There are various genres of industrial design awards all over the world; among all of them, iF and red-dot of German, IDEA in America and G-mark in Japan are the most identified four international product design major prizes. Furthermore, Concept Design Award is held by iF and red-dot Awards in German and IDEA in America targeting the students at school and new coming designers as well. It provides the international debut for the young prosperous student.

Whether winning the awards or not, joining international design competitions reinforces international experiences effectively. Although there are preferences and subjectivity existing in different competitions, some are identified as more relatively international design competitions, are relatively recognized as objective platform of competitions. By taking this opportunity, we can integrate with global design industry, get to know design practically or conceptual performance ability, and realize our advantages and places that need to be desired. We can also learn others’ design practice to broaden our views internationally. It will be ideal if we are prized with design awards, which not only prove our design ability but also greatly benefit our career portfolio.

I used to serve as a judge in many international design competitions; no matter in preliminary or final contest, sometimes I feel a bit sorry for those passed-over works, which were so close to pass. Therefore, I wish to share some of my humble experiences at the aspect of a judge, to those young designers who are aiming at international design competitions, for preparation and reference.

In general, the most difficult, also the most important, is our choice of subject to participate design competition. Whether the subject choice is good or bad influence greatly in ultimate success or failure. Life-oriented or global-concerned public issues are recommended to be the direction of design subject. However, some unique life custom or tradition shall be avoided in consideration of the judges’ international background. How to persuade the majority of judges; moreover, to touch their feelings, is very important key, indeed. Therefore, we must have keen observation on our daily life articles, to find out some objects that left something to be desired, also some situations that provides us opportunities to design new products. Besides, issues that concerned by international organizations or World News are usually a good theme, such as carbon reduction, ecological protection, disaster relief, rescue supplies, etc. / As for cultural issues, some local culture tends to arouse judge’s interest. Especially in recent years, Chinese culture has been highly-valued with its important status in global market. Such local culture can be approved; however, the performance still needs to be understandable to the international judges. Issues with too much depth, unpopularity, or cliché, are inappropriate subjects. In a final contest, Germany, there used to be a conceptual work of tape measure, which utilized the technique of E-paper that enabled conversion of metric, inch and Luban system. Many judges did not get the idea of this design until listening to my explanation on the situation of measurement appliance in China, Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan. However, whether the judges can be persuaded next time may depend on participants’ luck. Therefore, the subject choice is more appropriate to coordinate with international common life experience.

_{Example 1-Manifest Blood Bag-2013 iF Concept Design Award【TOP 100】Creator}

_{-National Taiwan University of Science and Technology Min, Hao-Siang、Lin, Chun-Chi、Chiang, Cheng-Ta}

2. Induction of Design Thinking Methods

_{Example 2-Blind Memo Tag-2013 iF Concept Design Award【TOP 100】Creator}

_{-National Taiwan University of Science and Technology Tsung, Chih-Hsien}

3. Wise and Simple Solutions

After figuring out a direction to solution through design thinking, followed by the axis, the core of design competition is how to solve problems by creativity. The more simple and wise the solution is, the more possible it will be recognized by the judges. However, the concept of solution requires good manipulation on imagination of design. A good creativity would trigger people’s knowing smile; on the other hand, we should avoid relying on science and technique for every solution, which is a less responsible practice of design. I used to see a project, that a small box was claimed to be a super computer with powerful wireless connection and moreover, with portable projector. It is believed to be realized one day; however, that will be attributed to contribution of engineers, not the effort designers. Unless we create some possibility of the application by using these techniques, to define the inter-design of usage situation, the value of design creativity is hence determined.

Example 3-Slide-hole-2013 iF Concept Design Award【TOP 100】Creator
-Tatung University Lin, Kuan-You、Tasi, Sung-Yu、Chan, Bing-Han

4. Clear and Eye-Catching Visual Layout
With a good project material, we can discover meaningful questions or chances hence develop creative solutions through design. Next, we need to present our design results to the judges, and let them feel the excellence of our design ideas. Therefore, the technique of ultimate visual layout will be the key of proceeding to final. / In recent years, there are more and more young designers enthusiastic in participating international design competition. Pieces of work that applied for well-known competitions are usually more than thousands or even tens of thousands. Although the organizers will be divided into preliminary and final review, and systematic review, each judge still needs to assess from three hundred to four hundred pieces. No matter the assessment is on internet or entity color, the workload of judges is quite heavy. Therefore, in the Assembly required layout, the design needs to be displayed clearly and simple, with exact English description and draw the attention of the judges by visual communication. The sooner the work being noticed and understood by the judges, the more chances we have to proceed to final.

_{Example 4-Easy Plug-2013 iF Concept Design Award【TOP 100】Creator}
-National Yunlin University of Science and Technology Huang, Jui-Min、Wu, Pin-Chieh

Above are some of my recommendations as a judge, and I hope my view is worthy of referring to those young designers who are aiming at participating international design competition. I, hereby, wish you all enjoy the competition with the best outcome.