LEXUS DESIGN AWARD 2015
C A L L - F O R - E N T R I E S
Designboom in collaboration with LEXUS present The Lexus Design Award 2015.
Participation is open to professionals, students and design enthusiasts from every country in the world and only to individuals who have reached the age of majority. Free registration required.

Information on how to enter and prizes form part of the Official Rules, please read them carefully before entering. Below we summarize the most important steps.

Lexus created the LEXUS DESIGN AWARD, an international design competition, to help support the next generation innovators who produce "DESIGN" to enrich our world. The award seeks entries from around the world and opens its call-for-entries for the third competition on (Monday) August 11, 2014.

01- Introduction to the LEXUS DESIGN AWARD

Lexus was launched in the U.S. in 1989 as a premium car brand from Japan. As a truly global premium car brand with the vision of Progressive Luxury, Lexus has been pursuing and presenting different values from those of conventional luxury cars. We have been striving not only to create a more luxurious experience through automobiles, but also to help in solving many issues that have come along the way. Lexus thinks that "DESIGN" is a process in problem solving and a solution to shape a better society and future.

Lexus is announcing the continuation of the LEXUS DESIGN AWARD to support future creators who can enrich the world. By providing the opportunity to embody unique ideas, create and exhibit prototypes through sessions with world-famous designers as mentors, we hope to help next generation talent flourish.

We welcome designers from all fields: architecture, product design, fashion. We’re looking for "DESIGN" that goes beyond the mastery of shape, form and function, and becomes a process and solution to overcome challenges.

02 - Theme and Overview of the Award

SENSES
Senses are intrinsic to life: they are what allow us to perceive the world. Taking this purposefully broad theme, considering seeing, hearing, feeling, smelling and tasting, we open ourselves up to a wide range of possibilities.

This theme is particularly relevant to Lexus, as the whole driving experience is about senses: from seeing the striking exterior design of our cars, to hearing the sound of our finely tuned engines and feeling the sensation of our steering wheel when you round a corner. Everything is engaged. By considering this array of examples we seek to appeal to our customers’ senses in an ever-unique manner.

The Lexus Design Award has always chosen themes that encourage broad thinking. "Senses" takes this a step further, being a theme that we hope will lead to responses that explore the five senses in pioneering ways.

The application period of the LEXUS DESIGN AWARD 2015 is from August 11, 2014 at 9:00 AM (GMT), and qualifying Submissions must be received by November 3, 2014, 11:59 PM (GMT).

03 - Prize/Benefits

Four Prototype Winners will each receive a mentorship by an acknowledged professional to develop a model of his/her submitted Work. The Sponsor will cover the prototype production costs up to 2.5 million Yen (*includes tax, customs duty, construction fee and part of a packaging fee). Prototypes will be developed through sessions with the mentors.

In addition, the 4 Prototype Winners plus 8 additional panel finalists will receive a 'Trip Prize' to Milan, Italy during Milan Design Week 2015 (taking place between April 14-19, 2015) and are required to attend the LEXUS DESIGN AWARD 2015 Exhibition and Ceremony, where the four prototypes, and panel displays for the other eight awarded designs, will be exhibited.

*The 'Trip prize' includes 1 (one) round-trip between a major airport near Finalist’s home and Milan, Italy plus accommodation for 2 (two) nights. Only one individual will be invited, regardless of whether the winning entries are submitted by an individual or a group. The Prizes are non-transferable and no cash alternative is available. Please read full description of benefits in the Official Rules.

04 - Judges and Mentors

The Judges and mentors will select 8 (eight) Finalist and 4 (four) Winners from the Entries received.
The Jury is composed of:
- Paola Antonelli, Curator
- Aric Chen, Curator
- Alice Rawsthorn, Design Commentator
- Toyo Ito, Architect
- Birgit Lohmann, Chief editor of designboom
- Tokuo Fukuichi, President of Lexus International

The 4 (four) Prototype Winners will each receive a mentorship to develop a prototype of his/her submitted Work.
The LEXUS DESIGN AWARD 2015 Mentors are:
- Arthur Huang, Architect/Engineer
- Robin Hunicke, Game Designer
- Neri&Hu, Designer
- Max Lamb, Designer

05- Judging Criteria

The shortlist and the Finalists will be selected on the basis of a design which is:
(i) true to the essence of the theme SENSES;
(ii) Consistent with the image of Lexus brand / understanding of the ideas of Lexus "DESIGN" and their uniqueness in interpretation of those ideas;
(iii) Uniqueness of perspective and Originality of solution regarding the theme;
(iv) potential as an actual executable design.

* please note: The prototypes of the 4 Prototype Winners will be installed and operated by a third party. As such, the jury will need to select designs that are potentially easy to set up and display. Please understand that even if an awardee is highly evaluated, that awardee may not be selected for the creation of a prototype if the Work does not meet these conditions.

06 - Registration deadline

application registration will be accepted by 22:59 p.m. (GMT), November 3, 2014.

