Justified: AIGA Annual Design Competition

A design competition to celebrate good design and to articulate the value of effective design

The deadline has passed—thanks to all who entered!

The stories of great design are powerful tools. The most successful case studies provide inspiration to fellow designers and serve as a learning tool that can be shared with clients, media and the public.

AIGA’s “Justified” competition will select examples of good design that are also described in terms of their effectiveness in meeting the client’s objectives. Entries will be judged based on their design attributes and also how well a short case is made on their effectiveness in a clear, compelling and accessible way. A discerning and qualified jury will identify submissions that serve as an effective tool to explain design’s value to clients, students, peers and the public in general.

How to complete your entry

1. Go to the online entry system
2. Log in with your AIGA credentials
3. Add your information to the online entry form
4. Upload images of each project
5. Submit payment online
6. Print a copy of your entry for your records

Preparing your work

After you log in to the competitions system with your AIGA credentials, you will be required to submit the following:

Images

 You will be asked to upload at least three images or illustrations to accompany your submission (max 10 images per section).

• Images must be 640 pixels wide (height variable)
• Images must be 72 dpi
• Images must be less than 500kb (Quality 10 max)
• JPG, GIF and PNG formats are accepted in RGB
• File names should include the entry title, image number (001, 002, 003, etc.)  and contain no spaces (please use an underscore, i.e., title_001.png)
• Include a caption (max 50 words) describing the image as well as an image credit (max 50 words)

Project information

Brevity is welcome; thoughtfulness and completeness are critical. (The word limits below are maximums, not targets!)

1. Personal information
2. Project details: Title, client, discipline, industry, duration, team, budget
3. Project description: Client brief and overview of market (600 words max)
4. Project challenges
5. Strategy: Ideas and implementation for satisfying the brief within the context of the challenges and market demands (600 words max)
6. Effectiveness: Why does your client consider the project a success? Why do you consider it successful? Include metrics and client quotes when possible (600 words max). To help guide your answer, consider The Living Principles areas of impact and tell us which ones were affected by your project.
   
   
• Economy: For your client, this could mean simply ROI, increased sales or even money saved because of your smart solution. All are excellent outcomes.
• People: In the scope of your project objectives, this means engagement of your target audience (e.g., households reached, page views, tweets, Facebook friends, strategic media placement, coupons redeemed or a positive change in the way people perceive or interact with the brand).
• Environment: Whether or not it was a client mandate, did you consider the environmental impact of your project? This could include energy conservation or offsets, using recycled or otherwise sustainable materials, selecting an alternate delivery mechanism that removes the need for materials (i.e. a web banner instead of a direct mail campaign), or otherwise reducing, reusing and recycling.
• Culture: Can your solution extend beyond the target audience? Does it have an impact on the culture at large? This may mean broad media coverage, viral distribution, and even being admired and imitated.
7. Research: Provide sources and audit or market data.
8. Additional information: Include links to videos and anything else you’d like to share with the jury! (optional)

We encourage you to type up the information in a separate document and edit to comply with maximum word counts, then paste it into the online submission form. Having the above information ready to go will make the entry process as smooth as possible, and will help avoid losing your data if the system times out.

Eligibility

• Projects that have been published, produced or implemented in the past two years are eligible. School projects and concept designs are not eligible since they cannot be described in terms of impacts.
• Project disciplines are Book design, Brand and identity systems design, Corporate communications design, Design for entertaining, Editorial design, Environmental graphic design, Experience design, Illustration, Industrial design, Information design, Motion graphics, Organizational design, Package design, Placemaking design, Product design, Promotional design and advertising, Service design, Typographic design.
• Projects may be of objects, messages, campaigns, spaces, experiences or services.
• Entries from all countries are eligible; foreign-language entries must include a translation in English.

Entry fees

Permission to reproduce work

By submitting work to the competitions, the entrant acknowledges the right of AIGA to use accepted work for reproduction in competitions-related publications; on its website; in the ensuing exhibition of the competitions’ selections; and for educational and AIGA-related noncommercial promotional purposes.

Still have questions? Go to the competition FAQs or contact our competitions team.