San Francisco Design Week (SFDW) has announced winners of the 2020 Design Awards virtually for the first time in its history.
Human Headphones, Audio/Voice 2020 Award Winner - by Nonfiction (US).
San Francisco Design Week (SFDW), the premier gathering of the world’s most active design community, announced winners of the 2020 DESIGN AWARDS virtually for the first time in it's history. This year’s theme, “Intentional Distortions” was met by award winners from leading design firms, in-house teams, and creative individuals, who were honored online at the San Francisco Design Week Awards. The 2020 San Francisco Design Week Awards is an international design competition seeking to encourage thought leadership by supporting designers whose works contribute towards a positive future for society. The Design Awards celebrates and recognizes exemplary work in all fields of design including architecture, interiors, industrial design, communications and user experience. Winning projects were selected by a jury comprised of distinguished professionals who reviewed submissions from an exceptionally competitive pool of applicants from all over the world including China, France, Italy, Japan, The Netherlands, Singapore, United Emirates, UK, and USA.
“We are extremely excited to announce the 2020 San Francisco Design Week Awards,” says SFDW Executive Director Dawn Zidonis. “The quality of the many entries we received was exceptional, exceeding expectations in answering our theme ‘Intentional Distortions’ with inspiration and innovation. Congratulations to this year’s outstanding and diverse winners.” San Francisco Design Week 2020 Award Winners and Honorable Mentions were conceived by designers from China, France, Italy, Japan, The Netherlands, Singapore, United Emirates, UK, and USA.
2020 Design Award Winners
Altruistic / Non-Profit Mass Design Group (US) The Gun Violence Memorial Project Architecture: Commercial Walker Warner (US) House of Flowers Architecture: Residential Walker Warner (US) Kua Bay House Audio / Voice Nonfiction (US) Human Headphones Civic & Government Exploratorium (US) Middleground Communication Design Nanyang Technological University (Singapore) Cut & Paste: Preventing Visual Plagiarism FashTech Unspun (US) Unspun's Infinite Garment Lifecycle FinTech Blink UX (US) Edelman Financial Engines Future of Foods World Matcha Inc (Japan) Cuzen Matcha Interior Design: Office / Commercial Fennie & Mehl (US) 8VC Interior Design: Residential ECHE (US) Presidio Heights Interior Design: Restaurant / Hospitality Nicole Hollis (US) The Candler Hotel Internet of Things University of Colorado Boulder, Mortenson Center in Global Engineering + The Millenium Water Alliance (US) Drought Resistance Impact Platform DRIP Travel & Hospitality Fjord and MindTribe (US) The Band by Virgin Voyages Urban Mobility Canoo (US) Canoo EV VirtualTech Delve (US) REAL Immersive System VirtualTech Very Big Things (US) Dan Marino Foundation: ViTA WildCard ZÜLO (US) Planet ZÜLO Student: Communication Design Yuqiao Zheng, University of the Arts London (UK & China) Moon Sender
2020 Honorable Mentions
Altruistic / Non-Profit Gensler (US) Latino Justice PRLDE Altruistic / Non-Profit S^A Schwartz and Architecture (US) El Pípila: Guardians of Guanajuatan Cuisine Altruistic / Non-Profit TALLer KEN (Costa Rica) FUNdaMENTAL Design Build Initiative Architecture: Residential Aidlin Darling Design (US) Terrace House Architecture: Residential Aidlin Darling Design (US) High Desert Retreat Architecture: Residential Dumican Mosey Architects (US) SOMA Residence, Artist Gallery & Studio Architecture: Residential S^A Schwartz and Architecture (US) Lichen House BioTech Biome (US) Biome Civic & Government Beyond (US) We Are Not For Profit Civic Design Andrea Cochran Landscape Architecture (US) Helen Diller Civic Center Playground Civic Design Exygy (US) Mayor of Bayville: Co-Creating the Bay Area's Future Civic Design Illuminate (US) The Pink Triangle Civic Design LMNOP Design Inc. (US) Boom Pop Parks Civic Design Netrix (US) Crisis Cleanup Communication Design Volume Inc (US) This Will not be Easy Exhibition Interior Design: Office / Commercial Design Fennie Mehl Architects (US) The House Interior Design: Office / Commercial Design Medium Plenty (US) 1901 Poplar Interior Design: Residential Nicole Hollis (US) Pacific Heights Interior Design: Restaurant / Hospitality Marissa Jade Interiors (US) Macondray Interior Design: Restaurant / Hospitality RoseBernard Studio (US) Twin Crafts and Quail + Crane - Grand Hyatt SFO Student: Travel & Hospitality SCAD (US) NIMBUS-Adventure Awaits VirtualTech JFFLabs (US) JFFLabs | How Immersive Learning Technology is Transforming Workforce Training and Driving Social Impact in a Post-Pandemic Economy VirtualTech Unity Technologies (US) Unity Reflect Wild Card Frog Design (US) Telehealth Toolkit Wild Card Tablebed LTD (FINLAND) Tablebed Student: Wild Card Rachel Balma - School of Visual Arts, MFA Interaction Design - Graduate Student (US) Form
Design Awards Jury & Criteria
Each winning project displayed the following characteristics:
Impact—Design that represents a substantial shift in the way a particular process is created, executed, perceived, or experienced.
Singularity—Products and ideas that go above and beyond contemporaneous work being done within distinct fields of design.
Inclusiveness—Work that empowers those previously underrepresented in the design community and emboldens social mobility at all levels.
Social Responsibility—Design that offers solutions for people with needlessly insurmountable barriers to entry in all walks of life.
Ease of Use—Design that can be easily understood and applied by the end user.
Visual Appeal—Projects, ideas, and processes that not only solve problems, but do so with aesthetics that accentuate and elevate the experience from start to finish.
Feasibility—Design that can be sensibly funded, implemented and embraced.
The SFDW 2020 Design Awards esteemed jury comprised:
Catherine Kwong, Principal, Catherine Kwong Design
Irina Blok, Product Design Lead AI/Research Team, Google
Noah Richardson, Design Director, Facebook
Leah King, Senior XD Visual Designer, Fuseproject
Stan Rapp, Design Manager, Chan Zuckerberg Initiative
Maurice Woods, Principal Designer & Founder / Executive Director, Microsoft & Inneract Project
Takashi Yanai, FAIA, Partner & Residential Studio Director, Ehrlich Yanai Rhee Chaney Architects
Diane Dorrans Saeks, Interior Design / Lifestyle Author and Influencer, The Style Saloniste
The 2020 winners’ entries are displayed prominently and permanently online at San Francisco Design Week.