By Patrick Avenell
Domestic Appliances and Consumer Electronics will have their own categories for the first time at the 2013 Australian International Design Awards. This expansion of categories means both an appliance and an electronics product will be awarded a ‘Best in Category’ prize this year.
In previous years, all appliances and electronics were lumped together under the broad ‘Consumer’ label. The reigning winner in this category, the Dreamfarm Garject garlic crusher, beat out a number of major appliances for this award, much to the chagrin of these global design teams.
The new Domestic Appliances category will include “small appliances, whitegoods, brown goods, home heaters and air conditioners, floorcare, barbeques and personal care products,” according to Awards organiser Good Design Australia, while Consumer Electronics will comprise “televisions, home theatre systems, computers, phones, mobile devices, digital cameras, gaming consoles and electronic accessories”.
Another new category is Digital and Online, which is made up of “software, websites and online portals, user interfaces, smartphone applications, animations, gaming and digital media”. In previous years, these nascent categories were pigeonholed into Business and Technology, which has been discontinued in favour of more specific categories, such as Commercial and Industrial.
With this new Digital and Online category comes new scope for apps and games developers to be recognised at a prestigious event with a 60-year heritage. This is also the cheapest category to enter, at $450.
Prices for other categories are based on the size of the product, ranging from $650 for a small product to $2,000 for a motor powered vehicle.
The Services category, which was launched for the 2012 Awards, will be coming back, joined by another intangible, an Award for Packaging and Graphics, which will recognise excellence in “primary, secondary and tertiary packaging, POS displays, structural graphics and print media”.
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The full list of Award categories is:
Domestic Appliances, Consumer Electronics, Housewares and Objects, Babies and Children, Fashion and Accessories, Sport and Leisure, Automotive and Transport, Commercial and Industrial, Medical and Scientific, Hardware and Building, Furniture and Lighting, Architectural and Interiors, Packaging and Graphics, Digital and Online, and Services.
Entries will open for the 2013 Australian International Design Awards on 1 February 2013 and close on Thursday 28 March 2013. This year’s Awards have been timed to coincide with Vivid Sydney, an annual festival celebrating creativity and imagination through the arts, lights and music.
“Australia’s most prestigious design awards, the Australian International Design Awards, has been aligned to Vivid Sydney, a festival of light, music and ideas, to create the inaugural Australian International Design Festival,” said a spokesperson for the Awards.
“The Design Festival will take place in Sydney from 30 May to 10 June 2013 and also comprises a high profile design conference, public product showcase and series of VIP celebrations.
“Enter the 2013 Design Awards to be included in the festivities and attract greater awareness and promotion than ever before.”