Building on more than a decade of online presentation, professional dialogue, evaluation methods and design archiving, AURELIS entered a more open and institutional phase. It developed its international jury roster, annual design evaluation, membership community, online archive and research publishing system. The year 2026 marks a comprehensive platform upgrade—not the beginning of AURELIS.
DESIGN. DIALOGUE. PROGRESS.
From an Online Design Dialogue to a Global Design Community
The AURELIS story began in 2012. From early online exhibitions, design observation and peer discussion, the Association gradually developed evaluation methods, professional networks and a design archive. For more than a decade, we have continued to ask how genuinely valuable work can be recognised through an independent, professional and long-term perspective—so excellence can be seen and design can create lasting impact.
Building a Living Record of Design
AURELIS began upgrading its design archive, bringing work, jury perspectives, designer profiles, research articles and exhibition records into a unified digital structure. The aim was not a static list of awards, but a living record that preserves excellence while showing how design thinking changes over time.
From Evaluation to Knowledge
AURELIS strengthened case research, design observation and professional publishing, turning knowledge formed through evaluation into material that could be read, discussed and developed over time. Its role expanded from presenting and assessing work towards a knowledge community connecting practice, research, education and industry.
Four Strategic Pillars
After a decade of development, AURELIS defined four connected strategic pillars: Independent Evaluation, Global Connection, Knowledge & Archive, and Lasting Impact. Together they describe how the Association identifies design value, connects professional networks, preserves knowledge and turns recognition into influence that can endure.
Independent Evaluation
Clear, professional and explainable standards identify work with genuine value.
Global Connection
Designers, educators, researchers and institutions meet across regions and disciplines.
Knowledge & Archive
Work, methods and professional perspectives are preserved beyond a single programme.
Lasting Impact
Design is considered through its enduring commercial, social, cultural and environmental value.
Review Without Borders
As professional exchange changed worldwide, AURELIS further developed remote submission, digital material review and cross-regional deliberation. Online evaluation became more than a temporary substitute: it formed an important foundation for connecting designers, researchers, educators and industry specialists across distance.
Connecting Design Across Regions
AURELIS expanded professional exchange across regions and paid closer attention to design shaped by different cultural, industrial and social contexts. This established its approach to international work: global reach is not simply a count of locations, but the ability to understand, compare and connect different design perspectives through shared professional standards.
Establishing Shared Standards
AURELIS developed a clearer evaluation framework that considered excellence, innovation, functional value, social impact, sustainability and professional execution. Judgement moved away from a single aesthetic viewpoint towards multidisciplinary discussion, with greater emphasis on independence, consistency and the ability to explain how a conclusion was reached.
The Design Archive Takes Shape
As selected work and research material accumulated, AURELIS began forming an early digital design archive. Project context, design methods, material application and social value were recorded in a more structured way. This shifted AURELIS from a series of online presentations towards a platform for preserving design knowledge and professional judgement over time.
The First Open Online Exhibition
AURELIS began organising and presenting exploratory design work in a digital format, inviting designers, educators and industry observers into an open online discussion. The exhibition was not intended as a simple ranking exercise. It sought to document the questions, methods and design judgements behind each work, giving strong ideas a more complete context.
The Beginning of AURELIS
AURELIS began in 2012 as an independent online design showcase and professional discussion initiative. Practitioners from different fields shared work, exchanged perspectives and considered design through form, function, innovation, social value and lasting impact. This early practice established a lasting principle: design evaluation should look beyond appearance to understand how work responds to real problems.
A NEW CHAPTER, NOT A NEW BEGINNING
Recognising Excellence. Advancing Lasting Impact.
The 2026 platform brings evaluation, membership, research and the living archive into a more coherent system while preserving AURELIS’s longer history of dialogue, method and professional connection.