employee morale)
- Visual appeal
- Usability testing, rigor, reliability
- Implementation (design strategy category)
How do you enter? Entries are only accepted online for the first round of judging. Finalists are asked to submit physical samples. If a finalist entry is too large ot heavy entrants will send in a video or scale model. Contest is open to designers and students.
Some of the designs are currently on the market, others have not been commercially produced.