ESSEN, GERMANY – From 12 October 2020 to 19 February 2021, designers and companies from all over the world have the chance to register their best products for the Red Dot Award: Product Design 2021. They can choose from roughly 50 categories as diverse as medical technology, watches or packaging. Only products of excellent design quality will win an award from the jury and can use the high-impact, internationally recognised Red Dot winner label. The competition will focus on smart and innovative products, as they are in with an even-better chance of garnering a distinction.
Petteri Masalin, Creative Design Lead at Fiskars, spoke with Prof. Dr. Peter Zec, founder and CEO of the Red Dot Award, about cultural aspects in design and the successes of the Fiskars Design Team. The discussion was moderated by Michael Thomson: https://t.co/l2GuHIqkUL pic.twitter.com/FA74JS0x2e
— Red Dot (@reddot) August 26, 2020
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Packaging now added to the competition
Designers and companies can enter all kinds of products in the Red Dot Award: Product Design 2021, ranging from robot technology to vehicles or even household appliances. This year, packaging as well as suitable materials and machines will be admitted to the competition for the first time. The jurors will place special emphasis on the functionality of the solutions when assessing entries in this product group.
Smart and innovative products can win double distinctions
This year’s competition will once again focus on smart and innovative products. Participants entering innovative or smart objects have an increased chance of winning an award. To do so, they can simply register their product additionally in the metacategories “Smart Products” or “Innovative Products” after registering it in one of the traditional categories.
During the assessment process, the jurors will initially take a holistic view of the entries. In a second walkthrough, they will then re-evaluate the products with more specific criteria in mind. For smart products, the emphasis will be on interaction design, connectivity and the system as a whole. For innovative designs, on the other hand, the experts will concentrate especially on the degree of innovation. This may be reflected in the product as a whole or in a detail of the execution.
A mark of quality with a strong impact
Winning a Red Dot allows for a range of measures to be initiated that place a spotlight on the laureates’ design leadership. The package centres on the Red Dot winner label, which gives guidance to consumers and is synonymous with good design quality on the international market. Products that are successful in the “Smart Products” or “Innovative Products” metacategories can additionally use an individualised mark of quality to draw attention to the object’s smart or innovative features.
Furthermore, the award-winning products will be presented to a wide audience in exhibitions around the globe, online and in the Red Dot Design Yearbook 2021/2022.
Save the date: Registration phases for the Red Dot Award: Product Design 2021
Early Bird: 12 October – 13 November 2020
Regular: 14 November 2020 – 22 January 2021
Latecomer: 23 January – 19 February 2021
Young Professionals Application Day: 2 December 2020
The best products in 2020 – The Red Dot Jury selects the award winners
