Wednesday, May 7, 2014
Matevž Medja: “Even Apple and Coca-Cola were once a startup”
A five thousand euro voucher for integrated design of an application, product or company image, is one of the prizes at this year’s PODIM Challenge, held during the conference PODIM 2014, where five selected startups will present their ideas in front of the 10-member international jury of investors. The prize is provided by the design entrepreneurial accelerator DsgnFwd and design agency Gigodesign.
The recipient of the voucher will be selected by Matevž Medja, co-founder of the accelerator DsgnFwd and CEO of Gigodesign, based on several criteria:
"The voucher will go to the team that that will be able to draw as much as possible from the work, knowledge and experience we will put into it. It will be the one who best understands the role of design," says Medja. It could be someone who is still at the very beginning or someone who already has a technical solution and a presence on the market, and the design could give them additional advantage over their competitors. "We are certainly not interested in painting someone’s Chinese plastic housing, fix an interface with the wrong website content or create buttons on a badly developed application”.
DsgnFwd invests in start-ups with global ambition and a clear business model. As Medja said, they are not “interested in five-year financial projections from traditional business plans, because we live in a time when the paradigm of a whole industry can change in a year.” They are looking for thinkers who know what they are doing, who know their industry and market, who follow the principles of "Lean Development" and are aware of the strategic role of design and brand for a successful performance on the market. Since the accelerator will become a start-up’s long-term partner, they are not only interested in developing and implementing a product to enter the market, but also in developing an overall successful business. After all, this is a business, and even Apple and Coca-Cola were once start-ups.
Matevž Medja, a member of the jury of the competition PODIM Challenge, is a Slovenian designer, winner of several awards in the field of Advertising and Design (Red Dot , Designpreis Deutschland, etc.), award Zlata ptica and award from the Prešern fund for outstanding achievements in culture. His independent design career began in 1989. He co-founded the design studio Medja & Karlson in 1989 and the design agency Gigodesign, in which he is the director and partner, in 2000.
The recipient of the voucher will be selected by Matevž Medja, co-founder of the accelerator DsgnFwd and CEO of Gigodesign, based on several criteria:
"The voucher will go to the team that that will be able to draw as much as possible from the work, knowledge and experience we will put into it. It will be the one who best understands the role of design," says Medja. It could be someone who is still at the very beginning or someone who already has a technical solution and a presence on the market, and the design could give them additional advantage over their competitors. "We are certainly not interested in painting someone’s Chinese plastic housing, fix an interface with the wrong website content or create buttons on a badly developed application”.
DsgnFwd invests in start-ups with global ambition and a clear business model. As Medja said, they are not “interested in five-year financial projections from traditional business plans, because we live in a time when the paradigm of a whole industry can change in a year.” They are looking for thinkers who know what they are doing, who know their industry and market, who follow the principles of "Lean Development" and are aware of the strategic role of design and brand for a successful performance on the market. Since the accelerator will become a start-up’s long-term partner, they are not only interested in developing and implementing a product to enter the market, but also in developing an overall successful business. After all, this is a business, and even Apple and Coca-Cola were once start-ups.
Matevž Medja, a member of the jury of the competition PODIM Challenge, is a Slovenian designer, winner of several awards in the field of Advertising and Design (Red Dot , Designpreis Deutschland, etc.), award Zlata ptica and award from the Prešern fund for outstanding achievements in culture. His independent design career began in 1989. He co-founded the design studio Medja & Karlson in 1989 and the design agency Gigodesign, in which he is the director and partner, in 2000.
