Eyes on the prize: German Design Award 2021

The actual design process is undoubtedly the most beautiful thing about the profession of an architect or designer: letting an idea mature, mentally processing all the information and requirements, and then, suddenly, the breakthrough is there and you see a building or product clearly in your mind's eye. After that, it can happen very quickly. There is an anecdote about Frank Lloyd Wright struggling long and hard over a design, and only putting everything quickly down on paper when the curious client's car appeared on the horizon.

This kind of positive stress can be very fulfilling, creative people know that very well. But every designer also knows the feeling that sometimes one pushes everything away from oneself that does not concern the actual creative work. This is also important in order to reach the goal. But it is just as important to actively take care of the acquisition of new clients, for example, by drawing attention to your previous achievements. This is often achieved through personal contacts and direct conversation.

However – as we all know – at present, such meetings at trade fairs and conferences, for example, are very limited or indeed, impossible. Especially now, it is very important to be able to communicate skills and achievements via digital channels. If an architect or designer can boast of a prestigious award such as the German Design Award, a press release related to them will undoubtedly carry more weight – and also have more international appeal. After all, the prize awarded by the German Design Council is a strong brand and recognised far beyond the German border.

Without question, time always plays a role when it comes to building trust. The history of the German Design Council goes back to 1953 – when it was founded on the initiative of the German Bundestag with the aim of strengthening the design competence of German industry. Even today, its diverse activities still serve to sustainably increase brand value through the strategic use of design. Nowadays, architecture and design offices are themselves brands that stand for a certain range of services, for an individual way of working and a language of form. The German Design Award, especially because of its longstanding international reputation, can support creative offices and designers in communicating their strengths and competencies.

And an especially important factor for smaller offices, the German Design Council gives all small businesses and freelancers the opportunity to be exempted from the service fees for winners by means of funding. The exemption can be granted after application and subsequent examination of financial circumstances. The prerequisite is that the annual turnover of the respective design or architectural office in the last two years does not exceed 50,000 euros. The application must be submitted by 10 July 2020. The relevant form is available from the link below:

July 10 is also this year's general closing date for entries for the German Design Awards 2021, and once again this year a renowned international jury will select the best entries in the following categories: Architecture, Product Design and Communication Design. In addition to the awards ceremony at Ambiente in Frankfurt – an ideal place for networking – the winners will also benefit from having their designs exhibited at two places at once: at the fair, and at the renowned Museum Angewandte Kunst in Frankfurt.

With around 30,000 publications in both traditional and social media channels, the prize once again proved its media relevance last year. The annual presentation of a ‘Personality of the Year’ award also contributes to the fact that the German Design Awards are reported internationally. Only those who have really achieved great things in their careers receive this award, with recent prizewinners including Jasper Morrison, Konstantin Grcic, Erik Spiekermann and Hartmut Esslinger.

The charisma and recognition connected to the award particularly benefits those offices that are still in the process of building up a name for themselves, and the reasoning of the jury for awarding the prize to the winning offices can become an important instrument for promotion and customer acquisition. And with the new ‘Start-up’ category this year, the German Design Council is, for the first time, promoting innovative and future-oriented projects by young architecture and design offices established since February 2017 – in other words, no more than four years old by the time of the award ceremony in February 2021.

Last, but not least, innovative design today increasingly means using digitally controlled design and production techniques in such a way that products have the least possible impact on the environment. So anyone who succeeds in developing new, ecologically relevant concepts will certainly win over the German Design Awards jury. In the 1950s, when the German Design Council was founded, the primary focus was on design as an economic factor and the promotion of a new product aesthetic in post-war Germany, today it is about something more: our future.


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