Winning design awards matters. But why?

Everyone loves a bit of recognition and silverware but why are design awards important and why should clients care? We had a great chat in the studio about this and want to share a few thoughts with you.

Our win is your win

They're proof of what we can achieve together. When we win an award it feeds more than our ego. It motivates us and pushes us to be better designers. Kylie explained, "Everything you work on should be the best it can be, it shows that you strive for excellence." So the higher we aim, the better it is for our clients.

Design is good for business

We found some pretty compelling stats from The Design Council UK who studied 63 portfolios of companies that traded on the FTSE (Financial Times Stock Exchange) over the course of a decade. They discovered that companies that put an emphasis on design outperformed the FTSE 100 index by 200%.

It feeds our creative souls

More often than not we're too busy doing to reflect on what we've achieved. And like poor old Jack, all work and no play makes us designers dull. It's good to celebrate the wins and acknowledge all the hard graft. Design awards are the benchmark. All designers look at award-winning work. We do it to be inspired, to learn and discover how others have solved a brief. It feeds our souls.

Sydney design awards

So what's on our design award wishlist:

  • Dan is after a "D&AD pencil please". In fact, everyone in the studio is after one of these.

  • Cassie covets a tick from Good Design Australia.

  • Rach has designs on a Dieline award.

  • Kasia has her sights on a REBRAND award.

  • "An AGDA award would do nicely too," adds Louise. "International awards are great, but it's important to support the Australian design industry."

Sounds like we've got our work cut out for ourselves. We look forward to winning a few more awards on your behalf.

ArticleLouise Thomas