In 1977 the Industrial Design Council of Australia (IDCA) launched the Australian Design Award as a publicly visible way of recognising not only high quality but innovative Australian-designed products. The IDCA believed that well designed products 'should satisfy criteria of commercial viability, technical competency and human factors which include aesthetic, ergonomic, environmental and cost considerations'. A publicity campaign across television and all mass media promoted award-winning products to the consumer. This publicity generated interest from manufacturers and the Council worked with them to improve their products for submission. Only products that received an Autralian Design Award were eligible for the Prince Philip Prize for Australian Design.

In 1987 the IDCA was relaunched as the Australian Design Council. At this time the criteria to receive an Australian Design Award were: compliance with standards; innovation; safety; durability of function and finish; reliability; packaging; quality control systems; performance; ergonomics; maintenance; aesthetics and promotion.

The organisation continued to change its structure and in 1991 the Australian Design Council and the Australian Design Awards program were subsumed into Standards Australia (national standards organisation) and were still part of this organisation in 2008.

In 1994 a three-level structure of awards was introduced - the Australian DesignMark (or finalist), Australian Design Award, and the Australian Design Award of the Year. The new Awards were assessed in a number of categories from Aeronautical, Agriculture and Building to Medical equipment, Sport and Recreation and Telecommunications. Important assessment criteria included design for the market, consumer benefit, environmental aspects, innovation, aesthetics, export potential and potential for import replacement.

In 2008 the program became the Australian International Design Awards and the competition was opened up to entries from international designers or companies for products that were available for sale in Australia. At this time the assessment criteria were: innovation; visual/emotional appeal; functionality; quality and manufacture; human factors (ergonomics, semantics and safety); environmental sustainability; presentation/packaging. Prizes awarded from this time were the Australian International DesignMark (or finalist), the Australian International Design Award, the Australian Design Award of the Year and the Australian International Design Award of the Year.

Angelique Hutchison
Curator
May 2008

References
Australian International Design Awards website, www.designawards.com.au, 2008 [accessed 6 May 2008]
Curedale R., The development of industrial design consulting in Australia, Masters of Design thesis, University of Technology, Sydney, 1990
IDCA Chairman's Report 1976/79 p4, 1979

+ Australian Design Award
+ Australian product design

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