Global participation for IxDA’s Award Show

The Interaction Design Association (IxDA) is a member-supported organization dedicated to the discipline of interaction design. With a global network of more than 120,000 individuals, the community has grown into the largest worldwide.

Through local meetups to global events, the community comes together to connect. The annual conference is hosted all over the world.

Client: Interaction Design Association
Industry: Global Organization

Challenges

• Award participants are spread around the globe
• Live announcement and speech of award winners
• Managing different time zones and working with a globally distributed team
• Increased risk of technical difficulties due to online format
• Creating an immersive experience

Success factors

• Integration of the community to produce the ceremony
• Balancing live and recorded content
• Sound and motion graphic design for transitions

Results

• Flawless broadcast with an outstandingly high tune-in rate from individuals around the world
• Unique and epic virtual experience
• Livestream catered to different time zones

The annual Interaction Design Awards

The Interaction Design Association (IxDA) is a globally recognized organization that has been supporting the field of interaction design for over 15 years. With a strong membership base, the association comprises 200 local groups and boasts a community of 120’000 individuals.

Each year, IxDA’s interaction design community comes together to commemorate the annual award ceremony known as the Interaction Design Awards. The Interaction Awards honor best-in-class executions and solutions–work that helps build meaningful relationships between people and the products and services they use daily. The goal of the awards is to foster global recognition and understanding of the wide scope and importance of Interaction Design, while also providing a platform to share innovative design stories.

On 27 April 2022, IxDA celebrated the 11th edition of the Interaction Awards and presented projects from all over the world. From a shortlist of 68 projects, 18 were highlighted as finalists and 11 Awards were presented, recognizing work that ranged from enterprise-level solutions to student-developed concepts. The entire event took place online, ensuring widespread accessibility.

IxDA and EVERYWOW

IxDA intended to produce an online award show that delivered a unique and epic virtual experience. The show was designed to be accessible, inclusive, and spread stories of design excellence spanning cultures and geographies that celebrate the diversity of interaction design.

EVERYWOW took over the entire production of the event and carefully planned out the show’s schedule together with IxDA and its community, considering live and pre-recorded remote speakers. A detailed run-of-show ensured that transitions between virtual speakers were seamless, and that the show flowed smoothly from start to finish. Technical briefings with the speakers and award finalists were an essential part of the preparatory work.

The show featured a live host from Finland, live presentations of the co-chairs from the US and India, finalists from around the world, and it was produced in Zurich, Switzerland.

In addition to these aspects of the production, EVERYWOW’s creative director placed a strong emphasis on visual design, which was especially powerful in the context of the event. The graphical identity is based on IxDA brand in the year 2022.

The awards finalists, participated in the live show, and the winners were announced while appearing on camera. This significantly added to the authenticity of the ceremony.

The online award delivered engaging content that resonated with the target audience. The ceremony created a sense of community and facilitated inspiration among interaction designers. IxDA’s vision was successfully brought to life: being accessible, inclusive, and spreading stories of design triumph spanning cultures and geographies that celebrate the diversity of interaction design.