iF Design - Samsung Design Prize by iF

Samsung Design Prize by iF

Five visionary student concepts aimed at solving the United Nations' SDGs received the young talent award SAMSUNG Design Prize 2023 by iF.

The winners from Sweden, Germany, USA, China, and Spain were celebrated for their special awards in Istanbul.

A haptic pregnancy test for people with visual impairment, an autonomous drone for sewer inspections, a toy that improves children’s hand motor skills, tape measure for blind people, and a material consisting of collected microplastics – these are all concepts from students that pay towards solving the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals – and have been awarded with the SAMSUNG Design Prize 2023 by iF.

Hyuntaik Lim, Leader of the Product Design Group for Samsung Design Europe in London:

"The Samsung design team is constantly striving to create a better life for all customers. Therefore, for a sustainable future, designers should always focus on ethical values for the environment, society, economy and the overall benefit of humanity."

The Samsung Design Prize 2023 by iF is a special prize, awarded as part of the iF DESIGN STUDENT AWARD 2023. This young talent award is one of the world's most important and significant design competitions for young designers around the world. Samsung is strongly involved in promoting young design talent – and has been associated with the iF DESIGN STUDENT AWARD for 16 years.

Hyuntaik Lim, Leader of the Product Design Group for Samsung Design Europe in London: "Representing more than 1,500 designers working for Samsung worldwide, it is a special honor for me to award young, talented designers with the Samsung Design Prize 2023. Based on Samsung's design philosophy of "Inspired by Humans, creating the future," the Samsung design team is constantly striving to create a better life for all customers.

Therefore, for a sustainable future, designers should always focus on ethical values for the environment, society, economy and the overall benefit of humanity. This makes it all the more important to give young designers around the world the opportunity to think about the Sustainable Development Goals agreed upon by countries under the UN, to find problems and solve them through design. So, I hope designers will always remain those who think about the SDGs and continue to pay attention to the meaningful steps of the iF DESIGN STUDENT AWARD."

The five winners of the Samsung Design Prize 2023 by iF

Hemi | Toy offers playful experiences that improves children’s hand motor skills in various therapeutic games

Designed by Natalia Ikebara (Umeå Institute of Design, Umeå, Sweden)

Hemi is a therapeutic hybrid toy that motivates children with arm-hand motor disabilities to continue exercising at home as a complement to the child’s regular therapy sessions. It consists of physical controllers and a digital platform with therapeutic games.

Jury Statement: "This careful and interactive design offers children with hemiplegia a
dynamic and effective therapy option they can practice at home."

TD-238 | Autonomous drone for sewer inspections

Designed by Michel Pieczynski, Lennard Kepura (Hochschule Magdeburg-Stendal, Germany)

This lightweight autonomous drone can reduce inspection time from several days to just one hour and protect operators from having to work in a toxic environment.

Jury Statement: "It's wonderful to see drone technology put to such positive civilian
use. Wastewater management is the linchpin of urban sustainability."

APT | ACCESSIBLE PREGNANCY TEST

Designed by Saloni Bedi, Eunah Kim, Leandra Tejedor, Mengzhu Chen (Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Boston, United States of America)

APT is a haptic pregnancy test designed for people with visual impairment. It is the first pregnancy test that can be used without sighted assistance.

Jury Statement: "This design idea aims to empower visually impaired people by increasing
their self-reliance and self-confidence. In terms of execution, there is some room for improvement which may be addressed by feasibility testing."

The sound of length | Tape measure for blind people

Designed by Yupeng Jiang, Changjun Li, Zhaoyi Wu (Hubei University, Wuhan, China)

Since visually impaired people can’t see the marks on a tape measure, they can’t use ordinary tape measures properly. The Sound of Length conveys information about length to the user through a musical melody. Every time the tape is pulled out by 1 cm, the measure emits a tone.

Jury Statement: "This project takes a creative and pleasant approach to a unique product
idea. Excellent synthesis of industrial design elements and fine design resolution."

FIX Project | Stop the release of microplastics

Designed by Maria Mei Bellsolà López, Mario Sanz Lameiro, Núria Fandos Arriero (ELISAVA, Barcelona School of Design & Engineering, Spain)

FIX tackles the problem of microplastics entering the water cycle by collecting and upcycling this waste into a new material. This new material is then mixed with polypropylene to produce 3D printing filament which can be used to manufacture an array of new products.

Jury statement: "This design solution creates recyclable products from microplastics that occur in domestic and industrial washing processes. This is a practical and highly feasible concept that is likely to blaze a trail in the circular economy."

Hyuntaik Lim:

"I hope designers will always remain those who think about the SDGs and continue to pay attention to the meaningful steps of the iF DESIGN STUDENT AWARD."

About the iF DESIGN STUDENT AWARD

The iF DESIGN STUDENT AWARD honors exciting, visionary ideas and concepts from students that enable a dignified life worldwide while preserving the natural foundations of life. The competition categories correspond to the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals. The competition has been held since 2002. Participation in the competition is free of charge – prize money totaling EUR 50,000 is awarded each year.

For more information and image material, please contact:

Kacey Pae
Design Communication, Principal Designer
Design Planning Group
Samsung Electronics
Seoul / Republic of Korea
yk.pae@samsung.com

design.samsung.com

Annegret Wulf-Pippig
Press Officer / iF DESIGN STUDENT AWARD
Hannover / Germany