Olympics is to sports, as WDR – World Design Rankings – is to design. The annual global ranking aims to provide additional data and insights to economists, journalists and design-enthusiasts regarding the state-of-the-art in the design industry. The ultimate aim of WDR is to contribute to the global design culture by advocating and highlighting good design.
WDR ranks all the countries based on the number of designers that have been granted the A’ Design Award. With the annual event, the world’s most innovative designs are put under the spotlight and receive global recognition. WDR then bring us more insight into the design potentials of each country and highlights their creative strengths, design weaknesses and the growing opportunities in the design field.
Ever sit around and wonder ‘which country is best in industrial design,’ ‘which country is best in interior design,’ or even ‘which country is the best in fashion design’? The Design Business Insights section provides a ranking of countries based on their success in diverse design fields and creative categories – thus giving you all the answers to your design-related questions.
Nine new countries are included in the 2017 rankings: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Nicaragua, Ecuador, Luxembourg, Kenya, Tanzania, Liechtenstein, Armenia, Cameroon and Swaziland. The top 10 changed significantly this year as the rankings are now based on Platinum, Gold, Silver, Bronze and Iron awards issued by A’ Design Awards won by designers from represented countries instead of aggregate number of awards won by each country.