Our Co-Founder Leads the Core77 Design Awards 2026 Jury for the Consumer Technology Category
Roman Gebhard, co-founder and managing partner of FLUID Design, has been selected as jury captain for the Consumer Technology category in the 2026 Core77 Design Awards. It is a distinction we are genuinely proud of - Core77 is one of the most influential platforms in global design.
To build the jury, Roman reached out to a group of international designer colleagues he holds in high regard. Joining him are Nicolas Denhez based in Seattle, Janet Owczarek based here in Munich, and Bastian Albinus in Taipei - a team that brings range across geographies, contexts, and specific design disciplines. We think that breadth matters when you are evaluating work that is meant to reach and serve people around the world.
Technology That Serves Creativity
Core77 sat down with Roman ahead of the awards and published a profile that captures how he thinks about design, technology, and where the industry is heading. The conversation centres on a tension that feels increasingly relevant: the same tools expanding what designers can do may also be quietly eroding the foundational skills that make great design possible in the first place.
"With AI technologies further on the rise, I worry we may start to unlearn how to do and think for ourselves," Roman says in the article. "There's a real risk of losing connection to our core skills and crafts as creatives - and if that happens, we could end up with solutions that are properly designed but overly mainstream, lacking exploration, edge, and bold excursions into truly exciting territory."
The Strongest Work Shows a Point of View
His call to designers entering the awards is both clear and considered: embrace the tools, but never let them replace the creative mind driving the process. "The strongest projects will show how humanised innovation emerges from a clear point of view, thoughtful experimentation, and a design process that uses technology as an enabler, not a substitute for creativity."
That balance - between capability and creative autonomy - is at the heart of what we do at FLUID every day.
Read the full Core77 profile here →
Core77 Design Awards 2026: Roman Gebhard on Technology That Serves Creativity
