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Designs of the Year 2015
Now in its eighth year, Designs of the Year celebrates design that promotes or delivers change, enables access, extends design practice or captures the spirit of the year. Someday the other museums will be showing this stuff.
"Find out what the world's geniuses have been up to for the last 12 months." Time Out
76 nominees over 6 categories
Architecture
This category represents the fullest range of the built environment from small scale domestic to public parks.
Arena do Morro, Mãe Luiza, Natal, Brazil
A community sports centre for a Brazilian town
Desert Courtyard House
A beautiful home made of desert soil
Fondation Louis Vuitton
An expressive new form for an art collection
Forfatterhuset Kindergarten
A welcoming brick-clad school for under-6s
Garden School
A school with open spaces for nature built in
UC Innovation Center
An open and eco-friendly university building
House for Trees
A scheme bringing trees back to the city
Long Museum West Bund
A modern museum from a coal-loading point
Markthal Rotterdam
An architectural rethink of the food market
One Central Park
A residential development with vertical gardens
Philharmonic Hall
A shimmering venue inspired by the city skyline
Sancaklar Mosque
A place of worship in a prairie setting
Saw Swee Hock Student Centre
A brick university centre on a complex London plot
La Ultima Esperanza - The Last Hope
An architecture school for a fishing community
Waterbank Campus
A school campus that stores rain and builds peace
Digital
A wide ranging category that includes projects that may touch on other categories but are included here because it is their digital dimension that makes them interesting.
The Ocean Cleanup
A campaign to rid the sea of plastic waste
Disclosed
An app for mindful shopping
MegaFaces
An interactive installation at the Winter Olympics
Monument Valley
A beautifully crafted game for your iPad
No Man's Sky
A sci-fi game exploring an endless universe
Of Instruments and Archetypes
A set of measuring tools for 3D modelling
The Refugee Project
An interactive map of the history of migration
Responsive Street Furniture
A bespoke digital aid for pedestrians
Shadowing
A streetlamp that plays with your shadow
The Walls Have Eyes
A visualisation of how our data is captured
Fashion
Everything from student graduation shows to established fashion houses, this category includes the most important collections, accessories, fashion shows, exhibitions, films, costumes and individual pieces.
Thomas Tait AW13/14
A masterful display of colour, cut and technique
Archivist
A journal curated from a designer's archive
BACK SS15 collection
A fringed collection that redefines beauty
Satu Maaranen SS15 Collection
A mix of Space Age silhouettes and folk traditions
Fausto Puglisi AW14/15 collection
A graphic womenswear look
J.W. Anderson SS15 women's catwalk show
A glamorous fashion presentation with hats
Raf Simons/Sterling Ruby AW14/15
An innovative fusion of high art and fashion
Rodarte AW14 Star Wars™ Gowns
A series of dresses paying homage to Star Wars™
Graphics
2D work where graphic design is the key to the project’s success – this could be beautifully executed packaging, books, magazines, identities, digital, films, animation, street art, exhibition design, posters or typefaces.
Inglorious Fruits and Vegetables
A witty supermarket campaign to reduce food waste
100 Years of Swiss Graphic Design
An overview of graphic design in Switzerland
Banknote design for Norges
A bold proposal for Norway's new banknotes
Designing for the Sixth Extinction
A possible future of bio-engineered nature
Franchise Animated
An animated typeface that's available to all
Glasgow International 2014 identity
A hand-painted typeface to brand an arts festival
Jurriaan Schrofer
An monograph on a radical Dutch designer
Kenzopedia
A web collection of 26 fashion illustrations
MIT Media Lab identity
A digital branding for a digital research lab
Modern Design Review
A new way to look at product and furniture design
No.5 Culture Chanel
A beautiful embossed inkless book for a perfume
Riposte magazine
A new kind of women's magazine
A Way of the Shovel
An aptly interactive art-gallery advertisement
WIRED custom typeface
A 3D typeface for the technology magazine
Product
This category includes furniture for the first time this year. Unique and mass produced items including toys, packaging, lighting, technology, homewares and healthcare. A seemingly endless range of outstanding objects have been included in this category.
Human Organs-on-Chips
A way to research drugs without testing on animals
10 100 1000
A set of affordable stools made in Mexico
Air-purifying billboard
A hoarding to transform pollution into clean air
Blue Diversion toilet
A sanitation system for those who are off the grid
BRCK
An off-road internet router
BrydgeAir
A keyboard that's the perfect fit for your iPad
Current Table
A table that photosynthesises electricity
DIY Gamer Kit
A technology learning-aid that's fun for kids
Double O
A robust, easily secured LED bikelight
Dragonfly
An asymmetric plastic chair inspired by insects
Endgrain
An intricate process for colour-staining furniture
The Extrapolation Factory
A think-tank studio designing possible futures
Field Experiments: Indonesia
A project to support local crafts
'Grow It Yourself' Mushroom Materials
A compostable material to grow, then build with
Kano computer kit
A computer and coding kit that all ages can enjoy
Man Machine
A study of furniture in movement and glass
Miito
A kettle that saves both water and power
Moocall SMS Calving Alert Sensor
A text-message alert system for birthing calves
Project Daniel
A South Sudan lab that 3D-prints prosthetics
QardioArm
A discreet personal heart monitor
Sabi Space
An easy-to-install range of chic bathroom products
Strap Chair
A woven stackable chair for use indoors and out
Turn On
A simple all-in-one dimmable desklight
Transport
This category looks at more than planes, trains and automobiles (though, these are important too).
Google self-driving car
A prototype small car that drives itself
D-Air-Bag - Street
An air-bag system that predicts motorbike crashes
i8
A sleek eco-friendly sports car
Loopwheels
A wheel that's its own shock-absorber
Model S
A high-performance electric saloon car
MOTIV.e City Car
A green city runaround from an F1 designer
meet the jury
Hilary Alexander
Born in New Zealand, Hilary Alexander OBE is the former Fashion Director of The Daily Telegraph. She retired from the Telegraph in 2011, after 26 years, and has continued to work as a freelance stylist and writer, and is also the editor-at-large for Hello Fashion Monthly.
Alexis Georgacopoulos
Alexis Georgacopoulos is Director of ECAL- Ecole cantonale d’art de Lausanne (University of Art and Design Lausanne). Founded in 1821, ECAL regularly features among the world’s top 10 universities of art and design.
Anish Kapoor (Chair)
Anish Kapoor is one of the most influential sculptors of his generation. Born in 1954 in Bombay, he has lived in London since the early 1970s. Over the past thirty years he has exhibited extensively with solo shows at venues including: Kunsthalle Basel; Tate; Hayward Gallery; Reina Sofia, Madrid; CAPC in Bordeaux; Haus der Kunst, Munich; MAK, Vienna and Deutsche Guggenheim.
Farshid Moussavi
Farshid Moussavi is an architect, principal of Farshid Moussavi Architecture (FMA) and Professor in Practice of Architecture at Harvard University Graduate School of Design. Educated at Harvard’s Graduate School of Design, University College London and Dundee University, Moussavi has taught and served as External Examiner in academic institutions worldwide.
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