COMPETITIONS: WHAT DESIGNERS SHOULD WATCH FOR WHEN TAKING PART IN INTERNATIONAL DESIGN AWARD SCHEMES OR DESIGN COMPETITIONS - PART 2
Part 2: International Design Award Schemes (continued)
Cost-benefit analysis, hints and tips
If
the competition conforms to the international guidelines and
regulations, and you are thinking of participating, find out the total
costs (including any follow-on costs, should you be among the winners,
and not forgetting the sometimes not insubstantial postage costs for
abroad). Then you think over if these costs are in proper relation to
the difficult-to-assess prospects of success (inclusion in the
exhibition, annual etc., or receipt of an award or prize). In this
context it should be mentioned that some organisers publish marketing
offers, e.g. discounts for early submissions. The given period is,
however, mostly too short and goes against the minimum one-month period
allowed.
Consider client involvement
The
designer can talk to the client for whom the work was done about entry
in the competition. That company could then contribute to the costs, or
take on all the expenses involved. So, alongside the question of what
benefit competition success brings to the designer, you can also
consider what benefit it will have for your client.
If
the client is involved in entry for the competition, then the designer
should consider just what expectations that client may have. If no
prize is won, what effect will this have on the designer's future work
with that client?
Assess carefully the publicity value
Consider
whether the competition you are entering has real publicity power, by
using 'publicity labels', e.g. "Awarded at..." or "Selected by..." for
you and for your client? Should you turn out to be one of the winners.
Is it a well-known competition, is it highly regarded? The answer to
this question will of course differ from one field to another in the
design world and from one country to another. Very different
constellations exist in terms of the relevance and acceptance of
competition awards.
Does an award really bring benefits
to a designer? Or does success only really feed the ego, one's own
pride? Do the possible benefits compensate for the costs of
participation? Or could you use that money in another way for more
targeted and efficient PR and acquisition activities?
Similar regulations for regional and national competitions
The
international rules governing the professional standards and fairness
of international, i.e. worldwide, competitions apply equally to
competitions at continental and national level. The only exception is
the requirement to have an international jury.
Continent-wide competitions
need only a continental jury, e.g. an Asian competition only has to
have a Asian jury, or a Latin-American competition requires a
Latin-American jury drawn from the various countries in Latin America.
A multinational competition, open to only a restricted number of countries, needs a multinational jury from these countries.
A bi-national competition (covering two countries) needs to have a bi-national jury drawn from the two countries.
A national competition needs only a national jury.
Good luck to all, who are going to participate in an award scheme.
HELMUT LANGER
About this article
Part 2 of this multi-part article was originally published in novum 08/04 and is re-published with permission.
Part 1 can be read on the previous Icograda Feature page.
In Part 3 of the 'Competitions...' series, read about International Design Competitions, to obtain original and unpublished design work to a given project or theme.
About Helmut Langer
Helmut Langer was President and member of the board of Icograda from 1987 to 1993. Since 1993, he has been advising as international competition expert to Icograda and to international organisers of competitions. Helmut has served as juror at many competitions around the world. He received many prizes and awards for his design works, but he no longer takes part in design award schemes, since he is acting as international competition expert. Beside his design work for international organisations and companies he is passing on his experience and know-how as guest professor at various universities worldwide; currently he is a guest professor at Nagoya University of Arts in Nagoya/Japan.
Because of the global concern about raising competition standards, Langer's 'Competition' article is being published world-wide. The article will be published or has been published in German (NOVUM magazine Germany), Chinese (PACKAGE & DESIGN, China and DESIGN in Taiwan), Spanish (several design magazines in Latin America), Korean (DESIGN IN KOREA, South Korea), Russian (KAK magazine, Russia), Japanese (DESIGNERS' WORKSHOP magazine, Japan), and in several other magazines and designers' information services.
About novum
novum - WORLD OF GRAPHIC DESIGN is an international magazine for
communication design (German/English). The first issue was published in
1924 - the magazine celebrates its 80th anniversary in 2004. Each month
novum shows the best works in graphic design, packaging, web
design, advertising, editorial design, illustration and features
special topics like trade fair design, orientation systems, typography,
event design and many others.