Does competing make us better designers?

When you are starting as a designer, it can feel scary and overwhelming to share your work with others, even friends!

The pressure is on.

All eyes are on you.

You might feel judged and you start overthinking if your skills are even that good. These feelings are totally normal and I assure you that every designer has experienced this at some point in their life. One way to overcome these feelings is to put yourself out there and take part in a design competition. In the design world, there are hundreds of of possibilities for us to compete in, no matter what skills you posess. There's competitions for graphic designers, painters, fashion designers, ceramicists, furniture designers etc. Everyone has something to participate in, you just need to find your own!

Competing while studying

If you haven't noticed yet, HAMK Design often gives their students opportunities to compete. Some competitions might be part of a course, like that one time we designed patches in our first-year studies, or there might be an email to notify you that there's a new international competition to take part in! Either way, there's always a possibility open for you. But even after all that, there's still many of us who haven't tried competing at all. Luckily, there are students around us who we can take inspirations from. For this, I found two students who are in the middle of taking part in a competition.

One is a third-year fashion student Eemeli, who's competing in an international student design competition called "The Real Leather. Stay Different." In it, the participants are asked to design an item (clothing, shoes or accessories) that is at least 50% leather but also mostly consists of natural materials. Eemeli chose this specific competition because he wanted to learn more about the material and liked the creative freedom it had.

"The theme was so unrestricted, you were free to do anything you'd like. Leather as a material is really interesting as it is, it lasts long and is relatively sustainable. I wanted to learn more about it and how it works."

-Eemeli Anttila

Another student, a second-year fashion student Ilona, is taking part in the "Young Designer of the Year 2026 " competition. It's a yearly competition, where designers get the opportunity to design an outfit inspired by the given theme. This year's theme is "What a surprise". Ilona's reason behind competing was to expose herself to new challenges and to lower the threshold of showcasing her works.

"It's been really nice to notice how helpful all the teachers are, even if I come here in my own time or ask advice on something. They've all been very hyped up about this, which then has gotten me more excited and made me trust myself more."

-Ilona Matilainen

Young Finnish Design

Speaking of competitions, I feel like it's important to shout out one competition organiser, which is YFD, more commonly known as Young Finnish Design. Their most important mission is to help young designers show their skills and get a chance to network with different Finnish companies. The founders of YFD, Elisa Luoto and Heidi Maria Huovinen, believe it's important to ease communication between companies and designers: Getting designers visible to companies, which helps companies make better connections to the designers themselves.

"Whatever your background is, you as a designer have such a variety of skills to help you to create ideas nonetheless. Use your imagination: What do you as a creative person see a specific company needs in their selection? Companies want to know how young designers see what their future brand looks like. Even if your ideas are crazy, they still might actually become executable products in the end."

-Heidi Maria Huovinen, YFD

YFD also wants to highlight the importance of networking, especially when you're in the middle of your studies. It can be hard to find opportunities like this as a student, but YFD is offering an opening for this. You have to remember that designers aren't the only ones who benefit from this kind of networking: The companies do too. In Heidi's words, young designers have their "antennas" up, meaning we see and understand what's happening in the world around us. This is exactly what companies want. They want to know what is relevant now and in the future, they simply need new ideas. That's something they can get from us designers, which is why networking is important.

So why compete?

Design competitions can often be seen as something that's nice to have on your resume or portfolio, which is true, but they are actually useful in more ways than you would think.

First, competitions tend to push you out of your comfort zone. This is something we want. You are challenged with unfamiliar tasks, tight deadlines, and high standards, all while knowing your work will be judged against other designers. This pressure can be uncomfortable but it's also a good way to improve your skills.

Second, you get visibility. Competitions put your work in front of industry professionals and future employers. A good thing is that you don't actually need to win a competition to get noticed, sometimes only participating is enough. This is where the "nice to have on your resume" part comes in: Showcasing your judged competition works in your portfolio gives professionals a look into the good qualities you possess, like creativity and ambition. This is why winning shouldn't always be your end goal.

Third, you gain perspective. Seeing how other designers approach the same task is incredibly valuable. It highlights different ways of thinking and can reveal both what your strengths are, and ways to improve your work. Just make sure not to compare yourself to others too much!

Like Ilona said, the teachers are always there to give you advice if you need it. You don't have to be alone in this, you have you study buddies by your side as well! So, don't be afraid to try something new for once.