The 2022 Global Design Awards are Open for Entries!
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It’s the most wonderful time of the year! Time to submit your projects for the 2022 SEGD Global Design Awards (GDA). The portal for nominations is open!
“The SEGD Global Design Awards are the most recognized, celebrated and referenced awards in experiential graphic design,” says Cybelle Jones, CEO of SEGD. “The awards drive hundreds of thousands of visitors to our website annually and become benchmarks for companies in search of hiring the best EGD firms in the world.”
A multi-disciplinary jury—including clients, users and students—representing a diversity of design disciplines will evaluate projects based on their effectiveness in connecting people to place, creating a unique and memorable user experience, and solving the client’s objectives and design challenges.
“Every year, the SEGD Global Design Awards recalibrate the standards of excellence for our industry,” explains Phillip R. Tiongson, Founder and CEO of Potion and GDA Jury Chair for 2022. “The winning projects exemplify how great design can powerfully serve communities with lasting impact.”
The year 2021, like 2020 before it, presented many challenges to our design community. Tiongson will charge the Global Design Awards Jury with selecting those projects and awarding those professionals who used design as a method of response to those challenges.
“The winners of the SEGD Global Design Awards represent the most thoughtful and innovative projects made in the midst of the pandemic’s disruption of the experience of physical spaces,” explains Tiongson. “The awards provide a moment for us to come together to celebrate, not only what we have learned, but also how we are building and advancing our community through design.”
Jurors of the 2022 SEGD Global Design Awards will recognize exemplary projects with “Honor” and “Merit” awards. From the Honor group, one will be selected as the 2022 “Best of Show,” and from both Honor and Merit groups, one project will receive the Sylvia Harris Award for social impact.
Last year, the jury selected “Found in Translation” as 2021’s “Best of Show.” Part of a larger exhibition titled “Translations: Understanding Misunderstanding” (Tokyo, Japan), this exhibit immersed visitors within the world of language translation, both visually and through the spoken word. The jury honored SEGD member firm Studio TheGreenEyl with this top award.
“This simple yet powerful audio-visual experience immerses the visitor in an awe-inspiring universe of typography, sweeping curves, and spoken language,” commented one juror. “Through sophisticated and visually mesmerizing scientific diagrams on angled planes of various sizes, visitors discover commonalities among languages and cultures.”
Jury members selected “Found in Translation” from a contingent of over 300 other outstanding projects submitted by SEGD members. Of these projects, 10 received Honor awards and 18 Merit awards.
The other special recognition, the Sylvia Harris Award, goes to a project that exemplifies social impact. Sylvia Harris (1953–2011) was a pioneer of social impact design, and this special SEGD award recognizes those designers who honor and continue Harris’ legacy. The 2021 Sylvia Harris Award recognized “Seat at the Table,” an exhibition that celebrated the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment to the US Constitution while asking the question “Where are we now?” Developed by Katie Lee and Lynn Kiang of Dome Collective, “Seat at the Table” was displayed at Philadelphia’s Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts.
The SEGD 2022 Global Design Awards nomination portal is now open and receiving submissions in seven different practice categories:
1. Digital Experience Content
2. Exhibitions
3. Interactive Experiences
4. Placemaking and Identity
5. Public Installations
6. Strategy/Research/Planning
7. Wayfinding
Submissions are due January 31, 2022, and the late deadline is February 14, 2022. Go to the SEGD Global Design Awards landing page to learn more.
The Global Design Awards Jury is looking forward to reviewing the best in experiential design! Remember that projects that were submitted previously and did not receive an award can be resubmitted for up to three years from the project’s opening date. So make sure to take advantage of the opportunity to showcase your talents and creativity and impact.
“If you win the top design awards, you will attract new clients and talent to your firm,” explains Jones. “The SEGD Global Design Awards reflect excellence in design and innovation year after year, that’s why we see submissions from the most creative and innovative designers around the globe.