Red Dot Award: Product Design 2026 – Laureates Announced

The laureates of the Red Dot Award: Product Design 2026 have been selected. The awarded products will be published on Red Dot’s platforms from July onwards. Members of the trade press can now request a curated selection of awarded products according to their field of interest.

Request winner lists

From today, members of the press are granted access to the results of the Red Dot Award: Product Design 2026. Please complete our web form. We will respond promptly with the relevant winner lists.

Please note:

• the winner lists serve as a basis for research and must not be published in their entirety,
• reporting on the competition’s laureates is permitted with immediate effect; there is no communication embargo,
• image material relating to individual laureates can be provided upon request.

» To the webform
» Download press pictures

Red Dot Award: Product Design 2026

The Red Dot Award: Product Design is among the internationally established competitions for product design. In 2026, submissions were received from 61 countries. The awarded products demonstrate the diverse ways in which design today responds to technological, functional and societal requirements across industries and usage contexts.

The distinctions are conferred by an independent panel of international experts. They evaluate the submitted products in detail and specifically recognise works that excel in terms of design quality, functionality, usability and degree of innovation.

The jury awards two distinctions: Red Dot and Red Dot: Best of the Best. The Red Dot stands for high design quality and is awarded to products that impress in key evaluation criteria. The Red Dot: Best of the Best is the highest distinction in the competition and honours pioneering design within a category.

» Information on the distinctions

For companies and design studios, receiving a distinction provides international visibility and supports the positioning of their achievements within a global market environment.

New Category: Gaming and Streaming

With the new category “Gaming and Streaming”, the award focuses on a field in which key requirements for product design are currently converging: high performance, precise interaction and the close integration of hardware, software and user experience.

The awarded products illustrate how these requirements can be translated into design. They range from mobile gaming systems and high-resolution displays to specialised peripherals. High-end components for performance-intensive applications are also represented. Examples such as the ROG Matrix GeForce RTX 5090, the LEGION GO Gen2 and monitors from the LG UltraGear series highlight how closely performance, mobility and visual quality are interconnected.

The selection of manufacturers further underlines the relevance of this sector. With ASUS, Logitech and CORSAIR, key players in a global market characterised by both technological advancement and diverse user needs are represented.

The category exemplifies an expanded understanding of product design – addressing challenges arising from digital usage contexts and increasingly influencing other areas of technology and industry. The expert panel has also been expanded accordingly. Jurors such as Benjamin Koch, Brand Director at Rocket Beans TV, Norio Fujikawa, Executive Creative Director with international experience including Microsoft, Nike and Sony, and Prof. Steffi Hußlein, expert in human-planet-centred design and interaction design at Magdeburg-Stendal University of Applied Sciences, complement the panel, combining practical expertise with academic insight.

The Red Dot Jury

All jurors gathered in Essen to evaluate the submitted projects and engage in direct exchange.

Alongside experienced jury members, numerous new voices contributed their perspectives this year. They come from China, Germany, France, Greece, the United Kingdom, Italy, Lithuania, Austria and the United States. The jury now comprises representatives from 19 countries across four continents.

Their expertise spans product and interaction design, packaging, brand strategy and digital communication, as well as sustainable innovation, UX and curatorial practice. Their experience has been gained in industry, research, academia, media, international agencies and independent design studios.

This breadth enables a differentiated evaluation of the submitted works at the intersection of technological progress, societal relevance and design quality.

With this international and interdisciplinary perspective, the jury ensures that the awarded products not only meet current standards but also reflect global developments and future requirements in design. The full expert panel can be found here:

» Get to know the Red Dot Jury

Save the Date: Award Ceremony on 7 July 2026

On 7 July 2026, the laureates of the Red Dot Award: Product Design 2026 will gather for the Red Dot Gala at the Aalto Theater in Essen, followed by the Designers’ Night at the Red Dot Design Museum on the UNESCO World Heritage Zollverein.

For members of the trade press, the day begins in the afternoon at the Red Dot Design Museum. Accredited media representatives will receive advance access to the current exhibitions – prior to the official opening. The laureates of the highest distinction, “Red Dot: Best of the Best”, will also be present and available for interviews.

The award ceremony will take place in the evening at the Aalto Theater. Afterwards, the Designers’ Night offers the opportunity to experience the awarded products within the exhibition setting and to connect with designers, companies and jury members.

» That was the award ceremony 2025

Participation is possible upon prior accreditation. The official invitation with all details will follow shortly. Places are limited.

The Red Dot Design Award – 70 Years of Design History

In 2026, Red Dot looks back on more than 70 years of design history. Its origins date back to 1954, when the “Verein Industrieform” was founded in Essen with the aim of improving the design of consumer goods and strengthening the competitiveness of German products after the Second World War. The first exhibition with an accompanying competition followed in 1955, evolving into an international format.

In the decades that followed, the profile of the competition was gradually refined. With the renaming to “Design Zentrum Nordrhein Westfalen” in the late 1980s and the introduction of a dedicated quality label, design increasingly came into focus as an economic factor.

A decisive impulse for internationalisation was provided by Professor Dr. Peter Zec, who assumed leadership in 1991. Shortly afterwards, the “Red Dot” was introduced as a symbol of quality and developed over the following years into an internationally recognised mark of design excellence.

Since the late 1990s, Red Dot has been present at the UNESCO World Heritage Zollverein and has evolved into an internationally connected institution with additional locations, particularly in Asia. Today, the competition comprises three disciplines and receives submissions from over 70 countries each year.

Against this backdrop, the competition not only reflects current developments in design but also makes long-term changes visible.