Methods For Organizing Design Competitions
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Methods For Organizing Design Competitions
Methods for organizing design competitions have evolved greatly over the years, thanks to the advancement of digital technologies. While traditional methods of announcing calls and collecting entries through physical posting of announcements still exist, there are now many new ways to organize and manage design competitions. These methods can be broadly categorized into four major ways: design competition platforms, advanced design competition platforms, professional organizers, and design magazines or publications. Design competition platforms are closed systems developed in-house by contest organization companies or commercial solutions for simpler contests. They focus on accessibility and ease of submission and are most suitable for contests where the aim is to gather many ideas or procure simpler projects. Advanced design competition platforms, on the other hand, are highly customizable interactive information technologies software or processes that ease the management of a design competition through automation of tasks such as participant registration, certificate or yearbook creation, and more. These platforms allow the organization of highly specialized design competitions that could be used for a plethora of business models. Professional organizers, usually PR companies or existing award programs, offer to manage design competitions on behalf of others. While PR companies are good for creating buzz, they usually fail to deliver an efficient platform for entry collection. Utilization of existing awards, such as sponsoring a new category in a design award platform, could be a good strategic decision for companies whose aim is to derive prestige from the event. Design magazines or publications can benefit from the existing reader base and thus could provide a large number of participation and publicity options and could be considered as an alternative platform to organize competitions. In addition to these methods, there is also the possibility to use entry platforms and bespoke solutions. Entry platforms are content management systems that allow users to submit entries to a design competition. Bespoke solutions refer to specialized web software that is designed to collect competition entries in a very specific manner. These solutions are usually incorporated for annual competitions or contests. The most important part of organizing a design competition is to have clear goals from the beginning. Before even considering the methods to use for organizing, it is important to have a clear understanding of the purpose of the competition and what the expected outcome is. Once the goals have been set, it is then important to determine the best method for achieving those goals. If an organizer wishes to reach several goals, such as both prestige improvements, branding, publicity, and collection of ideas, the right course of action to take is to organize an annual competition that is hosted at its own domain, has a unique interface, and based on an advanced design competition platform with processes for submission, evaluation, and result communication optimized for the initial goals.
design competition platforms, advanced design competition platforms, professional organizers, design magazines, entry platforms, bespoke solutions, goals
CITATION : "Joseph Jackson. 'Methods For Organizing Design Competitions.' Design+Encyclopedia. https://design-encyclopedia.com/define/methods-for-organizing-design-competitions?E=248295 (Accessed on October 14, 2026)"
Methods For Organizing Design Competitions
Organizing a design competition is not as straightforward as it may seem. There are several factors to consider and things to plan before launching the competition. The first step is to determine the purpose of the competition. Are you looking to gain public attention and prestige, to procure design ideas, or to promote the brand? Once the goal is set, the next step is to decide how the competition will be structured. Will the competition be open to all or will there be specific criteria for eligibility? Will there be multiple rounds of judging or just one? What will the timeline be? Will there be prizes? These are all important questions to consider when planning the competition.
Design, arts, creativity, organization, contest, competition, platform, entry, judging, criteria.
Methods For Organizing Design Competitions
The most important part of organizing a design competition is to have clear goals from the beginning. Before even considering the methods to use for organizing, it is important to have a clear understanding of the purpose of the competition and what the expected outcome is. Once the goals have been set, it is then important to determine the best method for achieving those goals.
