The 2020 Taiwan International Student Design Competition (TISDC) was organized by the Ministry of Education, and sponsored by iSee Taiwan Foundation, and the Sayling Wen Cultural & Educational Foundation. The award ceremony will be held in the afternoon on November 24, 2020 at the Theater on the 2nd floor of Ximen Red House. During this year, the TISDC has received 20,377 works, and students from 64 countries/regions, 860 universities, colleges and departments were attracted to participate in this competition. The Grand Prix, the three categories of Gold Prize, Silver Prize, Bronze Prize, and Honorable Mention, the International Design Association Special Award, and the Environmental Sustainability Award sponsored by the TPCA Environment Foundation were all selected after the rigorous preliminary and final selection, and a total of 75 works stood out from all the participants. Among these winning works, 39 works are from students in Taiwan. Furthermore, the Gold Prize in three categories of ‘Product Design’, Visual Design’, and ‘Digital Animation’ were also from Taiwan; this demonstrated that students in Taiwan are not only equipped with abundant design energy, but also have the ability to compete with the works from international students.

This is the 13th year of the TISDC, and there were plenty of participating works. The theme of this year was ‘Action’, which connected with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) promoted by the United Nations. Through these designs, concepts such as respect between people, as well as between humans and the environment, introspection and listening to justice and fairness as well as empathy can all be demonstrated. In addition, all the winning works were mature and remarkable.

The most high-profile Grand Prix this year was awarded to Strawberry Candy by Nianze Li from the Tokyo University of Arts. Combining the topic of ‘Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions’ in the SDGs, it reflected that current society is still generally afraid of authority, afraid to speak out and indifferent to children’s rights and interests. This work contrasted the dark reality with an introverted and childlike style of painting, and the image of ‘hands’ constantly appeared in the animation, which cruelly exposes the darkness in gentle brushstrokes. The remarkable technique impressed the juries. It was a rare outstanding student work of recent years, which won the favor of most juries and won a prize of NT$ 400,000 for this student. 

The Gold Prize winner in the ‘Product Design’ was HanDo Prosthetics for Kids by Feng-Jia Zheng, Kai-Jung Peng, Hsun-Ye Li, Wei-Ming Kok, Jui-Ling Lin, Yong-Qi Li, Yu-Kuan Mo, and Zhung-Kai Zheng from the Southern Taiwan University of Science and Technology, which combined the topics of ‘Good Health and Well-Being’, and ‘Responsible Consumption and Production’ in the SDGs. This work was a prosthetic specifically designed for unilateral children amputees aged between 6 to 12 years old. Its modular design can effectively and economically solve individual needs, and connect with different scenarios. In addition, the designers focused on both aesthetics and practicality to bring confidence and a feeling of positivity to the children in the process of growth and learning.

The Gold Prize winner in the ‘Visual Design’ was Numbers of Tainan Coast by Chic-Ying Ho, Xin-Jie Xie, Zhi-Yin Lu, Ting-Yi Huang, Yi-Hsuan Tseng, Yu-Cheng Lin from Ling Tung University. This work delivered the spirit of the topic of ‘Sustainable Cities and Communities’ in the SDGs, applying and extending features of the sand bar, Kun-shen, which is a unique landform in Taiwan into various design pieces. In addition, this work also combined with the films and special issues, the stories of each Kun-shen were recorded, and the brand of Numbers of Tainan Coast was introduced into local places, thereby stimulating the development of regional culture and ethnic groups. 

The Gold Prize winner in the ‘Digital Animation’ was A Fish on My Bed by Hsin-Yu Chang, Pei-Yi Lin, Jia-Shan Shu, Chun-Ting Ou, Yun-Fei Liu, Qing Zhuang from the National Taipei University of Business. Their work is a visual presentation of menstruation. Menstruation is a normal physiological phenomenon, but for women it is often perceived as an embarrassing monthly ritual. Through the beautiful red goldfish/menstrual blood, the beauty of conflict with the female protagonist is created, and the story ends with the contrast of love and hate of red goldfish, which resonates with the topic of ‘Gender Equality’ in the SDGs.

The complete list of winners can be found on the 2020 TISDC official website (www.tisdc.org), and the award ceremony and winning works exhibition will be held on November 24, 2020 at Ximen Red House (No. 10, Chengdu Rd., Wanhua Dist., Taipei City, Taiwan). In addition, in order to enhance awareness of these winning works, and to enable more members of the public to view student’s outstanding works, from December 6 to December 13, the works will be exhibited in the National Library of Public Information in Taichung City (No.100, Wuquan S. Rd., South Dist., Taichung City, Taiwan). The public is warmly welcomed.