WHY DESIGN? Selection of the National Design Award 2024 + 2025

As a question. For the public. For life. For memory. For the future.

Opening: 19. 11. 2026, 18.00 Curators: Juraj Blaško, Michala Lipková Exhibition duration: 20. 11. 2026 – 21. 2. 2027 Sieň Q, Hlavná 27, Košice

What can design bring into our lives? How does it help us find our way, make everyday tasks easier, support business or make culture accessible? The exhibition of selected works from the National Design Award 2024 and 2025 invites us to think about design through its purpose, context and contribution.

In jointly selecting communication and product design, we decided to go beyond the original competition categories. We are looking for value connections between works that differ in form, material and way of use. A book, an information system, furniture or a means of transport may respond to related needs and questions. Their contribution, however, need not be obvious at first sight.

Contemporary social, technological and environmental challenges go beyond the boundaries of individual disciplines. The design profession is changing with them: it is expanding its scope and connecting different knowledge, experience and methods. The final form of a work stems from collaboration between designers and manufacturers, experts from other fields, and the people for whom the design is intended.

Five thematic strands offer a view of design in everyday life and public space, of its relationship to cultural memory, and of its capacity to raise questions and take part in shaping the future. This arrangement makes it possible to discover connections between the works on display and to reflect on whom and what they influence.

Look beyond the form of the works themselves. Who were they made for? What problem do they solve? What do they enable and what questions do they open? Through these questions we want to bring closer the work of designers as well as the value design can create.

Juraj Blaško, chair of the jury NCD 2024 – Communication Design

Michala Lipková, chair of the jury NCD 2025 – Product Design

Design as a question.

Authorial, experimental and research projects — design practice and research as critical and cultural practice

Must design always deliver a finished solution? Can it also prompt us to reconsider established assumptions? In this section we present works that use making to explore questions about society, culture and the design profession itself.

Here you will find experiments with typography and the form of the book, new uses of already used materials, and projects that make room for conversation and critical discussion. Many of these projects arise from the creator's own initiative, without a direct client brief or a predetermined function.

The works on display do not necessarily offer unambiguous answers. What do they question? What different perspective do they offer? Their contribution may lie in the question they pose, the experience they convey, or the new possibilities they help us discover.

Design for the public.

Projects serving the broader public interest with impact on public space and the environment — solutions for culture, education, civic life, healthcare, transport

How can design serve the public? What helps people travel safely, find their way in buildings or access healthcare? In this section we present projects united by their contribution to shared environments and services.

Alongside information systems and projects for cultural institutions, you will find transport vehicles, medical equipment, furniture for children and devices for detecting environmental risks. Their design connects people's needs with technical requirements and demands for safety, clarity and reliability.

At first glance, different projects share their benefit to the public. How do they ease movement, access to information or the work of professionals? Whom do they protect and whom do they help? They show how design contributes to the functioning of services, the accessibility of culture and the protection of the environment.

Design for life.

Solutions for everyday life — design that eases routine activities and brings comfort in use

How many thoughtful solutions do we use every day without noticing them? Design is part of our…