if Design draws a successful interim balance:

Hannover, 17 December 2020

Close to 10,000 products and projects have been entered for the if DESIGN AWARD 2021. A tremendous result, which impressively reflects the design community's belief in the if brand.

Companies, designers, agencies, property developers, architects and interior designers from ail over the world have seized the opportunity and registered their innovative design achievements for the iF DESIGN AWARD 2021. Last year, a total of 7,300 entries were registered for the design competition. As of today, close to 10,000 products and projects from 55 nations from around the globe have been entered in next year's competition.

"This is a great confirmation and a real sign of confidence from our participants in the iF brand as a leading and reliable leader in design competitions. And we would like to thank everyone who has placed their trust in us during these times!" says iF CEO Ralph Wiegmann. "We can see that our serious commitment to the consistent continued development of our competition - both the structural adjustments and further developments in terms of content - has paid off in full. Of course, this great result also reflects the power of our international iF team and our globally active design network."

The new if DESIGN AWARD 2021

ln order to respond to the needs of the participants in an even more targeted way, an Online Preselection was added to the jury process, whereby only the best 50 percent of ail entries are admitted to the Final Jury. This not only makes the competition more environmentally friendly, it also significantly reduces the logistics costs of the participants. ln addition, the evaluation criteria were revised and a new iF scorecard and iF jury feedback chart were developed to make the jury results more transparent. The new disciplines of User Experience (UX) and User Interface (UI) were also included to do justice to the current requirements for holistic design solutions.

Entries were welcomed online at www.ifworlddesignguide.com in the iF DESIGN AWARD 2021 up until 1 December 2020 in the following nine disciplines:

Product Design

Communication Design

Packaging Design

Architecture

Interior Architecture

Professional Concept

Service Design

User Experience (UX) -> NEW

User Interface (UI) -> NEW

Ali the important dates at a glance:

1. Dec. 2020

18-22 Jan. 2021

29-31 March 2021

10 May 2021

Registration deadline

Jury Step 1: Online Preselection

Jury Step 2: Final Jury* * at the Berlin Exhibition Grounds Awards ceremony in the Friedrichstadt-Palast in Berlin

** Due to the current pandemic situation in Germany, the Final Jury will also be conducted virtually. To do so, iF has developed a unique digital jury tool that ensures the high quality of the judging process.

About the if DESIGN AWARD

Since 1953, the iF DESIGN AWARD has identified outstanding design, its particular relevance to business and everyday life, and awarded one of the world's most important seals of quality. The iF brand is internationally established as a symbol of design excellence. The iF DESIGN AWARD is one of the most important design prizes in the world. lt honors design achievements in ail design disciplines: product-, packaging, communication and service design, user experience (UX) and user interface (UI), architecture and interior design, as well professional concept. Ali award-winning entries are presented on the iF WORLD DESIGN GUID E, published in der iF design app and presented on digital media at selected international design events.

For further information and image requests, please contact:

Annegret Wulf-Pippig Press officer

IF International Forum Design GmbH Bahnhofstrasse 8 / 30159 Hannover

T: +49.511.54224-218

E: annegret.wulf-pippig@ifdesign.de