Participating in the iF DESIGN AWARD offers the opportunity to showcase your design excellence on a global stage. It is a definitive confirmation of your outstanding work and ensures widespread recognition within the design community, both online and in print. By entering, you can benchmark your creations against top competitors and receive invaluable feedback from internationally renowned design experts.

Participating in the iF DESIGN AWARD is a strategic investment that offers substantial professional and commercial benefits. These include expert feedback, an enhanced online presence, networking opportunities with other professionals, increased marketability, proof of quality for customers, and many more. You will find a detailed list of benefits here.

You can register online via the my iF section on our website. As new participant you need to create a my iF user account first.

The following data are required for each entry:

Form Basic: Entry name, type of entry, selection of discipline and category

Form Media: Minimum of 4 images of the entry/product. One image should be in portrait format. (File types: JPG, PNG, max. resolution: 15-megapixel, max. file size: 5 MB, color Mode: RGB) Additional optional media: PDF, video link or weblink presenting your entry more detailed.

Form Description: Design statement = short product/entry description (max. 650 characters) as well as five short descriptions focusing on each of the five criteria (max. 650 characters each).

Form Details: Target group, market region, development time, project/product launch

Form Credits: Minimum one company each for design and client/manufacturer

No. Unfortunately, we can not accept descriptions written in Chinese. Please enter all information and descriptions in English, otherwise we are not able to process your registration.

If a deadline is set to e.g. the 28th of april, it means the deadline ends at 11:59 pm CET on the 28th of april.

Our translation tool, accessible through myiF, aids participants in translating their description texts from any language into English. Attention: Only the English text will be shown to the jurors.

Entries must be less than two years old at the date of registration, or must be launched, published or realized in the award year. Future-oriented, concepts and studies whose implementation is not planned or expected can be entered to the discipline Concept.

No, the iF DESIGN AWARD is a professional award, and student concepts are not eligible.

As a student you are encouraged to participate in the iF DESIGN STUDENT AWARD, free of charge.

According to our terms you can cancel your entry free-of-charge within 14 days of submitting your online registration. Please also see our terms, point 3. After this date we will charge 100% of the Registration fee as cancellation fee. To cancel an entry, please login to your myiF account, navigate to “my entries” and click the settings icon to cancel.

Important:

If you are a Finalist, meaning your entry has successfully made it through the iF Online Preselection and is sent to the iF Final Jury, it is no longer possible to cancel registration.

Yes, a product series can be registered as one entry.

There are a few requirements when submitting a series of products: All elements of the series must be made available to the jury, and at least one element must be submitted as an original product for the iF Final Jury. Other elements can be submitted in print format (brochure or charts/boards) or in digital format. In addition, please enter the following information in the online registration form:

Basic: Enter in the field 'Type of entry': Series of …

Media: Upload images that show all elements of the series

Description: Specify that your entry is a product series

Please keep in mind that when submitting a product series, the weakest element might negatively impact the jury’s decision. If the series does not have a very consistent design quality, it might be better to submit individual elements of the series as single entries. If you register a series and one or more individual elements of the series as single entries, you do not have to ship an extra product for the individual entry, since you will need to send the product as part of the series anyway.

Final products are best, but you can also submit prototypes or digital media (PDFs and/or video links).

Good to know: the closer your entry is to the final product, the better your chances are. A non-working model usually has fewer chances to win than a working prototype would. The final product always has the best chance of winning.

Yes, you are welcome to register the product for the iF DESIGN AWARD. Products that register for the iF DESIGN AWARD must be launched in the year of the award, i.e. all entries registered for the iF DESIGN AWARD 2026 must be launched by the end of 2026. If the launch date falls beyond this time frame, our "Concept" discipline is suitable.

All registrations will be treated confidentially during the two judging steps, and only published afterwards.

The iF Online Preselection and the jury session itself are not public, and all jury members are requested to treat the entries confidentially. After the iF Final Jury session, we will publish all award winners on the iF Design Website. Non-winning entries will not be published. If you wish for your awarded entry to not be published, you can enter a publication restriction date on form details of the online registration form. We will keep your entry secret until that date.

Important note: If your restriction date is later than the official publication date of all winners, we will have to remove your entry form the gold nomination process. Your entry can still be awarded.

Unique characteristics and innovations not visible at first glance.

Concentrate on the main innovation: you are limited to 650 characters including spaces and punctuation marks, so be brief! What makes your entry special and different from your competitors? What makes it relevant?

Avoid descriptions of the design quality (this is up to the jury to decide). Keep in mind that the jury can see your entry (either physically or digitally), so avoid describing anything the jury can see already by looking at the entry. Instead, explain something they cannot see (technical features, patents, production methods, innovative construction methods). Avoid describing the design process (your inspiration, thoughts, or methods), as in most cases these considerations are not relevant for the jury.

Yes, but you will need to create a separate my iF account for each client.

Here‘s why: For each registration there are different roles/addresses:

• participant

• client/manufacturer

• designer (can be more than one address)

• invoice recipient
  

In general, all roles/addresses can but do not have to be different. All roles/addresses consist of a postal address as well as a contact person (phone, email). All the communication concerning the award is done with the participant mostly via email. The invoice is sent via email to the contact person of the invoice recipient. The legal contract is between iF Design and the participant.

Yes, you can edit and change the text and image data of your entry in your my iF user account until the final registration deadline.

After the final registration deadline, you cannot change any data yourself anymore, but you can request the change by Email.

Please choose the discipline and category for your entry according to the most relevant industry and sector.

If you have trouble finding the most suitable Discipline/Category, you can select “to be decided” in the corresponding input field of the registration form. The iF team will contact you.

