What 21,000 design submissions taught me about sustainability

Over two years, more than 10,000 iF DESIGN AWARD submissions across 93 categories show where design is headed. Sustainability is increasingly treated as the baseline for excellence rather than a differentiator. The strongest work embeds sustainability into how projects are imagined, produced, and scaled, appearing across industries beyond automotive, packaging, and architecture. This shift is supported by scoring that includes social and environmental considerations and by broader recognition that good design benefits people, planet, and business. Sustainable design is maturing into structural and systemic approaches, with implications for how consumers and the industry define design excellence. The Grand Ring at Expo 2025 Osaka exemplifies demountable, circular design using cross-laminated timber and traditional Japanese methods.

"Each year, the iF DESIGN AWARD receives over 10,000 submissions spanning 93 categories of design. Participants include industry giants like Apple and Coca-Cola, to startups and independent design studios that are actively shaping the field's future. Taken together, these entries offer more than a snapshot of excellence. They reveal where design is actually headed."

"What emerges from recent winners is a growing shift: In many categories, sustainability is no longer a differentiator, it's the baseline for great design. The most compelling work today goes even further, embedding sustainability into the logic of how projects are imagined, produced, and scaled. It shows up across industries, not only in expected areas like automotive, packaging, or architecture, and is increasingly the result of collaborative, cross-disciplinary teamwork."

"Sustainable design is maturing. Increasingly, it is structural, systemic, and embedded. There is still a long way to go, but this shift carries real implications for how consumers and the industry should be defining what design excellence means."

"Part of this is because participants now know that 20% of their overall score is based on social and environmental considerations. But part of it is because the design world broadly recognizes that good design is also good for people, planet, and business. The Grand Ring -the unifying architectural structure of Expo 2025 Osaka-is a striking example."

Read at Fast Company