DESIGN X EDGE 2026

Submission Terms, Rights & Privacy Notice

Last updated: [May 26, 2026]

By submitting a project to DESIGN X EDGE 2026, you agree to the following Submission Terms, Rights & Privacy Notice. Please read this agreement carefully before completing your submission.

These terms apply to all materials and information submitted through the DESIGN X EDGE 2026 application form.

1. Purpose of Submission

DESIGN X EDGE 2026 invites designers, artists, creative technologists, researchers, students, recent graduates, studios, early-career professionals, and interdisciplinary teams to submit projects for review, online editorial presentation, publication consideration, newsletters, social media, books, catalogs, exhibitions, professional conversations, cultural programming, and related DESIGN X initiatives.

Submitting a project does not guarantee shortlist, selection, publication, award, exhibition, interview, professional opportunity, employment, funding, direct introduction, jury feedback, promotion, or inclusion in any future DESIGN X program.

2. Project-Based Submission

DESIGN X EDGE 2026 submissions are project-based, not person-based.

Each entry should represent one unique project. If a project was created by a team, it should be submitted once as one entry, with all team members, collaborators, studios, institutions, clients, photographers, or partners properly credited where applicable.

Applicants should not submit the same team project multiple times through different teammates, as this may create duplicate entries and complicate the review process.

Applicants may submit multiple entries, provided that each entry represents a distinct project and is submitted separately with its own project information, images, credits, and applicable submission fee.

3. Applicant Responsibility

You are responsible for all materials and information submitted through the application form.

Submitted materials may include, but are not limited to:

• Project titles and descriptions

• Creator, artist, designer, studio, team, or collaborator names

• Biographies and statements

• Images, drawings, photographs, renderings, diagrams, videos, screenshots, or visual documentation

• Research documentation, captions, process materials, prototype documentation, and supporting files

• Website links, portfolio links, social media links, and contact information

• Credit information for collaborators, photographers, institutions, clients, partners, or other relevant parties

By submitting, you confirm that your materials are original, legally obtained, and either owned by you or submitted with full permission from the relevant rights holders.

4. Intellectual Property and Third-Party Rights

You confirm that your submission does not infringe upon the copyright, trademark, moral rights, privacy rights, publicity rights, contractual rights, confidentiality obligations, or other legal rights of any person, organization, client, collaborator, photographer, model, artist, designer, institution, company, or third party.

If your project includes materials created by others, including photography, illustration, archival images, client materials, institutional documentation, AI-generated assets, collaborative work, commissioned work, third-party datasets, or platform-generated content, you confirm that you have received all necessary permissions to submit those materials and grant DESIGN X the usage rights described in this agreement.

You remain the owner of your own intellectual property. Submitting to DESIGN X EDGE 2026 does not transfer ownership of your work to DESIGN X, PEAR & MULBERRY, or any related entity.

5. License Granted to DESIGN X

By submitting materials, you grant DESIGN X, PEAR & MULBERRY, and their related editorial, publishing, curatorial, promotional, archival, educational, and program channels a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license to use, reproduce, publish, display, distribute, archive, edit, crop, resize, format, excerpt, translate, and present the submitted materials in connection with DESIGN X EDGE 2026 and related DESIGN X initiatives.

This may include, but is not limited to:

• DESIGN X websites and online project pages

• DESIGN X SERIES online editorial features

• Social media posts and newsletters

• Printed and digital books, catalogs, magazines, zines, or editorial publications

• The annual DESIGN X EDGE publication

• Press releases, promotional materials, and media kits

• Public presentations, lectures, workshops, exhibitions, events, and cultural programming

• Educational, archival, curatorial, and research-related materials

• Future DESIGN X publications, programs, showcases, and related editorial initiatives

This license is granted free of charge. You understand that no additional payment, royalty, licensing fee, or compensation will be owed for these uses.

6. Shortlist and Selection

DESIGN X EDGE 2026 uses a two-level editorial recognition structure.

Shortlisted Projects

Shortlisted projects may be featured through DESIGN X SERIES online editorial channels. This may include project title, creator name, short description, selected images, credits, and project links, based on submitted materials, editorial direction, available information, image quality, and project fit.

Shortlisted projects will also be named in the annual DESIGN X EDGE publication. However, shortlisted projects may not receive full project presentation in the publication.

