STOCKHOLM, Sweden—LELO today launched a controversial global design contest that challenges designers to tear off the shackles of convention and rethink the meaning of “good design” in the context of encouraging genuine connections between people.
The award-winning luxury sex toy brand argues that the UnDesign Award will force designers to go back to their roots and undesign those aspects of life that are driving wedges between people on a daily basis.
In essence, it is a creative challenge to deconstruct design to reconstruct connections. The issue could not be more pressing since, in the U.S. alone:
- · People spend an average of 11.5 hours per day in front of a screen
- · 79 percent of smartphone users have their phone on or near them for all but two hours of their waking day
- · 38 percent of people under 35 admitted to checking their phone immediately after sex
LELO’s UnDesign Award is not only radical for seeking to replace virtual connections with the real thing; it’s also the first-ever global design award that will decide the winner via public vote. It represents a democratic approach to design that’s perfectly in keeping with the competition’s values: opening the awards up to the public itself encourages connections between designers, their designs, and their consumers.
Expert judges will contribute their own advice and opinions to stimulate debate.
“I’m proud LELO is making such a challenging intervention in the field of design,” said
LELO CEO Miroslav Slavic. “Somewhere between form and function, style and substance, modern design has lost something critical. That thing is humanity, a fundamental need for intimacy. We’ve become slaves to impersonal design principles, and the sooner design moves to solve that the better.”
Marking LELO’s second annual design awards—last year’s competition generated just fewer than 500 entries—this year is set to be even more successful, with a $1,000 prize offered to winners of each of the three design categories: Fashion & Accessories; Products, Technology & Spaces; and Graphic & Illustration. The best designs will also be showcased on the LELO website for an entire year.
Entry to the LELO UnDesign Award is open until Aug. 1, and everyone is free to sign up as a judge via LELO.com/award.
