The Scottish Design Non-Awards Non-Hierarchical Statement of Existence is:

(in no particular order)

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Thanks to Martin Vowles and DKDO for assistance with php.

How do I join?

Simply email us at studio (at) afterthenews.co.uk, and don't enter the Scottish Design Awards.

Debate:

A transcript of the debate from October 2008 is now available here.

What do others say?

"I think awards in general are becoming really farcical ...(but)... sadly we are being put under pressure by one of our clients to enter into the formal awards"

"We’re still debating whether or not to enter individual pieces in the Sham awards... I’m not up for it, but don’t make the final decision."

"I like competitions! But agree that design competitions are generally silly."

"D&AD fever has gripped a few people here in the studio, the thought of all the back slapping makes me feel quite nautious – so you can count me in"

"Fuck off and stop pestering us"

 

The Scottish Design Non-Awards Non-Hierarchical Statement of Existence believe in (at least one of) the following:

_ We are designers.
_ We do good work.
_ We believe in the integrity of what we do, and don’t need it to be ranked in hierarchical order to understand its value to ourselves and our clients.
_ We are thoughtful and reflective about what we do.
_ We strive to learn and get better in everything we do, and believe that terms such as ‘best’ and ‘winner’ are hyper-subjective and absolute in a way that does not describe real design activity or endeavour.
_ We don’t require designers from elsewhere in the UK (probably London) to approve, judge or rank our work.
_ Instead of entering the Scottish Design Awards we will be added to the register of the Scottish Design Non-Awards Non-Hierarchical Statement of Existence.
_ We will donate the money we would have spent to a charity of our choosing.

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The Scottish Design Non-Awards Non-Hierachical Statement of Existence is a counter-award scheme.

Its purpose is to question the role of awards in the design industry, and promote a more meaningful debate around what constitutes good design - one that doesn’t necessarily have any right or wrong answers but is driven by opinion and discussion.