News

This year’s Call for Entries for German Design Graduates 2025 starts on 14.04.2025. We are particularly pleased about this – for the first time, graduation projects from related design disciplines can also take part. We have compiled the most frequently asked questions and answers so that you can prepare yourself optimally.

Call for Entries
FAQ

The German Design Council – German Design Council is simplifying the application process for the renowned ‘German Design Award – Newcomer’ and linking it to the German Design Graduates. In future, the five finalists for this award will be selected from the participants of the German Design Graduates. The four finalists of the ‘German Design Award Newcomer’ will each receive €2,500 in prize money, while the winner will be honoured with €15,000. The award ceremony will take place on 6 February 2026 as part of the German Design Award.

Expansion of the design disciplines
At the same time, we are expanding our content focus: In addition to product and industrial design, work from the fields of textile and fashion design, communication and digital design can also be submitted from 2025. The aim is to do justice to the growing interdisciplinary design practice and to enable an even broader promotion of young talent.

Our partner formats are individual support programmes and are realised with our cooperation partners from industry and culture. The GDG partner formats offer the opportunity to make exclusive contacts, expand skills and share knowledge on design and specific topics. This year, we were able to realise exciting formats such as an exhibition in the MAGAZIN shop in Stuttgart, workshops for schoolchildren at the Museum Angewandte Kunst and various professionalisation workshops.

Overview of the 2024 formats

Before we start the next round, we look back on an exciting GDG year 2024. A total of 245 submissions were received from 22 participating universities. 76 works were presented in two exhibitions. ‘Dare to Design’ at the Museum Angewandte Kunst Frankfurt attracted around 18,000 visitors. We reached around 30,000 guests over 10 days at the Dutch Design Week. We welcomed 130 participants to our networking breakfast.11 projects were nominated for the 4 awards. Together with our partners, we were able to award a total of 38 Supports. We gained 24% more followers on our Instagram account.

MAGAZIN appreciates the free and unconventional view of things and is therefore a partner of the German Design Graduates – an initiative of the German Design Council Foundation with the aim of promoting graduates from product and industrial design and giving them an international stage. Part of this stage is the exhibition ‘GUTE IDEE. MAGAZINE x GERMAN DESIGN GRADUATES’. From 21-28 November 2024, 11 graduation projects will be on display in the MAGAZIN shop in Stuttgart.

Registration for the vernissage

From around 220 exciting submissions, this year’s expert jury has selected around 40 works for the exhibition, including the finalists for the four awards, which will be presented at the exhibition opening. The projects of the four winners reflect the innovative power that design can have in social and economic change processes in a particularly impressive way.

Winners and Finalists

The exhibition “The Magic Touch” at Dutch Design Week 2024 presents works by graduates who, through interaction and tactile experiences, establish new relationships with designed objects, the world, and our shared environment.

The Magic Touch: Designing Togetherness

From around 220 exciting submissions, this year’s expert jury has selected around 40 works for the exhibition, including the finalists for the four awards, which will be presented at the exhibition opening.

Finalists 2024

Projects and concepts that radically rethink the economy and society: over 50 young designers present innovative positions, ideas and visions from product and industrial design.

This exhibition is funded by the Hessian Ministry of Economics, Energy, Transport, Housing and Rural Areas as part of the Hesse Innovation Promotion Programme under the measure ‘Promotion of cultural and creative industry facilities’.

More information about the exhibition at the Museum Angewandte Kunst

Our thirteen-member GDG expert jury, which will select around 40 exhibits for the GDG Museum Exhibition and Awards in a multi-stage process, has been finalised.

More information about the jury & the selection process

Award winner in the focus topic inclusion, Juliane Kühr, talks to Georg-Christof Bertsch on DDCAST about her project Vruit, a sextoy set for self-insemination. Juliane explains her inclusive approach to design and gives an outlook on the future of Vruit.
The podcast is in German.

About DDCAST
DDCAST, the podcast of the Deutscher Designer Club (DDC), is one of the leading design podcasts in Europe. The programme policy is characterised by a consistent opening of the “design bubble” towards adjacent disciplines. The guest list is strictly gendered and divided into three groups, up to around 30, up to the mid-40s, from the mid-40s onwards, geared towards the equality of generational perspectives.

DDCAST 184 – Juliane Kühr // Eigen-Insemination gestalten