The Innovation by Design Awards celebrate the people and companies behind some of the world’s best and most thought-provoking design work. This year, Fast Company is recognizing nearly 300 projects that are shaping the world we live in for the better.

Every year, Fast Company’s editorial staff spends months poring over applications, vetting projects, and ultimately telling the stories of the best designs from the bunch. Here is a behind-the-scenes peek into how we make it happen.

METHODOLOGY

Nearly 2,000 applications were submitted to the 2025 Innovation by Design Awards. A team of staff editors and writers, alongside trusted freelancers and external expert judges, assessed each application based on our criteria, which include:

• Functional: What problem does the design solve?
• Logical: Does the design make sense? Does it work?
• Impactful: Does a design make a difference in its users’ lives?
• Beauty: Is it thoughtfully designed?

“In a world of countless new products and services—where it takes little more than an AI prompt to create something new—we believe there is only more value to the practice of design and applying a critical lens to this work,“ says Mark Wilson, Fast Company’s global design editor. “Our team of journalists judge each project on both its own merits and its greater cultural context. Through this process, we aim to surface the most relevant projects—those that matter the most today and into the future.”

Each winner is chosen after multiple rounds of judging and conversations about a design’s role in the current cultural moment. This months-long process ensures that every project chosen to receive an Innovation by Design honor is representative of the best work in its field.