THE DESIGN MUSEUM ANNOUNCES JUDGING PANEL FOR BEAZLEY DESIGNS OF THE YEAR EXHIBITION 2020
The Design Museum announces the judging panel for the thirteenth edition of its global competition and exhibition covering the best in design Chaired by celebrated BBC journalist Razia Iqbal, the panel includes leading designers Samuel Ross, Camille Walala and Seetal Solanki, Matt Jones of Google AI, critic Edwin Heathcote and Dr Philipp Rode of LSE Cities
Award-winning creative director, Veronica Ditting, will design the exhibition graphics. From cover to credits, Veronica and guest curator Emily King will invite visitors to relive a year of design by walking through a life size vision of a publication, from early 2019 to the moment when the COVID-19 pandemic took hold.
The Design Museum reveals the exhibition graphics designer, Veronica Ditting, creative director of her namesake studio and The Gentlewoman, and the judging panel for Beazley Designs of the Year 2020 – which will be held at the Design Museum from 21 October 2020 to 28 March 2021.
The exhibition and awards will explore futuristic technology for health and sanitisation, unpack projects tackling inequality and racism, and dive into questions around water and food security, including mainstream veganism.
A high-profile judging panel of trendsetters and emerging talent is chaired by Razia Iqbal, who has produced and presented programmes for the BBC for over three decades, including Newshour on the BBC World Service and The World Tonight on BBC Radio 4. The full judging panel includes designers Samuel Ross, Camille Walala, Seetal Solanki, Matt Jones of Google AI, critic Edwin Heathcote and Dr Philipp Rode of LSE Cities.
Samuel Ross, Founder and Creative Director, A-COLD-WALL* and judge for this year’s awards said:
“It’s an honour to be amongst such a great group of fellow judges, and members of the design community, completely focused on supporting the next generation and the generation of the now, who will determine the future of how we engage with objects, products, space, biodesign technology and future environments.”
Veronica Ditting is the founder of Studio Veronica Ditting and has been the creative director of award-winning magazine, The Gentlewoman, since its inception in 2010. A graduate from the Gerrit Rietveld Academy, Veronica’s strong editorial signature can be seen in her collaborations with numerous fashion houses, artists and cultural institutions – including Hermès, Miu Miu, Adidas and Somerset House.
This year’s exhibition design takes on an editorial approach to tell the story of 2019 through the objects and projects that emerged in that period, using a strong graphic framework highlighting pre-pandemic design. Visitors will be invited to walk through a magazine, with each nomination taking up a full-page layout, culminating in a visual overview of the year. Unlike previous thematic approaches, the 2020 exhibition has been organised chronologically, following an illustrated timeline that encourages visitors to see how individual projects interact in new and unexpected ways.
Veronica Ditting, 2D exhibition designer said:
“Using an editorial approach for Beazley’s Designs of the Year gives the show a strong framework which lets visitors explore the projects in an engaging manner. Giant caption panels for a selection of projects, resembling pages from a publication, become a structural part of the exhibition design. Thumbnails of the publication enlarged onto even larger panels reveal more contextual images of each nominated project.”
Emily King, curator of Beazley Designs of the Year 2020 said:
“Beazley Designs of the Year will offer a vital chance to recap where we were when the virus took hold. It will require careful construction and precise story telling in order to establish the big themes and preoccupations from that period. The show will be arranged chronologically, suggesting a countdown from January 2019 to the moment our attention shifted in late January 2020. More than merely an assessment of the past, it will be a frame for exploring the future.”
The Beazley Designs of the Year awards will select one overall winner and six category winners across architecture, digital, fashion, graphics, product and transport.
This year’s nominees will be revealed on Tuesday 20 October 2020 at the exhibition opening. Previous winners have included Sir David Adjaye for the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington D.C., the London 2012 Olympic Torch and the 2019 winner, digital investigative data project ‘Anatomy of an AI System’.
Members of the Design Museum will be able to book free tickets from Wednesday 23 September, while tickets for the general public will be available from Friday 25 September 2020.