In case you will choose a wrong category, the iF Team might change the “category” for you during the screening process. This is to ensure that your entry is being placed in the correct category and to be judged by the right group of experts.

A product/entry cannot be submitted twice within the same discipline. There might be exceptions in disciplines Communication and Interior Architecture. Here an entry/project can be submitted within the same discipline if specific criteria are fulfilled. There must be a distinct focus for each submission. For instance, a campaign might be categorized in discipline “Branding & Communication Design” under "Campaigns/Advertising," while its associated website could be placed in "Websites". Please don't hesitate to reach out to us via email if you have any uncertainties via Email.

After successful registration you will receive an entry registration confirmation via email.

The confirmation includes a 6-digit-Entry-ID, and the registration status at my iF/my entries for your entry will show “REGISTERED, ENTRY COMPLETE” (all data complete) or “REGISTERED, ENTRY INCOMPLETE (data missing).

Various online payment methods are available, such as credit cards, Alipay, PayPal and payment by bank transfer.

You will receive an invoice for the registration fee via email. Important: If you choose paying by bank transfer, please use the invoice number and customer number as payment reference. Both numbers are indicated on the invoice.

For entries which have passed the online preselection, the invoice for the jury fee will be send after the iF Online Preselection. For award winners the invoice for the award-winning fee will after the iF Final Jury. The same payment methods are available as for the registration fee.

All invoices will be also available for download in your my iF user account in the Invoices section under the ACCOUNT menu item.

The bank information is printed on the invoice.

Payee: iF International Forum Design GmbH

Bank details: NORD/LB

Norddeutsche Landesbank Girozentrale

Friedrichswall 10, 30159 Hannover, Germany

BIC: NOLADE2HXXX

IBAN: DE26 2505 0000 0101 4537 69

Beneficiary name: iF International Forum Design GmbH

Important: Please note the invoice number and your customer number as reference for your payment.

If you would like to check, if we have received your payment, please login in your my iF account. The “my entry list” provides the information, if your entry is paid or not.

You can also check in the invoice section under the Account menu item of your my iF account, whether we have received your payment.

Our invoices have a payment deadline of 14 days. If we do not receive your payment within the 14 days payment deadline, which is stated on the invoice, you will receive a payment reminder (dunning letter).

Both fees are part of the Terms of Participation which participants must read and accept when registering online. You will find the terms in your my iF user account.

If your entry will pass the iF Online Preselection and is selected for the iF Final Jury, the jury fee is mandatory.

If your entry will be awarded in the iF Final Jury, the Winners Fee is mandatory. This fee includes a variety of services for winners – check out the benefits.

After submission of your registration, you cannot change the invoice details yourself. Please send an email with the requested change to our accounting team: accounting@ifdesign.com.

Yes. You can pay in EUR or any other currency per bank transfer or per credit card. Once you have received the invoice you will find a link to my iF for the credit card payment. When paying, just convert the amount on the invoice into your currency using the daily exchange rate.

After successful registration, you shall receive an invoice for registration fee within a few days. This means, the invoices may be issued after the deadline. Invoices are payable within 14 days following the date they are received.

We want the award to be more eco-friendly. By making the first preselection a digital process, the carbon footprint of the iF DESIGN AWARD can be reduced by roughly 50%, because only 50% of the entries will be shipped to Germany.

Yes. Independent international experts will use our iF Jury Tool© to select the best 50% of all entries for the iF Final Jury.

Our scoring system, which includes five criteria, developed with a team of international design experts enable a more objective and consistent judging process. Entries are more comparable now, even across different disciplines.

A scorecard is a tool that helps each entry be evaluated by the jury fairly and objectively. A newly developed scorecard with five main criteria and additional sub-criteria forms the basis for judging each entry. Scores will be used to choose the finalists and will be shared with participants.

Entries that successfully pass the iF Online Preselection will be judged by the iF Final Jury. Only companies whose entry makes it to this round are required to ship their products. If your entry is chosen, you will be informed after the iF Online Preselection.

The iF jury sessions are not open to the public. The participants do not have to do a personal presentation. The jurors will evaluate the entries based on the materials (physical/digital) submitted, a “presentation/unboxing video” can be submitted as a video link in the registration form.

An iF DESIGN AWARD is proof that an entry is well designed and well executed, and has convinced the independent expert jury that it fulfills the evaluation criteria.

An iF DESIGN AWARD Gold is the highest distinction a design can receive. The number of gold awards are strictly limited each year, so when a design is honored with an iF DESIGN AWARD Gold, it must display an exceptional level of innovation and excellence. iF DESIGN AWARD Gold Winners often point the way towards future design trends.

Yes. Please contact the award team via Email and we will add the new brand name to your entry.

Keep in mind that in order to bear the iF winner‘s logo, the product itself cannot be changed in any way in terms of:

• Shape, Dimensions, Proportion

• Function

• Color, Decor

• Material
  

You cannot change the data yourself following the awards ceremony. Please contact us via Email and we will change the data for you.

Yes. You can order additional award plaques (21 cm x 21 cm brushed aluminum), paper-embossed certificates (A4) and Gold Award trophies (only for Gold Winners) for an extra fee. Paper certificates can also be downloaded as a printable PDF file in your my iF account under my entries. Advance payment is required for all orders. Production and shipping time takes about 4-5 weeks in total. You will find the order form in your my iF account in the myentries section.

Yes. Each entry is judged according to a scorecard, which provides insight into the jury’s decision about your entry.

Yes, you can. Everyone who participates is invited. Please keep in mind that admission is first come, first served, as seats are limited. If you attend without winning an award, you‘ll be responsible for paying the admission ticket price. Details about the iF DESIGN AWARD NIGHT will follow soon.

You can download the winner’s logo as well as the logo guidelines in your my iF user account, section Winner Benefits.