07 - Registration

registration is now open, please fill in the form.
teams should register with one name only - when submitting Works you should add all team member’s names.
REGISTER HERE

08 - Submit your Work / Works

There is no limit on the number of entries per person. If you are entering more than one Work, please submit each Work separately. Images and text must be in digital format. Entries will NOT be accepted via physical delivery.

a. How many image files can I upload?
The Work may be produced in any medium but must be submitted as low res JPEG (JPG) or GIF format.Up to 6 images can be uploaded (either single or composition images).

All digital image files must be:
- 200 KB or smaller (a low-res version of your original Work).
- must be of exact width of 818 pixels / 72 dpi,
- RGB color mode
- Video upload is not mandatory

The voluntary addition of up to 2 video files can be included (in FLV format only) and each must be a maximum of 10 MB /each. Please keep the original high-res Work for publication and exhibition purposes. You will be requested to provide them only if the Work is among the shortlisted.

b. Explanation
Please provide a brief description of your design.
Let us know about your research and point out the artistic and technological qualities. You should also consider a broad spectrum of issues that demonstrate and showcase the ways in which your design can enrich people's lives. Tells us about it.

c. You will be requested to accept the Competition Guidelines and Official Rules
Prior to submitting your Work(s), you will be asked to agree to the Competition Guidelines. By clicking on the Submission upload button you notify that you have read and understand the terms and conditions, AND BY PARTICIPATING IN THE CONTEST, YOU AGREE TO BE BOUND BY THE OFFICIAL RULES, WHICH CREATE A CONTRACT BETWEEN YOU AND THE SPONSOR. Please read them carefully. Below is only a short topic excerpt, in which we remind you that:
- the Work may not use any watermarks or artist signatures;
- submitted Work must be original work by the applicant himself/herself.
Except for materials that are in the public domain, each Submission, in its entirety, must be a single work of original material created by the Entrant, or for which Entrant has all rights required to comply with these Official Rules.
- the Work must not be offensive, defamatory, harmful, vulgar, excessively violent, and racially, ethnically or otherwise objectionable.
- it is important that you keep your design(s) confidential until the results of the Contest are published.

Until the Finalists of the Lexus Design Award 2015 are announced, Entrants may not submit their Work in any other Design Contest (not affiliated with Lexus), and may not disclose the submitted Work to any third party. (please note the exception: Entrants may submit the same Work in school projects, public events and domestic Design Contests hosted by Lexus distributors.) With regard to the submitted work, Toyota Motor Corporation and designboom shall assume no responsibility whatsoever.

SUMBISSIONS ARE CLOSED

09 – Deadline for Submission of Entries

Qualifying Submissions must be received by November 3, 2014, 11:59 PM (GMT).

10 - Announcement of the results

Prototype Winners will be chosen by the end of December 2014 and additional Panel Finalists will be chosen around middle of January, 2015, and notified by email, (unless extended deadline). Finalists' names will be available online at designboom.com after April 20, 2015.

The shortlist, Finalists and the Prototype Winners will be published on designboom.com, and Finalists and the Prototype Winners will be published on Lexus official website during/after the LEXUS DESIGN AWARD 2015 Exhibition in Milan.

11 - Intellectual Property Rights

All Works submitted will remain the exclusive property of the Entrant. However, by submitting the Work(s) to the Contest the Entrant agrees to provide Toyota Motor Corporation with the right of first refusal to the exclusive use of the Work for commercial purposes. This option is valid for 12 months after the end of the competition. In the event that Toyota Motor Corporation exercises the option to use the rights for commercial use (incl. production) on exclusive basis and for an unlimited period, Toyota Motor Corporation will make private agreement with the Entrant for the transfer of intellectual property rights.

The 4 Prototype winners and creators of the prototypes agree that they are participating in the production process in which they will receive advice and inspiration from the Mentors to finish the creation of prototypes, and that Lexus will disclose the name of the Mentors who worked with them and will disclose information about the production process in the form of text, pictures, film etc. when making public announcements about the work. Designboom and Toyota Motor Corporation will have the right to use all of the Works submitted as part of the Contest, and all images depicted therein, in any promotion or for any non-commercial purpose. By submitting a Work, Entrant grants Sponsor and Producer the non-exclusive, unlimited, royalty-free, rights to publish in all media now known or hereafter discovered, and publicly display all Work for an unlimited period, and worldwide.

All Entrants authorize designboom, Toyota Motor Corporation to publish and exhibit all the designs (including project data submitted and prototype) – waiving compensation – at exhibitions and events and/or to use them in any publications and communications that designboom, Toyota Motor Corporation may deem suitable and/or necessary.

Designboom and Toyota Motor Corporation will credit the designer's name to properly attribute authorship of Work and to promote the author adequately. Toyota Motor Corporation will have the right to apply minor change amendments without damaging the integrity of the artwork – e.g. add the LEXUS logo and text, reframing, translation, changing colors, cutting the background or parts of it, etc… In case designboom, Toyota Motor Corporation wants to bring major changes to the submitted artwork for publication, designboom, Toyota Motor Corporation will contact the designer and inform him/her about the use to obtain the designer's consent.

12 - Please read the Official Rules.

13 - questions?
please send your inquiries to <contact@designboom.com>;
and make sure to write 'LEXUS DESIGN AWARD 2015' in the subject line (English text only).

14 - Info on LEXUS
www.LexusDesignAward.com