Samsung’s Human-Centered Design Wins IDEA and Red Dot Design Award 2026

Samsung Electronics today announced that it has received significant honors at the International Design Excellence Awards (IDEA) 2026 and the Red Dot Design Award 2026. These accolades include one Impact Award, nine Bronze awards, and 35 Finalist recognitions at IDEA along with 12 awards in the Red Dot Design Award Brands & Communication Design category — including one Best of the Best award.

“Design has the power to connect ideas with people and turn them into meaningful experiences,” said Mauro Porcini, President and Chief Design Officer of the Device eXperience (DX) Division at Samsung Electronics. “At Samsung, we will continue to deepen our understanding of people, uncover new possibilities in everyday moments, and create experiences that enrich lives and shape a better future.”

IDEA is one of the world’s most prestigious design award programs and was founded by the Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA) in 1980. This year, the organization selected winners across 20 categories, including Home, Consumer Technology, and Digital Interaction. Key evaluation criteria include Design Innovation, Benefit to User, Benefit to Society, and more.

Meanwhile, the Red Dot Design Award is widely recognized as one of the world’s premier design honors. Established in 1955 and organized by German organization Design Zentrum Nordrhein Westfalen, it recognizes excellence across three categories: Product Design, Design Concept, and Brands & Communication Design. Specifically, Red Dot Award: Brands & Communication Design recognizes and celebrates creative approaches that shape how brands communicate and connect with people.

Samsung was recognized by these organizations for expanding its design excellence beyond products to encompass services, brand experiences, and forward-looking design concepts.

IDEA 2026: 45 Honors, Including One Impact Award

Samsung’s Accessibility Design for Home Appliances received the inaugural Impact Award at IDEA 2026. Introduced this year, the award is presented as an additional honor to select winning designs that demonstrate strong sustainability and social impact.

Accessibility Design for Home Appliances considers the diverse needs of users with visual, hearing, mobility, and cognitive differences, helping everyone use home appliances like washers and refrigerators more easily and conveniently. Key features include Easy Mode, which simplifies complex functions and provides larger on-screen text and voice guidance, and Auto Open Door, which allows users with limited physical strength to open appliance doors with a gentle touch or voice command.

Accessibility settings configured on a mobile device can also be carried over to connected home appliances. Voice ID recognizes individual users and automatically applies their personalized settings, as well, allowing multiple users to enjoy a convenient appliance experience tailored to their individual needs and preferences.

Nine Samsung designs were honored with Bronze awards at IDEA 2026 for their innovation in premium appliances, branding, and sustainable design. These honorees include:

• Infinite AI Air Purifier: a premium air purifier featuring soft curved lines and a pop-up clean booster that elegantly integrates into any space.

• Micro RGB Brand Identity: visually expresses the superior picture quality and immersive display experience of Micro RGB technology.

• Portable SSD T7 Resurrected: a premium portable storage device with an enclosure crafted entirely from recycled aluminum.

• Samsung Mobile Origami Package: an advanced smartphone packaging concept that applies origami folding techniques using a single sheet of recycled paper.

• AI Design Companion (AIDC): an AI-based advanced design solution that leverages AI, digital twins and virtual simulation to rapidly validate and verify product wearability performance and usability.

Samsung also had 35 designs honored as IDEA 2026 Finalists.

Red Dot Award 2026: 12 Awards, Including Best of the Best for Galaxy’s Privacy Display

Notable among Samsung’s 12 winning designs in the Brands & Communication Design category at the Red Dot Design Award 2026 was Galaxy Privacy Display, which won the Best of the Best award.

Introduced on Galaxy S26 Ultra as the mobile industry’s first built-in privacy-protecting display, Privacy Display is designed to protect personal information in everyday situations such as public transit, cafés, and shared environments. Users can customize when the feature activates — such as when entering PINs, patterns, and passwords, or opening selected apps — and adjust privacy levels depending on the situation. By allowing the screen to remain clearly visible from the front while limiting visibility from surrounding angles, Privacy Display offers a more seamless and intuitive way to protect privacy.

Samsung also won 11 awards in the Red Dot Award 2026 Brands & Communication Design category for innovations that enhance the user’s quality of life through more personalized experiences. Key award-winning projects include:

• The Movingstyle Visual Branding: expresses the freedom and versatility of a portable screen through a distinctive visual identity.

• Vision AI Companion: provides a personalized experience by combining real-time viewing context with user preferences.

• Design is an Act of Love: an immersive exhibition at Milan Design Week 2026 that offered a glimpse into Samsung’s evolving design vision and explored how design can shape everyday life and new ways of living. 

• Galaxy XR Package: designed with an internal structure that allows it to be repurposed as a long-term storage and display solution.

• Samsung b.IoT Digital Twin: recreates real-world buildings as 3D models in a virtual environment and maximizes operational efficiency by visualizing the status of building systems in real time.