The winners of the 2018 iF Design Award have been celebrated with a huge party on Friday and we’re proud that 4 of our designs have been awarded.

This year we’re even more curious about the awards because Moritz, managing director of designaffairs China was on the jury and can give us a glimpse behind the scenes.

2018年iF设计奖获奖者名单已经于慕尼黑时间3月9日的颁奖典礼公布。今年，designaffairs的4件设计作品也荣幸获得了iF大奖。今年我们们的designaffairs China执行总裁 Moritz 担任了iF设计奖评委, 大家的好奇心被激发了。让我们来一起来到颁奖典礼现场，并且和他一起以评委角度来看“iF设计奖的幕后”。

DA同事们在iF设计奖颁奖典礼现场

Q: The picture you’ve posted from the jury location looks like there’s a huge number of entries—what is the interesting aspect of the iF design award jury?

问：从您发布的图片看，评奖的场馆内有很多参赛作品— iF设计奖评委团有哪些趣闻趣事？

A: It was quite funny how often I found I find myself as an ambassador for Chinese consumers. After all the projects we've done in the Shanghai office, I had to share several background stories on the use cases and design nuances specific for the China market. Some of them were really surprising and foreign for the European designers.

One good example is the segment of air purifiers designed particular for the targeted market China. This is pretty much the opposite of my usual role in China, where I tend to be the advocate for German design values.

For the iF organization, the challenge here is to strike a balance between the strong German heritage of the Award and the increasingly international nature of the competition.

答：我觉得有趣的是我发现自己通常是中国消费者的大使。在上海designaffairs进行了这么多项目之后，我可以分享的一些背景经历，针对中国市场的设计案例和细微差别，而其中某些内容对于欧洲设计师而言是惊奇的。一个很好的例子是空气净化器产品类的设计与其目标市场中国息息相关。我作为身在中国的德国设计师，平时倾向于倡导德国设计的价值观，而这次的角色恰恰相反。

对于iF奖，面临的挑战是在德国的奖项传承与奖赛的日益国际化之间取得平衡。

参赛作品陈列馆内场景

Q: What are the criteria for design awards? How much influence does personal taste have?

问：设计奖项的标准是什么？个人品味对此有多大影响？

A: In general, the discussions are more on a meta-level, not simply about beauty orrsonal preference. The award is driven by the bigger purpose in the design - the question it addresses and the problem it solves. Design styles are becoming global phenomenon, it is difficult to tell whether a design is from a Nordic country, the USA or China. The local expectations – evaluating a design in the cultural context it exists in—becomes very important. We discussed entries such as kimchi refrigerator from Korea and water purifier from China that all aim to solve very specific questions for theirtarget users. It was very obvious that good designs combineglobal aesthetics and local expectations.

答：一般来说，标准不仅是个人喜好或审美,  更多是深层次的。这个奖项的标准是由设计中更大的目标驱动的–即它强调了什么状况，解决了什么问题。由于当今设计风格的全球化让人很难判断一个设计是来自北欧国家还是美国或中国。本土化的期望–即在其存在的文化背景下评估该设计—变得非常重要。我们有来自韩国的泡菜冰箱和来自中国的净水器等参赛作品，都旨在为目标用户解决非常具体的问题。很明显好的设计结合了全球美学和本土化的期望。

Moritz所在的小组进行评选讨论

Q: Can you give us a glimpse into the jury process?

问：您能否让我们了解一些评选的过程？

A: Every category gets a dedicated group of three jurors. We try out all products when evaluating them. It’s important to try them out to see every detail so that we understand their real purposes. Every team is accompanied by iF moderators who document everything and keep track of time.You can imagine how heated things can get, if three designers debate their thoughts on a new product - and we evaluated more than a hundred products! Overall it took three days to complete the evaluation and it was quite an intense program.

答：每个参赛作品类目都会有三位非常敬业的评委。我们在评估所有参赛作品时都会试用。仔细观察参赛作品的每一个细节，以便我们了解他们的真实目的是很重要的。

此外，每个评委团都有自己的协调员，协调员会记录内容，把握时间。你可以想象当同一个类目下的3位设计师对于一个新产品进入激烈讨论时的场景-而我们要评论一百多个！总之整个奖项评选过程要持续三天，所以这个过程相当紧张。

Q: What was the most impressive product for you?

问：您最印象深刻的产品是什么？

A: I was impressed by the overall quality of the submitted products. Technically challenging details such as screws, knobs, connecting parts and pieces are no longer  hidden but rather exposed with perfection, showcasing honesty and authenticity at a new level. Believe it or not - I was very excited about the refrigerator that won the gold award. Incredible details, no compromise in the use of material and every component showed how much dedication the designers put into the development. It was the mindset behind it that made it stand out. A very impressive proof of how deeply design can influence and change a whole category.

答：我对所有参赛作品的高质量印象深刻。那些处理技术上具有挑战性的细节，例如螺丝，旋钮，连接件和零件不再是被隐藏起来，而是以完美的方式展现出来，这体现了高水平的诚实和真实性。不管你相信与否，我很激动其中有一款冰箱获得了金奖，它有绝妙的设计，对于材料的最佳选择，每个零部件都显示了设计师对其的用心。是它背后的思想使这款冰箱脱颖而出。这是一个让人难忘的证明, 体现了设计对于整个产品类目的深刻影响和改变。

本届评委团合影

Q: What advice would you give to future applicants?

问：您会给未来的申请者什么建议？

A: It's essential that your designs are honest and authentic, without pretention or imitation. They have to excel beyond design styles or aesthetics, to convince people on functionality, and to create an exciting experience. Actually, its about making your design experienceable. And I highly recommend sending real products to show how much effort you put into every detail for perfection.

答：诚实和真实性是至关重要的。不要假装或模仿。获胜的产品必须设计风格或美学以外的能够说服人们的功能性，并实际上创造一个令人兴奋的体验。我强烈建议参赛作品是实物，因为这样能显示你为完善每个细节付出了多少努力。