IDEA 2010 TIMELINE

NOV.30.09 Open for Entries
JAN.25.10 Closed for Entries
FEB.08.10 Late Entry Closes

MAR.01.10 Finalists Notified
APR.19.10 Winners notified via e-mail!
APR.30.10 Winner images and credits due
AUG.07.10 Awards Ceremony in Portland, Oregon

About the IDEA Awards
The IDEA® (International Design Excellence Awards) program is the premier international competition honoring design excellence in products, ecodesign, interaction design, packaging, strategy, research and concepts. Entries are invited from designers, students and companies worldwide.

Winning entries receive coverage in hundreds of print and broadcast media networks around the world. IDSA has been honoring design excellence via the IDEA Awards since 1980. IDEA was formerly known as the Industrial Design Excellence Awards. The name changed in 2007 to emphasize the international reach and influence of the competition.

IDEA 2010 Categories
Designs for practically anything may be entered. If your entry doesn't fit into the category you have selected it will be recategorized. Students must enter in the Student category. Unless otherwise indicated, entrants should use the general entry form.
 

Commercial & Industrial Products

Communication Tools

Computer Equipment

Design Strategy (use the Design Strategy entry form)

Ecodesign

Entertainment

Environments

Home Living

Interactive Product Experiences (use the Interactive Product Experiences entry form)

Leisure & Recreation

Medical & Scientific Products

Office & Productivity

Packaging & Graphics

Personal Accessories

Research (use the Research entry form)

NEW Service Design

Student Designs

Transportation
 

ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA

To be eligible for IDEA 2010, the following criteria must be met:

Participant Qualifications

Open to designs and designers worldwide. Entrants from Brazil must apply through IDEA/Brasil to take advantage of additional winner benefits.
Open to students worldwide. Student entries can only be submitted in the Student category, even if the design is in research, strategy, interaction design, in production or corporately funded.
If your entry didn't win last year and if the entry still meets all the other criteria it can be resubmitted.
Designs may be entered in multiple categories, but each entry must be purchased and submitted separately. Awards will not be given to the same design in more than one product category (e.g. Medical/Scientific and Home Living); however, a design may win Awards in both a product category and Design Strategy, Interactive Product Experiences and/or Research.

Distribution Qualifications

Products must have been placed in distribution between February 6, 2008 and February 6, 2010. This means the product must be available for sale in its final form to its intended end users through normal sales channels during that period.
Student entries must have been submitted to the school between February 6, 2008 and February 6, 2010.
Design Concept entries must not be scheduled for production. If you are submitting a Design Concept, it must have been finalized or submitted to the client between February 6, 2008 and February 6, 2010.
Research designs must have been submitted to the client or school between February 6, 2005 and February 6, 2010.

JUDGING CRITERIA

The IDEA 2010 judging is based on the following criteria of industrial design excellence. These criteria are weighted by the judges as they deem appropriate for the category:

• 1. Innovation (design, experience, manufacturing);
• 2. Benefit to the user (performance, comfort, safety, ease of use, user interface, ergonomics, universal function and access, quality of life, affordability);
• 3. Benefit to society and natural ecology (improves education, meets basic needs of low income populations, reduces disease, energy efficient, durable, uses materials and processes with low ecological impact throughout lifecycle, designed to be repaired/reused/recycled, addresses toxicity, source and waste reduction);
• 4. Benefit to the client (profitability, increased sales, brand reputation, employee morale);
• 5. Visual appeal and appropriate aesthetics;
• 6. Usability testing, rigor, reliability (Design Research category); and
• 7. Internal factors and methods, implementation (Design Strategy category)

ENTRY PROCESS

Entries will only be accepted online at http://www.omnicontests3.com/idsa/omnicontests for the first round of judging. Finalists that conform to the core judging criteria will be asked to submit physical samples of their designs for the final round of judging. If a Finalist entry is too large or heavy, entrants will be asked to send in video or scale models/prototypes, extra images, product spec sheets or other material.

Before you log in to upload your materials, be sure to review categories and sub-categories and choose the most appropriate for your entry. Have all of your information ready to submit, including:

• - A complete and accurate list of designer credits and clients/manufacturers;
• - Answers to entry form questions. For categories requiring special entry forms (Research, Strategy and Interactive Product Experiences), please refer to the corresponding entry form template for specific requirements. All other categories use the general IDEA entry form.
• - Images/storyboards:

- One glamour shot – a crisp, clear professional photograph that shows your product’s best side and fills the frame. It should be horizontally-oriented, have a contrasting background (white is best), and be attention-grabbing, visually compelling or “sexy.” File should be web-standard .JPG or .GIF, 96 dpi, in RGB colorspace, 960 x 720 px and no larger than 1MB; and
- One .PDF file (6 pg. / 8MB max) to explain the challenge and solution (preferred file type) OR
up to six images (web-standard .JPG or .GIF, 96 dpi, RGB colorspace, 960 x 720 px, 1MB max each) to demonstrate the design challenge and solution. PDFs/images can include captions, storyboards, etc.

- Video (optional): Max. 60 seconds and 10 MB; .MOV, .WMV, .AVI, .SWF, and .MPEG/.MPG only
The judging is blind: the designers, their names and the names of consulting firms may not appear anywhere in the entry form or images/file uploads. Failure to abide by this rule results in immediate disqualification. Names or logos of manufacturing companies/clients may appear if they are inherent to the product.

Follow the on-screen instructions to complete your entry.

JUDGING PROCESS / AWARDS

Jurors do their initial scoring online in teams of two for their assigned categories. In this first stage of judging, the jury will evaluate all entries for eligibility, completeness, thoroughness, appropriateness and general conformance to award criteria. Specific criteria may be weighted differently in different categories, at the judges' discretion.

Finalists meeting a minimum score after the first round will be invited to submit samples or other material. Complete instructions will be provided to Finalists upon notification.

In the second, final judging stage, the jury as a whole will meet in their teams to review the supplementary entry material sent in by the Finalists in their categories. Each team will decide which Finalists exemplify the key principles of design excellence and will make recommendations to the jury as a whole for Gold, Silver and Bronze winners. The entire jury will vote to make final award determinations. The jury’s decisions are final.

Best Student Design, Best Concept Design, other Best of Category Awards and Paradigm Shifter Awards (or other ad hoc awards) may also be given at the jury's discretion. The Best in Show Award may be given to the one Gold-winning entry deemed best in show by the jurors. This award will be determined at the conclusion of the regular jurying by clear majority vote.

People's Choice Award: Voting for this award will be conducted online after the winners are announced, and the voting is open to the public. Each person may only vote once. Only the Gold winners will be eligible to

win the People's Choice Award.