Golden Pin Design Award

Bringing global attention to "Huaren" design

Client

Industry

Education & Culture

Service

Media Relations, Brand Marketing

The Golden Pin Design Award has been a national design award organized by the Industrial Bureau of Taiwan’s Ministry of Economic Affairs for over 30 years. However, before 2014, it was not a serious consideration for designers due to its unclear positioning and insufficient publicity. DDG was appointed by the Taiwan Design Research Institute to reposition and promote the award. Through strategic actions to create awareness and build audiences, the Golden Pin Design Award became the top design award in the Chinese market.

Champion design in Chinese-speaking markets

When we found that the Chinese market, the world’s largest economy, lacked representative awards, we decided to reposition the Golden Pin Design Award with huaren design as the core. We established a website – Perspectives – to discuss design for the Chinese market. Hundreds of designers from worldwide shared their ideas and experiences, attracting more than 300,000 visitors. We held 26 salon discussions for the Golden Pin Design Award in 19 essential cities, including Taipei, Shanghai, Beijing, and Kuala Lumpur, focusing on huaren design, successfully amplifying interest in the Award.

Increased domestic and international media exposure

The Golden Pin Design Award’s passion for huaren design has spread across major international news outlets. From 2014 to 2019, the award secured over 5,000 exposures in Taiwan and foreign media from our efforts in establishing domestic and foreign media partners, issuing press releases, and organizing visits for international media groups, exclusive interviews, and special talks. Through earned and owned media, we’re helping the Award expand its influence in all creative communities—furthering awareness and enthusiasm for the Golden Pin.

Sharing designers’ centripetal force with fans

DDG established four major social media platforms for the Golden Pin Design Award: Facebook, Instagram, Weibo, and WeChat. The platform shares first-hand news about the award with fans, exciting winning works, and design-related information, including live broadcasts streaming and interviews with award-winning designers on the day of the award ceremony to gather the designers’ centripetal force. In the past six years, it has accumulated more than 200,000 fans.

Huaren design in the global spotlight

We worked closely with the Taiwan Design Research Institute to grow the number of Golden Pin Design Award applications by 62%, significantly increasing entries from 1,901 in 2014 to 3,091 in 2019. This collaboration has successfully attracted talented designers from all over the world to compete for prestigious design awards, and the Golden Pin has become a critical stage in promoting the huaren design trend worldwide.

Cooler Master

Reinventing PCs for a booming community of makers

Client

Cooler Master

Industry

Electronics & Technology

Service

Brand Strategy, Brand Communication, Brand Identity, Exhibition Planning and Execution

CoolerMaster is on a mission to reinvent the way PCs are designed, made, bought and used. Innovators at heart, they are bringing the focus back to human curiosity and ingenuity, and inspiring a new generation of PC builders in the process.

DDG worked with CoolerMaster to help redefine the long-respected computer component brand. Our team developed a bold new strategy and vibrant identity—opening the door to a new world of PC building.

Our challenge was to develop a brand that would spark inspiration across the entire spectrum of PC gammers and modders. We needed an ambitious idea that would resonate with makers and innovators. That idea was ‘Maker Spirit.’

Make it yours

For CoolerMaster, building PCs isn’t just an act, it’s a profoundly personalized endeavor. We took this concept a step further and focused on the thrill of creating a truly individualized gaming computer—offering customers the freedom to build what they want, however they wanted. We encapsulated that concept in a single message: Make It Yours.

Modular masters

CoolerMaster built their new product strategy around modularity, a feature that appeals to PC gamers, yet also differentiates the brand from the competition. So we developed a brand identity designed to bring modularity to life. Our intuitive new visual approach illustrates the potential of modular design—and perfectly encapsulates the Maker Spirit.

More than a booth

CoolerMaster has been shifting perception of PC gaming from day one. DDG helped highlight this by showcasing the brand in an entirely unique way. We invited ten of the world’s top makers to explore CoolerMaster products in a live-action booth at Computex—and broadcasted it to the world. This merging of modders, designers, and makers in the Computex exhibition booth created a buzz of activity that has helped reinforce CoolerMaster’s role in the gaming community.

Planning for the future

CoolerMaster knew they needed to unite their internal team around a common vision to successfully inspire the global gaming community. To do this, DDG organized a two-day workshop, bringing together different minds across CoolerMaster’s global offices to tackle future challenges—and create a roadmap for engaging the maker community. With a clear plan for the future and internal consensus, CoolerMaster was ready to bring big changes to the global gaming community.

Making a mark

CoolerMaster is a radically redefined maker of PC components—with a desire to become the global leader in PC building and gaming. Their impressive transformation generated a surge of media hype and attracted significant interest from the maker community. With a tangible surge in demand for CoolerMaster products, product margins also jumped substantially. CoolerMaster is inspiring a whole new generation of makers and gamers, and is changing the world of PC design. We’re excited to see what they make next!