The project “INSPO,” created by Kang Ha-neul (Industrial Design ’21) and Lee Min-seo (Industrial Design ’20), students at the College of Art and Design at Kookmin University (President Jeong Seung Ryul), has won an award at the Red Dot Award: Design Concept 2026, a world-renowned design competition.

The Red Dot Award is an international design competition ranked among the world’s top three design awards, alongside the IDEA in the U.S. and the iF Design Award in Germany. The Design Concept category specifically seeks to discover innovative ideas and future-oriented design concepts that have not yet been launched on the market.

“INSPO” is a project that was first unveiled in the spring of 2025 at an exhibition jointly organized by “ZAPPERS,” the product design club of the Department of Industrial Design, and “ADD,” the product design club at Konkuk University. This award is significant in that it recognizes the design ideas developed by the students through their department club activities and exhibitions at an international design competition.

△ Design image for the “INSPO” project

The “INSPO” project is a smart insulin care solution for people with diabetes. Based on intuitive controls and a lifestyle-centered design, it is engineered to seamlessly integrate into daily life. In particular, the project focuses on reducing the inconvenience people with diabetes experience during insulin management and transforming medical devices from mere treatment tools into products that reflect the user’s personality and lifestyle.

Through this project, the students demonstrated that medical device design can help reduce users’ psychological burden and enable them to manage their health more naturally and confidently. This design approach was highly praised for going beyond functionality and usability to consider user experience and emotional acceptance.

This award is also linked to “KMU VISION 2035: EDGE,” announced by Kookmin University to mark its 80th anniversary. Kookmin University is strengthening creative problem-solving capabilities and interdisciplinary design education, centered on the Design & Content field—one of its eight specialized areas—and the “INSPO” award serves as an example of how this educational direction has led to students’ success in international design competitions.

Student Kang Ha-neul said, “While preparing the project, I gave a lot of thought to form, function, and usability,” adding, “I am very pleased that this effort led to winning an award at such a prestigious international competition.”

Student Lee Min-seo shared, “We discussed the project extensively with my teammates while working to complete it and prepare for the exhibition within a short timeframe,” adding, “It is deeply meaningful that our efforts to bring the project to fruition in the way we envisioned have led to such a positive outcome.”

△ Design image for the “INSPO” project