Selected Projects

Selected projects will be chosen from the shortlist for fuller inclusion in the annual DESIGN X EDGE publication, planned for global availability through bookstores and online retail channels.

Selected projects will be formally named, credited, and presented with selected project materials according to editorial direction, available space, image quality, publication design, and production requirements.

Shortlisted and selected projects may also receive official digital recognition assets for portfolio, CV, LinkedIn, press, and project page use.

The final number of shortlisted and selected projects will depend on submission quality, editorial fit, review capacity, and publication capacity.

7. Credit and Attribution

DESIGN X will make reasonable efforts to credit you and relevant collaborators using the credit information provided in your submission.

You are responsible for providing accurate and complete credit information, including names of artists, designers, researchers, studios, collaborators, photographers, institutions, clients, sponsors, or other parties requiring acknowledgment.

DESIGN X is not responsible for errors, omissions, or disputes caused by inaccurate, incomplete, outdated, or unauthorized credit information provided by the applicant.

8. Editorial Rights

DESIGN X may review, select, edit, excerpt, crop, resize, reformat, sequence, adapt, or present submitted materials for editorial, design, publication, promotional, archival, curatorial, educational, or technical purposes.

Text may be lightly edited for clarity, grammar, length, consistency, accessibility, publication style, or editorial framing. DESIGN X will make reasonable efforts to preserve the original meaning and intent of the submission.

DESIGN X reserves the right to reject, remove, decline, disqualify, or not publish any submission that does not meet its editorial, ethical, technical, curatorial, legal, or community standards.

9. Truthfulness and Accuracy

You confirm that all information provided in your submission is accurate, truthful, and not misleading.

This includes, but is not limited to:

• Authorship and ownership

• Team and collaborator credits

• Project dates and locations

• Institutional, client, studio, or company affiliations

• Awards, recognitions, press, exhibitions, or previous publications

• Research claims and project descriptions

• Production methods, tools, materials, technologies, and processes

• AI use, if relevant to the project

• Rights, permissions, and credit information

You agree not to submit false, fabricated, plagiarized, deceptive, unauthorized, or improperly attributed information.

If DESIGN X determines that a submission includes false information, unauthorized materials, plagiarism, misrepresentation, rights violations, unethical content, or misleading claims, DESIGN X may reject, remove, disqualify, or decline to publish the submission at any time.

10. AI-Generated or AI-Assisted Materials

AI-generated and AI-assisted work is welcome when it is meaningfully directed, developed, or contextualized by the applicant.

If your submission includes AI-generated or AI-assisted content, you are responsible for ensuring that the content complies with applicable platform terms, copyright rules, dataset restrictions, licensing requirements, and ethical standards.

You should disclose AI involvement where relevant, especially if AI tools materially shaped the final project, images, text, video, concept development, research process, dataset, or production workflow.

DESIGN X may request clarification regarding authorship, workflow, source materials, datasets, tools, or AI-assisted production methods.

11. Confidential, Sensitive, or Restricted Materials

You should only submit materials that you are authorized to share.

You should not submit confidential, private, proprietary, legally restricted, classified, client-protected, patent-sensitive, unpublished, embargoed, or sensitive information unless you have full permission to do so.

You are responsible for removing, redacting, or anonymizing any confidential, sensitive, or restricted information before submission.

DESIGN X is not responsible for the public disclosure of confidential, private, restricted, unpublished, or sensitive information included by the applicant in the submission.

12. Public Visibility

If your project is shortlisted, selected, published, featured, promoted, or otherwise presented by DESIGN X, parts of your submission may become publicly visible.

This may include your name, biography, project title, project description, images, captions, website, social media handle, project links, credit information, and other public-facing materials submitted through the form.

Once materials are published online, shared through newsletters, posted on social media, printed in books, distributed through retail channels, or circulated through public programming, DESIGN X cannot fully control third-party sharing, screenshots, reposts, indexing, archiving, citation, or circulation by external audiences.

13. DESIGN X EDGE Talent Network

Applicants may choose to have their complete submission kept in the DESIGN X EDGE Talent Network for future consideration beyond the current open call.

If you opt in, DESIGN X may retain your submitted project information, creator information, portfolio links, contact information, images, and related materials for the purpose of identifying future editorial features, professional conversations, partner opportunities, community programs, expert conversations, insider invitations, publication development, exhibitions, and related DESIGN X initiatives.

