INTRODUCTION:
index:is dedicated to change global mindsets by showing and exploring how design can improve life for people.

index:is the largest design award in the world and focuses solely on Design to Improve Life. Design to Improve Life is evaluated according to three parameters: form, impact and context.

Being a design award, Index: awardfocuses on design
–both tangible and intangible and spanning all traditional design professions
–but index:does not award innovation, good
ideas and great initiatives however important they might be, if design did not
play a crucial role in their creation.


index: works with designs from all over the world, as we find small and large scale improvements needed and possible in developing and developed countries alike.

JUDGING NOMINATED DESIGNS
The jury's main concern is that the nominated designs substantially improve important aspects of people's lives or carry the potential to do so. The jury will evaluate three aspects of the designs: form, impact and context.

form is concerned with the surface, material, interface, color, coherencyand aesthetic of the design. impactis concerned with the impact or potential impact of the design and, thus, the number of lives improved by the design, the distribution and the economic andenvironmental sustainability. contextis concerned with the context that the design is designed to fit: the challenge or the problem, the relevance of the challenge, the culture and the geography.

Design to Improve Life is evaluated according to the three parame
ters of form, impact and contextbecause, in short, formrelates to Design, impact to Improvements and context to Life, which creates the coherency seen below.

+FORM
+IMPACT
+CONTEXT
DESIGN IMPROVE LIFE


JUDGING PROCESS:
The jury process will be divided into two rounds:

In the first
round, in an online process the jury will evaluate all nominated designs and
select the finalists on the basis of the nomination material uploaded to indexaward.dk.


Following their selection, all finalists will be contacted by index:
and must approve of their position as finalist, approve of participating in index:award exhibition and provide further material about the design to be used for index:award exhibitionand for the second jury round.

In the second round, the jury will evaluate all finalists again on the basis of the extended
material and from among the finalists select the five winners of Index: award.
The index:Jury reserves the right NOT to select a winner in a particular category, if the jury assesses that the finalists in the category in question do NOT live upto the high standards of index:Design to Improve Life. Should this occur, the 100,000 euros from the category without a winner may or may not be distributed among the prize pools of the remaining four categories.

In the event that the following facts come to light, index: may revoke the index:award presented and demand the prize sum returned:


•Damages due to malfunction, misuse, misinformation or withheld information about the design.
•Unintended use in the hands of unintended users.


CATEGORIES:
index: award is split into five categories:
body, home, work, play and community.
One prize worth 100,000 euros will be presented to the winner of each category.
The five categories represent the entire human life, and each category calls for entries from very different design fields. All nominated designs will be divided into the five categories by the index:staff. The index:Jury upholds the right to change the category of a design.


BODY:
This category comprises all designs related to the body, for example:
clothes, shoes, appliances and aids used in treatment and care, tools to help in covering basic or sophisticated needs, body-related technology as in hearing aids. Services related to health and care, strategies regarding vital proc
esses and public health and demographic development.
HOME:
This category comprises all designs related to the home, for example:
architecture, interior design, lighting, furniture, tools, appliances for the home, utility systems, software and home computer, AV and communications hardware etc. Services and processes for the home and strategies for new ways of living and new forms of cohabitation.
WORK:
This category comprises all designs related to the workplace, for example:
architecture and interior design, work tools, manufacturing machines, aids as well as communications, control and management systems. Services for the workplace and strategies for work environment issues as well as strategies for organizational and managerial development.
PLAY:
This category comprises all designs related to sport, play, leisure and culture, for example: the design of leisure facilities, tools, games and equipment used for sports, cultural activities and other leisure activities. Design of strategies, services and concepts within these areas.
COMMUNITY:
This category comprises all designs of things that we share communally, for example::roads, public spaces and parks, cities, infrastructure, means of transport, signage, mass media and communications. The design of strategies, services and concepts for society, networking and communities.


WHO CAN NOMINATE?
People from all over the world can nominate for index:award2009–among these are:
•index:Regional
Ambassadors appointed by index:•Members of index:
The index:City membership network.
•Professional design institutions registered by index:as Nomination Bodies Professional design institutions are by our definition: NON PROFIT design centers, design universities, design competitions, design organizations etc.
•Members of the jury. To ensure access to our jury's vast knowledge about Design to Improve Life, we allow jurors to nominate for index: award2009
. However, members of the jury will not be able to nominate own designs, and they will have to plea incompetency in judging designs nominated by themselves. Designs created in a process, where a juror in one way or the other
–as teacher, consultant or actual designer–has been involved and subsequently nominated by others, may be among the finalists
–but cannot win index: award2009.
•Private individuals, including designers, commercial companies and designers, who wish to nominate for index: award2009.
•The index:Operational Lounge can also identify and nominate appropriate designs. If you
–as an individual, a company representative or an institution –nominate a design,
you are under the obligation to obtain permission from the designer, before the design is nominated.


WHO IS ELIGIBLE FOR NOMINATION?
Designers, design teams, public and private companies as well as design students and design enthusiasts from all over the world. index: award 2009 has no requirements regarding formal design education for Index: award nominees.

OTHER TERMS:
Nominated designs can be tangible designs or intangible designs, such as concepts, strategies or services. The role of the designer/design team must be well-defined in each nomination.

Nominated designs must be genuinely new. Sheer restyling of known designs is
insufficient, unless it implies a genuinely new aspect to improve life.
Publication of the design is accepted.

Nominated designs must, as a minimum, be on a prototype stage, which enables testing or user comments.

The nominated designs must not date back later than 2004.


RIGHTS
Nominated designs must be original and may not infringe on the rights of a third party.
Designs failing these requirements will be excluded from index: award.
All rights to the nominated designs belong to and stay with the legal bearer of the rights.
index: does, however, reserve the right –without payment –to use any nomination
-related text and electronic material (images, video) uploaded to www.indexaward.dk
for index: marketing purposes; including, but not limited to, press material, catalogues,
websites and third
-party marketing, for example in printed or electronic media. The nomination body must in advance ensure that these rights can be tran
sferred to index: with the permission of the designer. Failing this, the design will not be eligible for nomination.
index: reserves the right
–without payment
–to exhibit the finalists for index: awardat index: award exhibitionin Copenhagen, Denmark, and at an international tour. The
designer must in writing agree that the above rights can be transferred to index:
Failing this, the design will not be eligible for receiving an index: award.


USING THE INDEX: LOGO
All finalists for Index: awardretain the right to use the designation: Finalist for index: award2009 and the hereto related logo.
The five winning designs retain the right to use the designation: Winner of index: award2009/(category) and the hereto related logo.
Other designs nominated for the index: award2009must obtain written permission from index:
to use the index:name and logo.

EXAMPLES OF DESIGN TO IMPROVE LIFE USED BY INDEX: IN VARIOUS INFORMATION MATERIALS
The examples of Design to Improve Life that index:use in various information materials are not precluded from nomination for
index: award.


NOMINATION FEE
NO fee of any kind is required. This ensures that designs from the all over the world can be nominated without financial hindrance.

DEADLINE: december 08
http://www.indexaward.dk/