Design Effectiveness Awards 2020 | Shortlist announced

Established in 1989, the DBA Design Effectiveness Awards celebrate and champion the integral role design plays in transforming businesses, improving societies and enhancing people’s lives.

The achievements of the shortlisted winners are significant and wide-ranging, demonstrating through measurable evidence the competitive advantage they’ve delivered through design.

Says DBA CEO Deborah Dawton, “The value of design is changing. It’s no longer about a simple output against a brief; it’s about defining and solving a business challenge. What’s clear from this year’s DBA Design Effectiveness Awards shortlist is that design’s capabilities are increasingly being recognised and leveraged. Businesses are giving designers the opportunity to identify and solve problems, not simply handing them the brief.

This level of collaboration is enabling design to dig deeper into organisations where it can derive the biggest return. With a rising awareness that it’s no longer an option ‘to do what we’ve always done’, year on year the shortlisted winners in the DBA Design Effectiveness Awards show how design can solve the challenges businesses, governments and societies face today, delivering tangible, transformative returns.”

Winners have been shortlisted through two rigorous rounds of judging by a panel of leading figures across multiple industries.

Says Chairman of the judges, Clive Grinyer, “It has been a huge pleasure to judge this year’s DBA Design Effectiveness Awards and work with such a high calibre of judges. They bring expertise and wisdom in evaluating the role of design in achieving tangible and impressive success. This year we saw amazing and inspiring evidence of how design has exceeded expectations and delivered outstanding results for the businesses and organisations who invest in design and get it right.” 

The full list of judges can be found here.

Join us for the celebrations

On Wednesday 3 June from 12pm BST, our 2020 winners will find out if they’ve won Gold, Silver or Bronze at the DBA Design Effectiveness Awards 2020 announcement.

Our ceremony will look slightly different to previous years and will be broadcast live via Zoom.  We are excited by the opportunity to make this prestigious event more inclusive than ever, as it will be free to register, and people will be able to tune in to see everyone’s amazing achievements from the comfort of their own homes.

If you’ve ever wondered what makes a winning DBA Design Effectiveness Award, tune in to the live broadcast and celebrate the success of our 2020 winners. Register here.

DBA Design Effectiveness Awards Shortlist 2020

For full information about the DBA Design Effectiveness Awards, including winning case studies from 2019 please click here.