An “out of the box” design that starts from the real needs of the user. And the world of hospitality, out-of-home eating and retail as a paradigm for research in a functionality capable of combining sustainability with aesthetic appeal.

These are the assumptions that in just a few years have made the Smart Label – Host Innovation Award an international point of reference for sustainable innovation – in hospitality and retail, and beyond – from technologies and semi-finished products to formats and the contract.

We discussed the subject with one of the jury members: Giselle Chajín Florez, who is the design director of the Milan headquarters of Tangity, a global network of design studios. “The pandemic and the post-pandemic period have made us even more aware of how central people are to everything,” Giselle says. “In particular, one of the qualities that a good designer must possess was further emphasised: empathy, the ability to put oneself in the user’s shoes to understand what people really need and, from these, build the project backwards from there . I deal in particular with user interfaces, so I was able to observe this evolution from a privileged vantage point.”

“In recent times, however, we have once again been broadening our horizons to increasingly connect this central role played by human beings with the impacts they have on society and the planet. It is no coincidence that ‘basic’ sustainability is increasingly reinterpreted as ESG (Environment, Social and Governance)”, Florez goes on. “In design terms, this means looking at the project as a process and at the product as something that has its own life cycle. It is a matter of translating design into a series of ‘moments of actual use’, whose impact on us and on the planet can be assessed in every respect: from materials, ergonomics and functionality to recycling or reuse at the end of their life.”

New challenges have also emerged that we will have to face in the years to come: “It will be hard for us to predict the consequences of new borderline technologies, such as artificial intelligence. But to go back to the human factor, for example, deep fake technologies are questioning the concept of trust between those involved in a process. In the coming years, good design will increasingly mean taking these aspects into account, right from the early stages of defining the idea”.

“Smart Label will be an opportunity to highlight new solutions that succeed in finding a new balance between all these factors, looking both at people in their real context, and at protecting the planet, something that is now a prerequisite for every design,” the design director of Tangity says in conclusion.

The awards will be presented during HostMilano 2023, at fieramilano in Rho from 13 to 17 October. The products, services and projects that obtain this distinction will be exhibited in the SMART Products area, and will also be published in a special INDEX, all of which will send out a clear message about the innovation and dynamism that characterise their respective sectors and the entire economic system.