The Architectural Record / Van Alen Institute Competition Survey, with support from the Graham Foundation, systematically gathered input on what motivates designers to enter competitions, what they love and hate about the process, and their suggestions for how to make them work better.

When we first set out to survey designers as part of our ongoing initiative to rethink design competitions, we knew people would have a lot to say. But we couldn’t have anticipated the incredibly passionate, eloquent, funny, and insightful responses we’d get: 1,414 of them, from 65 countries around the world.

As we read through the results and saw designers’ hard- earned knowledge and experience reflected in each response and the collective outpouring of ideas, we knew that we’d need more than one way to share our findings. So we’re releasing three summary documents: The first is a compilation of raw data produced by the online survey platform; the second, a set of Ten Propositions we believe can make competitions more efficient, inclusive, and rewarding for everyone who participates; and finally, our Key Findings, which highlight some of the most interesting headlines from the survey, guided by data analysis produced by Health x Design.

Key Findings

1.Designers enter competitions so they can work more creatively than they would be able to in everyday practice, and explore new topics, ideas, collaborations, and skillsets outside of typical constraints. (Flipside: for many designers, practice simply doesn’t offer these opportunities.)

  • Respondents indicated that the top three reasons for entering competitions are 1) the opportunity to experiment (57.0%); 2) an interesting issue (54.9%); and 3) an opportunity to gain publicity (39.0%).

2. The lack of compensation for time/resources spent is a primary limitation to designers participating in competitions. But compensation doesn’t only mean money – designers want to see more feedback and visibility for their proposals (even if they don’t win).

  • Respondents indicated that the top three limitations to participating in competitions are 1) lack of compensation for time/resources spent (78.6%); 2) low probability of winning (29.4%); and 3) no or low chance of implementation (28.6%).
  • Respondents indicated that the top three things that would make competitions more appealing are 1) more compensation for work produced and time committed (64.2%); 2) more feedback for all proposals, not just the winners (47.6%); and 3) greater exposure for proposals, even if they are not selected (46.8%).
  • For students, getting more feedback is crucial – 65% said it would make entering competitions more appealing.

3.For most designers, competitions have not led directly to commissions / paid work.

  • 67% of respondents indicated that competitions have not led directly to commissions / paid work.

4. Designers aren’t relying on competitions as a key source of revenue.

  • More than 90% of respondents said that 5% or less of their annual revenue comes from competitions.

5. Designers are strategic about how much time and resources they spend on competitions. Most estimate how much time and money it will cost to enter, and the amount they’re willing to spend roughly matches the prize they’d get for winning.

  • 61% of respondents say that they estimate how much time and money they’ll need to spend to participate in a competition before they enter.
  • 69.4% of respondents indicated that they or their firm spend less than 10% of their time on competitions.
  • 59% of respondents have entered competitions with awards of $20,000 or less, and 48.1% estimate they spend $20,000 or less on competitions.
  • 6.5% respondents said they’d spent $100,000 – 250,000 on a single competition; 4.4% said they’d spent over $250,000 on a single competition.

6. Most designers enter open design competitions.

  • 70.6% of respondents said they primarily enter open competitions.

7. Designers typically do not work across disciplines. Some work with other designers, while few work with non-designers or with members of the general public. Most designers who would like to collaborate on competitions say they would like to work with an artist. Students were particularly interested in collaborating with people outside of the design fields.

  • Nearly 1/5th of respondents said they never work with other design professions, 6.5% said they “never” or “rarely” work with other design professionals. 26% said they “frequently” or “very frequently” work with other design professionals.
  • Participants indicated that the top three professions they would like to work with are 1) Art (47.3%); 2) Engineering and Infrastructure (33.6%); 3) Environmental Sciences (30.7%).
  • 19% of student respondents say they are interested in collaborating with people from outside the design fields, whereas just 9% of the principals/directors of firms say the same.