Design as a tool for change takes centre stage at the Social Design Distinctions 2026

On Tuesday 3 March at 19:30h we will celebrate the Social Design Distinctions 2026 award ceremony at La Mutant hall in València, an event through which the Design Foundation of the Region of Valencia will, for the second year, recognise professional careers and academic projects that use design as a real tool for social transformation. Beyond a one-off recognition, these distinctions highlight critical thinking, applied research and emerging talent, consolidating a network of references committed to the positive impact of design on society.

The jury for this edition deliberated around three axes: the projection and coherence of the professional career, the social impact of the projects and the contribution to the dissemination and consolidation of social design as a field of specialisation. Based on these criteria, it was decided to grant the Professional Distinctions 2026 to Raquel Pelta and to the cooperative Makea Tu Vida, and to recognise in the student projects category «Diseñar para todos los sentidos: buenas prácticas para hacer de los espacios lugares más comprensibles, seguros e inclusivos», by Carmen García Molero (Escuela de Enseñanzas Técnicas, Universidad CEU Cardenal Herrera), and «Disseny d’un joc de pinzells adaptats a persones amb paràlisi cerebral», by Luz Moya Ibáñez (Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingeniería Aeroespacial y Diseño Industrial, Universitat Politècnica de València).

To attend the ceremony, tickets can be obtained free of charge at this link.

Professional Distinction 2026: Raquel Pelta

The jury has granted the Social Design Distinction 2026 to Raquel Pelta for her sustained career in research, teaching and the dissemination of design culture and, very especially, for having placed the social dimension of design at the centre of academic and professional thought in Spain, generating a theoretical, critical and cultural framework that has decisively influenced several generations of designers.

Professor at the University of Barcelona, researcher and design historian, since 2013 her research has focused on social design and co-design applied to the social field. She holds a PhD from the Faculty of Fine Arts of the University of Barcelona, degrees in Geography and History, Audiovisual Communication and Advertising and Public Relations, as well as a Master’s in Social Work, Welfare State and Social Intervention Methodologies and a Master’s in Information and Knowledge Society.

She has been one of the researchers of the Erasmus+ Project, KA2-Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices (InovHumbRE Projects, 2021-2023) «Innovation in Humanitarian Response. KA203-FE123C0A. Participatory evaluation in social entities in emergency situations. The case of Spain». She has organised courses and seminars in universities and institutions and has delivered lectures in numerous national and international centres. She is the author of many publications, among which the book Diseñar Hoy. Temas contemporáneos de Diseño stands out. She was editor and director of the magazine Visual. In 2011 she founded and directed the online publication Monográfica (Barcelona City Award 2012). Likewise, she has delivered courses and workshops on co-design applied to the social field, among other places at the Faculty of Social Work of the University of Castilla-La Mancha; the Social Work Degree at UNED; the Social Innovation Service of the Community of Madrid; the Participatory Group of Madrid City Council; the ISCTE Winter School in Lisbon; the Participation Conferences organised by the Provincial Council of Málaga and Ronda City Council (December 2024) and the III Coexistence and Families Conference organised by the Chair of Coexistence and Families (UNED-Logroño City Council).

She has carried out scientific advisory work for the acquisition of heritage collections and has curated exhibitions for the Design Museum, the National Museum of Decorative Arts, the MuVIM, the Sástago Palace and the Jaume Morera Museum of Lleida, among other institutions. In 2011 she received the Gràffica Award and in 2015 the Laus Honorary Award, in recognition of «a career dedicated to the history of Spanish design and her ability to promote projects around design».

Photo by Maria Mira

Professional Distinction 2026: Makea Tu Vida

Makea Tu Vida is a social and educational cooperative that promotes the role of design in social transformations, driving projects and strategies that seek innovative solutions to contemporary challenges. Through collaborative design and learning-by-doing methodologies, they empower communities, build more resilient environments and promote good practices for an ecosocial transition.

With this recognition, the jury of the Social Design Distinctions 2026 wished to highlight an exemplary model of collective, transversal and participatory practice that, at the intersection of design and ecology, has fostered learning processes, creative reuse and community empowerment, turning design into a real tool for social and habitat transformation.

With more than fifteen years of experience in social innovation and sustainable design, they apply open-source principles and circular economy approaches, specialising in co-creation processes, prototyping workshops and citizen participation. They work with cultural and educational institutions and public entities, providing strategic design services, practical methodologies and tools to create open community infrastructures. Their lines of work revolve around economic, social and ecological sustainability, the enhancement of local resources, the generation of circular systems and the promotion of collective working dynamics. The distinction will be collected by Mireia Juan and Alberto Flores.

