DBA Design Effectiveness Awards 2020 held virtually for the first time ever

The Design Business Association Design Effectiveness Awards ceremony, which recognise and celebrate the influence of design on the success of a project or business, was held live on Zoom today for the first time ever. During the ceremony, 26 shortlisted projects discovered if they had won Gold, Silver or Bronze awards.

The judges selected allocated the Gold awards to five projects, which were thought to be ‘outstanding.’ The Gold winners are:  Diageo with Bompas & Parr, Design Bridge and Dolmen for Guinness Hero Harps (grand prix winner); Glasgow City Council with 999 Design for Glasgow Club; Mother with B&B Studio; Flawsome! with Coley Porter Bell; and Ian Macleod Distillers with Contagious for The Glengoyne Distillery Experience.

“The value of design is changing. It’s no longer about a simple output against a brief; it’s about defining and solving a business challenge. What’s clear from this year’s DBA Design Effectiveness Awards shortlist is that design’s capabilities are increasingly being recognised and leveraged. Businesses are giving designers the opportunity to identify and solve problems, not simply handing them the brief,” says DBA CEO Deborah Dawton.

The winners evidence design’s ability to really get under the skin of a business, to understand the issues, to connect to consumers, to deliver the solutions that work for a market. They prove that an investment in design, is an investment in the future of a business,” she adds.

The variety and breadth of work the judges saw amongst the Gold award winners also played out across the Silver and Bronze winners, with work spanning FMCG, retail, health, utilities and charity sectors, and many others. These included Bulletproof’s design of ecofriendly cleaning brand ALKIMI, Smith &+ Village’s reimagining of Harvey Nichols’ own label food range, and FITCH’s category-disrupting, omnichannel concept design for Arçelik’s flagship store.

The Awards are entered jointly by client and designer and winning projects have been rigorously judged by business leaders from organisations such as LEGO, Harley Davidson, Fortnum & Mason, GlaxoSmithKline, PUMA, Twitter and Lloyds Banking Group in three rounds of judging.