Tag: Inspiration

The 2026 Home & Living Professional winner is Tin Can, a modern take on the landline designed specifically for kids—a screen-free, ad-free, text-free phone that operates on a fully private network where only approved callers can reach the device, offering voice communication stripped back to its most essential form. With no browser, app store, camera, or spam exposure, Tin Can gives parents peace of mind while giving children a more intentional, independent way to stay connected to friends and family.The jury "loved the connection between the form, the brand name and its pur

The 2026 Professional winner in the Apps & Platforms category is Future Fizz, from the team comprised of Yue Wu, Yijie Chen from Future Fizz. Future Fizz is an AI-powered career development app that helps young people discover passions, build skills, and imagine future career paths through playful fiction—using large language models to invent quirky fictional jobs that serve as metaphors for real-world skills. Rather than starting from existing job titles, the app synthesizes personal signals of interest into futuristic career narratives and skill trees, lowering anxiety around career choice through curiosity-driven exploration.

The 2026 Built Environment Professional winner is Earth Court Case Study 001 (Sanctum) from Kindred Studio. Sanctum is the first in a series of unique "earth court" basketball courts designed and built by Kindred Studio, set in a forest environment and conceived as a celebration of the intersection of sport, art, and nature. The project aims to reimagine the basketball court as a site-specific sculptural experience that honors the natural landscape while creating a space for community and athletic play.The jury selected this project because it "turns a basketball court

Taking the 2026 Professional honors in the Consumer Technology category is KARRI Messenger, designed by Pentagram for KARRI. The KARRI Messenger is a child-friendly alternative to smartphones designed for kids aged 5–13, enabling voice messaging between a parent's companion app and the device—as well as between Messengers—with GPS tracking, a built-in flashlight, and a simple LED matrix display that provides feedback without distraction. With no browser, app store, camera, or exposure to spam or social media, the pocket-sized device gives children a safe and fun way to build independence and communication skills before entering

The Professional Winner in the Emerging Technologies category this year is The Anemoia Device by Cyrus Clarke, Nomy Yu, Melo Chen, Yuen Zou, Hiroshi Ishii at the MIT Media Lab. The Anemoia Device is a scent-memory machine that distills archival photographs into bespoke fragrances using generative AI, inducing anemoia—nostalgia for a time one has never lived—by engaging the nose in a way that most AI systems, focused on eyes and ears, do not. Users upload an analog photograph, which a vision-language model interprets to produce a semantic caption, and then navigate three rotary dials to guide the creation of

Taking the 2026 Professional honors in Branding & Identity is Cadence Brand Identity from View Source, with the design team comprised of Andrew Rutledge, Annie Chen, Dan Zafian, Edward Tsao and Marni Kane. Cadence is an endurance athlete hydration brand built around a clear, differentiating focus on salt, and this brand identity project created a cohesive visual system to support its expansion from a single canned electrolyte drink into a full line of products including running gels, sachets, and limited edition flavors. Cadence captured the jury's attention through its masterfully restrained approac

Taking the 2026 Professional honors in Lifestyle Accessories is The Essential Light by Full Lume from Vert Industrial Design House, with the design team comprised of Zachary Hanna, Neuti Seo, Andrew Simpson (Vert Industrial Design House); Ella Samuel (Full Lume); Alix and Wes McDonough (One and One Studio). The Essential is a portable personal lighting system, delivering accurate, flattering illumination for makeup and skincare routines in a compact, hands-free, slim form that works equally well at home or on the go. Built on Full Lume's belief that well-designed products foster confidence and positivity, The E

The 2026 Professional winner in the Interaction category is Netherlands Pavilion at World Expo 2025, designed by Tellart, for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Netherlands and Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO). This story-driven, immersive space allows visitors to experience the country's evolving relationship with water—from managing a threat to partnering with it as an ally in eco-conscious living. Each visitor is guided through the pavilion by a personal interactive orb that powers and responds to installations throughout the space, personalizing the journey and communicating the Dutch "common ground" mindset of collaborative problem-solving.

The 2026 Medical & Healthcare Professional winner is Medivis Surgical Navigation Platform from Medivis. This is an augmented reality-driven system that enables clinicians to "see the invisible" by overlaying patient-specific 3D anatomy directly onto the operative field in real time, eliminating the need to repeatedly look away from the patient to interpret complex 2D imaging on external monitors. Designed as a cohesive platform spanning software, AR interaction, and physical hardware, it delivers spatial guidance for cranial and spine procedures in a unified, intuitive experience that is more portable and accessible

The 2026 Professional winner in the Packaging category is From Packaging to Sculpture: Luxury Reimagined, from s778 Heritage. This project transforms secondary packaging for a premium gin into a sculptural, multifunctional object—crafted from a custom-developed polymer composite that replicates the appearance and quality of Bra island stone, drawing on the heritage of Croatia's Dalmatian coast. Designed to operate across four functions and maintain a permanent presence long after the gin is consumed, the packaging challenges disposable design conventions by elevating the container to a collectible artwork. The