Recognition of Student Projects 2026

This year the jury evaluated a wide range of works from schools and universities across the Comunitat Valenciana, highlighting both the involvement of educational centres and the remarkable level of the submitted projects. From this process, two proposals were selected for their methodological solidity, social sensitivity and their ability to bring design into real contexts of collective improvement.

Project by Carmen García Molero

«Diseñar para todos los sentidos: buenas prácticas para hacer de los espacios lugares más comprensibles, seguros e inclusivos» is the Final Degree Project in Industrial Design Engineering and Product Development by Carmen García Molero, a student at Universidad CEU Cardenal Herrera supervised by Sara Barquero. The jury selected this project for translating the complexity of visual accessibility into a clear, rigorous and applicable manual, integrating visual, tactile and sound resources from a universal design approach. The work analyses visual accessibility in indoor public spaces, reviews regulations, compares reference cases and develops a practical guide validated by ONCE, aimed at architects, designers and building managers.

Project by Luz Moya Ibáñez

On the other hand, «Disseny d’un joc de pinzells adaptats a persones amb paràlisi cerebral» by Luz Moya Ibáñez is a Final Degree Project in Industrial Design Engineering and Product Development at the School of Aerospace Engineering and Industrial Design of the Universitat Politècnica de València, supervised by Cristina Planells del Barrio and Patricia Rodrigo Franco. The jury recognised this work for placing people at the centre of the design process, developed in direct collaboration with a special education centre. The project designs a brush system that improves autonomy and the creative experience of people with cerebral palsy, demonstrating how product design can generate tangible social impact through empathy and applied research.

Design that transforms. People who inspire

The Social Design Distinctions reach their second edition with the intention of also serving as a professional guide and a didactic exercise for society, sending a message of universal scope linked to social values and acting as a lever for future generations.

The jury was formed by an internal committee of the Board of Trustees of the Design Foundation together with invited professionals of recognised national and international prestige, guaranteeing a plural, rigorous evaluation aligned with the ethical, cultural and social principles of design. This year’s members included Vicent Martínez, Amparo Bertomeu and Pepe Cosín from the executive committee of the Design Foundation, and Inma Bermúdez, Kike Correcher and Luis Calabuig as board members of the foundation. For this year’s edition, as external professional profiles the organisation invited Sébastien Hylebos (representative of Designregio Kortrijk), Uqui Permui (Galician designer and activist also linked to national associations) and designer Manolo Bañó (distinguished in the 2025 edition) to join the jury, whose participation provided a valuable reinforcement of strategic perspective, professional experience and sensitivity towards the social dimension of design.

The presentation of these Social Design Distinctions 2026 will take place next Tuesday 3 March at 19:30h at La Mutant, Calle Joan Verdeguer 22, València. Tickets are available free of charge by filling in the following form: https://fundaciodisseny.typeform.com/social2026

The event is held thanks to the collaboration of the Valencia City Council and its Delegation of Cultural Action and will feature the presence of José Luis Moreno, Councillor for Cultural Action, Heritage and Cultural Resources who, together with Vicent Martínez, President of the Design Foundation of the Region of Valencia, will be responsible for presenting the Distinctions in a ceremony once again hosted by corporate communication and sustainability expert Ona Bascuñán.

The ceremony will also include the participation of Raquel Pelta and Makea Tu Vida who, after receiving their Distinctions, will share their vision of what social design is through presentations about their work.

Formally, the Social Design Distinctions materialise in a jewel-like piece designed by the studio Matterica, a contemporary jewellery workshop that fuses artisanal tradition and design, understanding each of its works as a meeting point between contemporary craftsmanship and design thinking. From their space in València they create unique pieces where material, manual process and aesthetic reflection coexist as their own language.

The ceremony takes place at La Mutant: Espai d’Arts Vives, a performance space managed by the Valencia City Council through the Cultural Action department. Located on Calle Joan Verdeguer, La Mutant has consolidated itself as a cultural engine in the Grau neighbourhood, hosting Valencian artists and international proposals under the common denominator of new performing languages, operating as a space for reflection, experimentation and dialogue for a creative citizenship.

Once again, this milestone in the agenda of the Design Foundation will highlight our principles in an event that will simultaneously be a recognition of professionals and young talents linked to sustainability, social design, equality, innovation, ethics and commitment through design, contributing to a better preparation of professionals towards the more social dimension of the discipline.