Participation in the DESIGN X EDGE Talent Network is optional. It does not guarantee selection, publication, employment, funding, expert review, professional recommendation, direct introduction, partnership, or future opportunity.

You may request removal from the Talent Network by contacting DESIGN X. Removal requests will be reviewed on a reasonable-effort basis, though DESIGN X may retain limited records where necessary for administrative, legal, archival, accounting, or previously published materials.

14. Privacy Notice

DESIGN X may collect personal, professional, project-related, and submission-related information through the application form, including but not limited to:

• Name

• Email address

• Country, city, affiliation, or professional background

• Biography, statement, and project description

• Website, portfolio, and social media links

• Uploaded files and images

• Team and collaborator information

• Credit information

• EDGE Track selection

• Talent Network preference

• Newsletter subscription preference

• Payment or transaction confirmation, if applicable

This information may be used for:

• Reviewing submissions

• Communicating with applicants

• Managing selection, editorial, curatorial, and publication processes

• Publishing, naming, crediting, and promoting shortlisted or selected projects

• Maintaining internal records

• Sending updates to applicants who choose to subscribe

• Managing the DESIGN X EDGE Talent Network for applicants who opt in

• Improving future DESIGN X programs, publications, open calls, and community initiatives

DESIGN X will not sell applicants’ personal information to third parties.

Applicant information may be shared with editors, reviewers, jurors, contractors, publishing partners, technical service providers, payment processors, administrative collaborators, or program partners only when necessary for submission review, communication, publication, promotion, platform operation, payment processing, administration, or related DESIGN X activities.

15. Newsletter Consent

Newsletter subscription is optional.

If you choose to subscribe, DESIGN X may send you updates about open calls, publications, selected projects, events, opportunities, community programs, and related initiatives.

You may unsubscribe at any time by following the unsubscribe instructions included in newsletter communications or by contacting DESIGN X.

Choosing not to subscribe will not affect the review of your submission.

16. Data Storage and Third-Party Platforms

Submissions may be collected, processed, or stored through third-party platforms such as form builders, cloud storage services, email platforms, payment processors, website hosts, database tools, newsletter services, or publishing tools.

These services may include platforms such as Fillout, Google Workspace, Airtable, Stripe, Mailchimp, Squarespace, or similar providers, depending on the tools used by DESIGN X.

By submitting, you understand that your information may be processed through such third-party services according to their own privacy policies and security practices.

DESIGN X will make reasonable efforts to protect applicant information, but no digital transmission or storage system can be guaranteed to be completely secure.

17. Submission Fees

Submission fees, if applicable, help support editorial review, platform operations, online features, publication development, administrative work, and the continued growth of DESIGN X as an international creative network.

Submission fees are generally non-refundable, including if a submission is not shortlisted, selected, published, or otherwise featured.

DESIGN X reserves the right to update submission phases, fees, deadlines, or application procedures before the close of the open call.

18. Correction, Withdrawal, and Removal Requests

You may contact DESIGN X to request correction or update of your submitted information.

You may also request that certain personal information or unpublished materials be removed from DESIGN X records where reasonably possible.

If a project has already been published, printed, archived, distributed, promoted, shared publicly, included in recognition assets, or submitted for production, DESIGN X may not be able to fully remove the materials from existing publications, printed books, archived pages, public posts, third-party shares, production files, or previously distributed materials.

Removal requests will be reviewed on a reasonable-effort basis.

19. Indemnification

You agree to hold DESIGN X, PEAR & MULBERRY, their editors, curators, jurors, reviewers, collaborators, publishers, partners, contractors, service providers, and representatives harmless from any claims, disputes, damages, liabilities, costs, or expenses arising from your submission.

This includes, but is not limited to, claims related to copyright infringement, unauthorized use of third-party materials, false information, privacy violations, publicity rights violations, plagiarism, breach of contract, confidentiality violations, AI-generated content disputes, rights clearance issues, or misrepresentation.

20. Changes to These Terms

DESIGN X may update these terms from time to time.

The version posted at the time of submission will apply to that submission unless otherwise required by law or agreed in writing.

21. Agreement

By submitting your application, you confirm that you have read, understood, and agreed to these DESIGN X EDGE 2026 Submission Terms, Rights & Privacy Notice.

You further confirm that you have the legal authority to submit the materials and grant the rights described in this agreement.