Prof. Fritz Frenkler, jury chairman, was impressed by the consistent high quality of the entries, the passion for innovation and the courage of some manufacturers to pursue their own design approaches:
"With products from categories that focused on computers, consumer electronics and mobile phones, the overall tendency goes toward simplifying and slimming down, which unfortunately also leads to uniformity. In doing so, it becomes more difficult to recognize differences in design. Whoever has the courage to step outside of the box gains advantages and is rewarded with visibility."
The experts also determined that design is becoming more and more important in areas that are less consumer-oriented. There were extraordinary accomplishments in the medical field as well as in the field of agriculture with tools and equipment - there were various examples that well-thought-out design leads to considerable improvements in the handling of products.
Product optimization and the courage to stand out with design are topics that will remain important in the near future, according to the jury of the iF design awards.
The three iF design awards 2014 at a glance:
iF product design award 2014:
_ 3.249 entries
_ 17 categories
_ 1.220 awards (iF label)
_ 50 iF gold awards
iF communication design award 2014:
_ 1.102 entries
_ 6 categories
_ 311 awards (iF label)
_ 20 iF gold awards
iF packaging design award 2014:
_ 264 entries
_ 7 categories
_ 95 awards (iF label)
_ 5 iF gold awards