The methods for organizing design competitions depend on the type of competition being organized, the size of the competition, the resources available, and the budget. For example, a small local design competition may be suitable for organizing using trad
Methods for Organizing Design Competitions
In the past, all design competitions were organized the same way using the traditional way of announcing call and collecting entries by physical posting of announcements; i.e. the organizer would initially plan the competition, write a call for submissions, post this call around the town or send it to interested parties, and provide a physical address to collect entries, participants would send these address to the physical address where a jury would come together and evaluate them. Today, thanks to the advancement of digital technologies, there are many new ways to organize and manage design competitions. Competitions can be organized and managed by newly developed software that not only makes the process easy, but could also automate certain aspects of the process and tasks to create further efficiency such as registering votes etc. Furthermore, there are now many design competition organization companies, to automate the process. If we were to categorize methods of competition organization today, we can perhaps list 4 major ways: 1. Design Competition Platforms (DCP) are one of the new ways to organize design competitions. Design Competition Platforms are usually closed systems developed in-house by contest organization companies but commercial solutions for simpler contests are also available. DCPs help and ease the process of organizing a design contest (not a competition in a professional sense). DCP’s are designed to maximize the number of entries to a competition, and are most suitable for contests where the aim is to gather many ideas, to procure simpler projects. They focus on accessibility and ease of submission but also management of voting and collecting entries. Their use for competitions where the aim is to create publicity or prestige is contested since the DCPs usually look not worthy from a graphic design view; i.e. they look mostly cheap and unattractive which results designers thinking the competition running uncustomized commercialized DCPs as unprofessional. Creative’s Challenge is an example of a DCP that is specialized for collecting ideas that could be heavily customized. 2. Advanced Design Competition Platforms. An Advanced Design Competition Platform is usually a highly customizable interactive information technologies software or process that ease the management of a design competition through automation of tasks such as participant registration, certificate or yearbook creation etc. I.e. Unlike the DCP’s which are used by contest organization companies, these platforms allow the organization of highly specialized design competitions that could be used for a plethora of business models. The Design League platform, developed as a part of this thesis is an example of an advanced design competition platform which could be fully customized and tailor-fit to the goals of organizers. An important aspect of the Advance Design Platforms is the embedded automation processes. Automation process in design competition mainly refers to the generation of deliverables without intervention of a dedicated staff. For example the Design League platform has built-in functionality to create the competition yearbook, certificates, customized winners’ logos, QR embedding, press-releases etc, in addition to standard functions such as profile creation, design submission, edit or nomination. 3. Professional organizers, usually PR Companies, or existing award programs, which offer to manage design competitions on behalf of others. While PR Companies are good for creating buzz, they usually fail to deliver an efficient platform for entry collection. On the other hand, utilization of existing awards (such as sponsoring a new category in a design award platform) could be a good strategic decision for companies whose aim is to derive prestige from the event. For example, companies could sponsor or organize custom competitions at A’ Design Awards, or use their platform to run new government - country level award programs; an experiment was conducted for organizing the Indian Design Awards, explained separately. 4. Design magazines or publications which can help organizers to achieve their goals. Design magazines can benefit from the existing reader base and thus could provide a large number of participation and publicity options and could be considered as an alternative platform to organize competitions. The drawback is usually regarding entry collection and judging. For example, an interested organizer could ask the DesignAmid magazine to organize a competition on their behalf. In this case, DesignAmid would post an announcement, collect entries via an entry-platform, and publish results in their pages. In addition there is possibility to use entry platforms and bespoke solutions. Entry-Platforms are content management systems that allow users to submit entries to a design competition. A good entry-platform also helps to track the process. For this reason, there are some very specific and specialized platforms designed to collect entries in a very easy way such as the DesignLeague and also the entry platforms seen at DCPs. Yet, there is also the possibility to use existing CMS (Content Management Systems) or even email to collect the entries. Bespoke Solutions refer to specialized web software that is designed to collect competition entries in a very specific manner. They are usually incorporated for annual competitions or contests. Some of such solutions can be observed in companies who offer product customization. Bespoke Solutions are usually expensive, yet an alternative to bespoke solutions could be the usage and customization of already existing advanced competition organization platforms. If a design competition is to be organized free of charge, you can use the following free solutions: Email, Blogs, or Forums. Email is simple: Send an email to participants, and ask them to submit entries by replying. Blogs: Announce the competition in a design related blog and require participants to submit entries to a given address. Forums: Post your brief to the forum and ask people to submit by replying. These methods are indeed great for little communities to run competitions without any costs, however their potential is likewise limited. Finally, the Traditional Solutions are still a very popular way to organize design competitions; communications are made on a written publications or magazines, and entries are sent to a physical address. Of course, now, it is usually a requirement to also have a website where further information could be found or application forms could be downloaded. If the aim of the competition organizer is to gain prestige, bespoke solutions are suggested. If the aim is to spend a little money to get many ideas, then DCP’s can be used for organization. If the organizer is seeking for publicity, it is best to either sponsor a category in an existing design competition, or organize an award through a design magazine which already reaches a large audience. If the organizers are seeking to create a social activity, free solutions works the best. However, if an organizer wishes to reach several goals, such as both prestige improvements, branding, publicity, and collection of ideas, in this case, the right course of action to take is to organize an annual competition that is hosted at its own domain, has a unique interface, and based on an advanced design competition platform with processes for submission, evaluation and result communication optimized for the initial goals, to make sure that the process is fully and professionally managed, and also to ensure that submitted entries are of high quality.
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