We are pleased to announce the Design Mark Recipients of the 2020 Golden Pin Design Award! This year’s Golden Pin Design Award saw a total of 2,333 outstanding entries from 20 different countries and regions around the globe. After the Secondary Selection held on September 10 at the Songshan Cultural and Creative Park, 527 entries from Taiwan, China, Hong Kong, Thailand, Singapore, Macau, Indonesia, the U.S., Canada, South Korea, Poland, Germany, and Switzerland were chosen from among the 1,279 entries that made the Secondary Selection shortlist to receive the Golden Pin Design Mark. The upcoming Final Selection will take place on September 15, where the winner of the Golden Pin Design of the Year Award—our highest honor—will be chosen from among the Design Mark recipients.
This year’s Golden Pin Design Award Secondary Selection events were held jointly in Taipei; a jury of sixteen Taiwanese and international experts specializing in different aspects of design and market trends was chosen to judge the entries in the various categories. Jury members for the Product Design category include NOVA Design’s Design Director Roger Lin; Xiaomi Corporation Co-Founder De Liu; founder of Atelier AGI Alain Lee; Cindy Yu, COO of Far Eastern Big City Shopping Mall; Sonja Schiefer, Director of BMW Designworks’ Shanghai Studio; and AGUA Design Director Agua Chou. The jury for the Communication Design category consisted Design Director Ke-Ping Gan of Seeddesign; Yu Feng, Creative Director and founder of If Office; Vogue Taiwan Editor-in-Chief Leslie Sun; Ting-An Ho, Art Director of UltraCombos; Akibo Works Founder Akibo Lee; and Nosigner founder and Creative Director Eisuke Tachikawa. In the Spatial Design category, the entries were judged by Effie Huang, Creative Director of EHS ArchiLab + Hsuyuan Kuo Architects and Associates; Chinese Society of Interior Designers President Hsi Chao; and Professor Shu-Chang Kung of National Chiao Tung University’s Graduate Institute of Architecture. Lastly, in the Integration Design category, Alice Chou, Chief Creative Officer of Dentsu Taiwan together with jury members Agua Chou and Leslie Sun of the Product Design and Communication Design categories selected outstanding entries for the shortlist.

Secondary Selection Jury.

The whole Secondary Selection jury. Taking group photo with overseas judges.
Out of the 527 Design Mark Recipients, 239 were in the Product Design category, 164 were in the Communication Design category, 90 were in the Spatial Design category, and 34 were in the Integration Design category. Product Design jury members Roger Lin and Alain Lee pointed out that this year’s shortlisted entries were all exceptional in their attention to detail. In such a competitive environment, products with simple forms and functions that were easy to use and understand stood out.

Founder of Atelier AGI Alain Lee.

NOVA Design’s Design Director Roger Lin.
Japanese jury member Eisuke Tachikawa of the Communication Design category noted that the shortlisted entries in this year’s Secondary Selection excelled in quality and demonstrated Asian design capabilities. Tachikawa was particularly amazed by many of the book design entries, which were crafted using a number of highly innovative techniques. Communication Design jury member Akibo Lee mentioned that due to the global COVID-19 pandemic, he would take note of the timeline of each product’s development and launch to observe the impact of the pandemic on the designers. Lee was moved by and impressed with the energy behind the creative visual expression shown by this year’s shortlisted entries in the face of the pandemic.

Akibo Works Founder Akibo Lee.

Yu Feng, Creative Director and founder of If Office.

Ting-An Ho, Art Director of UltraCombos.
Jury member Shu-Chang Kung of the Spatial Design category pointed out that many of this year’s entries were of major significance to social and circular design, and demonstrated innovative viewpoints toward society, urban and rural development, and the utilization of materials technology. Kung also noted that although many of the entries in commercial space design and exhibition design presented unique ideas, most residential design entries lacked innovation despite showing a mastery of design techniques. Integration Design jury member Leslie Sun noted that she was impressed that many of this year’s entries aimed to promote local cultures or to resolve local issues through innovation. Jury member Alice Chou also mentioned that the jury focused on a number of different aspects when evaluating the entries, including the participants’ ability to communicate their goals clearly and solve problems accordingly, how the participants achieved their goals through design thinking, and most importantly, whether their designs spurred the imagination and inspired introspection.

The jury of Spatial Design category discussed on the entries.

The jury of Integration Design category discussed on the entries.
All the selection judging is now complete. The finalists will be announced in the end of September on Golden Pin Design Award’s official website. Who will be the winner? We shall see at the award ceremony in early December!