The 2018 Taiwan International Student Design Competition, organized by the Ministry of Education, has attracted 20,833 entries by students from 895 departments or institutes in educational institutions in 66 countries/regions worldwide. With this number of entries, TISDC has surpassed iF, Red Dot and other international contests, making it the world’s largest-scale international student design competition. The award ceremony will take place this afternoon (November 30) at the Eslite Performance Hall at Songshan Cultural and Creative Park.

This year is the 11^th year of the Taiwan International Student Design Competition. It has been organized by the Ministry of Education, and sponsored by iSee Taiwan Foundation and Sayling Wen Cultural and Educational Foundation on an annual basis. The theme this year is “Breakthrough and Innovation.”

In the preliminary and final selection rounds experts shortlisted 618 entries from the initial 20,833 entries, and then selected 73 prize-winning entries to be awarded the grand prix; the international design association special prizes; and the gold, silver, bronze and honorable mention prizes in all the categories, including a service design category. Thirty of the 73 are by Taiwanese students, and the gold prizes in all the categories have been won by Taiwanese students, which shows that works created by Taiwanese students are of a high international level.

This year the grand prix was won by “A Gong,” created by Yen-Chen Liu, Ellis Kayin Chan, Zozo Jhen, Tena Galovic and Marine Varguy from Gobelins, l'École de l'image in France.

Their entry drew the most attention. Against a backdrop of traditional Taiwanese funeral culture, the story depicts the transitions of feelings in the mind of a seven-year-old boy faced with the death of a close family member. The atmosphere established in the animation is touching, and its imagery presents an artistic style presented through its imagery is delicate and full of the creators’ love and emotions towards their families. “A Gong” has received acclaim from the majority of the jurors and won the grand prix of the year, and its creators win the grand prix prize of NT$ 400,000.

The gold prize winning entry in the product design category is “Safe Cloak” by Gu Jie-Yu from Shih Chien University. Her entry addresses the global refugee crisis, and its starting point is concern about basic human rights. The designer’s thorough consideration for human needs can be seen in her design details. This is not just a nice-looking product or piece of equipment with good functions—it aims to put forward a solution to improve lives, which is indeed worthy of applause.

The gold prize winning entry in the visual design category is “Under 1.0” by Wan Xiang-Xin from National Taiwan University of Arts. This entry integrates the concepts of endangered animals worldwide and eye charts, and the designer uses different illustration techniques to present diverse styles from different countries, and elements of different species. It gives people a new perspective and focus for looking at the crisis of endangered species, and reminds human beings to treat the environment and nature well.

The gold prize winning entry in the digital animation category is “A Mess” by Guo Jia-Yu, Wu Nien-Chen, Po Ling, Liao Tzu-Yi, and Lee Ki-Lung from Chaoyang University of Technology, Its theme is bullying. In this animation, hairstyles represent people’s moods and appearances, and the story symbolizes unfair treatment and discrimination in society on account of one’s appearance. Its storytelling technique and style are highly innovative and it was well appreciated by all the jurors.

The gold winning entry in the service design category was created by Hsu Chien-Chih, Chen Hou-Jun and Shen Hsuan-Tzu from National Cheng Kung University. Their entry, “Game Creatures”, is a service system that teachers can use to teach students how to design games. A prize-winning feature is that it allows instructors and teachers to learn about design thinking and creativity in the process of teaching game design.

“Breakthrough and Innovation” was the theme of this year’s competition. The aim was to encourage students to be brave to break through personal constraints and innovate, while thinking about design, and so broaden their ideas and visions across cultures. A list of all the winners has been released on the official websites of the Ministry of Education (https://depart.moe.edu.tw/ed2200/) and of the 2018 Taiwan International Student Design Competition (www.tisdc.org).

The award ceremony and an exhibition of the winning works will take place on November 30 in the Eslite Performance Hall inside Songshan Cultural and Creative Park (address: No.88, Yanchang Rd., Xinyi District, Taipei City). In addition, to enhance the visibility of the winning entries and to allow the public to have more chance to appreciate these student works, the exhibition will also be held between December 4 and 17 at the National Library of Public Information in Taichung (address: No.100, Wuquan S. Road., South District, Taichung City). You are welcome to visit the exhibition.