List of 822 finalists for the 2019 Young Pin Design Award is announced!

The Young Pin Design Award has announced the list of its 2019 finalists! This year, the participation rate was very high, with 6,315 works from 137 departments at 65 schools submitted for contention. Of that number, 822 works were selected as finalists and will vie for the Best Design of Young Pin Design Award. Tainan University of Technology was the school with the highest number of finalists, with 158 works making the final round. In second place was Shih Chien University with 62 works, followed by China University of Technology with 50 finalists. The final round of the 2019 Young Pin Design Award will take place on May 3 during the Young Designers’ Exhibition. The award ceremony is scheduled for May 5 at Taipei World Trade Center Exhibition Hall 1.

This year, 822 entries submitted in eight categories advanced following the first round of judging, and received the nomination of Young Pin Design Award. Of that number, 266 entries advanced to the “Best Design of Young Pin Design Award” final, 468 entries advanced to the “Young Pin Sponsor Award” final and 88 entries advanced to both. As for “Young Pin Design Entrepreneurship Award”, 74 school departments submitted recommendations, and the winners will also be chosen during the Young Designers’ Exhibition.

The advancement rates ranged from 5 to 20 percent across the categories, which were lower than the rates for last year across the board with the exception of the Spatial Design category. This shows the competition is becoming fiercer. The Product Design category received a total of 1,690 submissions, and 207 advanced to the final. Of the 843 works submitted in the Craft Design category, 157 were selected as finalists. In the Packaging Design category, 63 out of the 334 entrants were shortlisted as finalists. The Spatial Design category received 544 submissions, and 107 made it to the final. In the Fashion Design category, 93 entries out of 660 were selected for the final round. In the Visual Communication Design category, only 89 out of 805 works advanced to the final. Finally, in the Digital Multimedia Design category, 74 entries out of 747 will contend in the final round. The new “Social Design” category received an impressive 692 entries, showing young students’ determination to transform society through design. Of that number, 32 were chosen as finalists.

In terms of the registration situation in the various categories this year, the number of entries increased significantly in the Product Design category’s “articles for daily use” and “electronic information and 3C communications” subcategories. This reflects the current emphasis on the finer things in life and 3C technology design trends. In the Craft Design category, the number of entries in the “mixed media” subcategory rose by 40 percent compared to previous years, showing the creativity of students is becoming more eclectic and diverse. The number of entries in the Fashion Design category’s “ornaments,” “jewelry,” and “accessories” subcategories increased by 50 to 80 percent, reflecting the energy invested over the years in Taiwan’s accessories and jewelry design. In the Digital Multimedia Design category, the rise of new media, social platforms, and online streaming media resulted in a significant increase in the number of entries in the “digital media” subcategory. The number of entries in the “digital games” subcategory also grew substantially, indicating more and more students are joining the currently popular esports and mobile game development craze.

There were a variety of subject matters amongst the works in each of the categories this year, showing the overflowing creative energy of the next generation of design talents. For example, the entry “Point to Paper” in the Product Design category is a Braille printer designed for the visually impaired that relies on mechanical principles and does not require any electricity. It can meet recordkeeping requirements at any time. In the Craft Design category, “Chun-Zai Flower Cultivation Program” uses modern aesthetics to interpret the craftsmanship of Taiwan’s traditional wedding hair ornaments and create new and amazing chun-zai flowers. The work “Quan Li Iron Store Tool Packaging Design” in the Packaging Design category combines an integrated paper structure with a wooden knife stand. The resulting product can be displayed through hanging to fully reveal its unique features. Meanwhile, “Five-Star School Lunch” in the Social Design category used ingenuity to design a paper place mat to bring food education into lunchtime at elementary schools.

The entry “Elementary School Science Textbook Makeover” in the Visual Communication Design category applies experimental concepts to textbook design to help students develop an interest in learning through action. In the Spatial Design category, “Extreme Points Between Generations” focuses on the issue of the elderly. It is a design for a new type of daycare center where both senior citizens and young children can thrive. The Fashion Design category’s “Annica” entry is an elegant yet avant-garde clothing collection that interprets life’s ordinary and changeable aspects. “Scan Your Stir-Fries” in the Digital Multimedia Design category is a user-friendly mobile website that facilitates communication between restaurants serving stir-fried dishes and foreign tourists, helping to promote Taiwan’s culinary delicacies in the process.