Launch Pad Asia is much more than just a design competition – it’s a mentorship programme to support and nurture young and emerging talent. Launch Pad puts designers on a region-wide stage, and offers career guidance from established industry figures.

Established by Indesign Media in Australia in 2004, the initiative expanded to Asia a decade later, with Launch Pad Asia held in Singapore in 2014 and Hong Kong in 2015.

Now, in 2017, Launch Pad Asia has joined forces with the INDE. Awards – a new and exciting awards programme that’s designed to elevate Asia Pacific design on the global stage.

With Launch Pad Asia 2017 open for entries till 17 April, we hear from the panel of highly esteemed judges on just what it takes to break into the business.

Left to right: Anton Schiavello, Schiavello; Dario Reicherl, Fritz Hansen; Ken Koo, Red Dot Design Award; Priscilla Lui, Studio Juju; and Wendy Chua, Forest and Whale

Anton Schiavello
Design and Marketing Director, Schiavello

What’s one important thing that brands and manufacturers are looking for?

Consideration and thoughtfulness, which leads to a product having purpose. A product that responds to people’s needs or intelligently alters the way we perform a task. Small details that have novel practicality. A design that subtly incorporates technology that supports an action or process. There is not one important thing that we look for!

Ken Koo
Asia President, Red Dot Design Award

What differentiates a winning product from the good one?

A winning product is special and not all good products are special. They are special when they are inherently clever. And clever means many things… most of the time, ‘clever’ means that it is not complex, yet it’s simplicity is able to bring you an unexpected joy when you use the product.

Dario Reicherl
Vice President Asia Pacific, Fritz Hansen

What’s one important thing that brands and manufacturers are looking for?

The designer whose work doesn’t look like others; the designer who has something really new to say.

Wendy Chua
Co-founder, Forest and Whale

What’s the most important advice you have for Launch Pad Asia participants and other young designers?

Potential has an expiry date and you have limited time to do what truly motivates you. Time that is spent on futile pursuits is time taken from work that would help you grow into a better designer. That was what a design master once told me. So, choose wisely.

Priscilla Lui
Co-founder, Studio Juju

What differentiates a winning product from the good one?

A winning product is one that has its own character, and that has emotional resonance with the user.

Launch Pad Asia 2017 is open for entries. Deadline for submissions is 17 April. For more information and to enter, go to launch-pad.asia

Launch Pad is presented with Principal Partner Schiavello and Founding Partner Living Edge.