TikTok Awards

Global

2024-2026

Industry: Tech + Media

Creative —Stage and trophy design: myself. Motion Design: Parris Pierce. 3D icons/digital/print graphics: Joy Seet. Graphics lead: Vanessa Rizk. Design Directors: Hamilton Tamayo and Ishaan Mishra. 2025 stage design: Justin Montoya

The TikTok Awards and Ad Awards are a user side event that is executed across all of TikTok’s global regions. In the interest of having cohesion in look and feel of the Awards shows throughout all the regions, the team was asked to develop a physical and digital Awards system that would be utilized throughout each region’s awards ceremonies.

TikTok Awards 2024

Stage Design

My role was to set the tone of the award space by designing a base stage design, and a new trophy. Each region would need to adapt the stage design to their individual budget and venue as needed. The rest of the toolkit consisted of motion and print graphics, and 3D icons developed by the 2D and motion design team.

TikTok Awards Brasil 2024. Photo provided by TT Brasil team.

Taking these all into consideration, I set out to design a series of base stage designs at different scales, featuring elements that each region could opt in/out of adopting based on budget and venue.

2024/2025 Design Methodology and Materials Palette

The team worked together to lean on one core aesthetic for the overall vibe, which was the concept of “Reflecting the Future”. For the physical environment, I wanted to go for elements that would carry that narrative such as reflective and glossy surfaces, prisms, and infinity mirrors. I chose these as they are materials that are generally easy for most regions to acquire in order to produce/fabricate in their locale.

  • Sketchbook: initial conceptual stage design format

  • Sketchbook: thumbnail sketches of stage design

  • Large Stage Design

  • Medium Stage Design

  • Small Stage Design

  • Extra Small Stage Design

TikTok Awards South Korea 2024

TikTok Awards Vietnam 2024

Understanding the variations that would inevitably occur across the globe, the priority elements to implement were the infinity-mirror style grand stage entrance, large vertical screens, LED trim along the stage edges, and a big TikTok note on the stage that would still be visible during each event’s live stream. Several regions were able to successfully adapt elements of the stage design in a version that worked for their locale.

TikTok Awards Australia 2024

How the Regions Implemented the 2024/2025 Stage Design

TikTok Awards Mexico City 2025. Photo provided by TT Mexico team

TikTok Awards 2025

Stage Design

For the 2025 stage design, the goal was to soft launch the new brand identity’s Spark icon as a central element. I directed the design initially created by Montoya Design Works, ensuring that the vertical screens and the Spark would be primary elements and allowing a 3D note to be optional, while looking for ways to bring designer Joy Seet’s 3D reflective icons to life.

TikTok Awards Brasil 2026. Photo from the TT Brasil team.

2025/2026 Design Methodology and Materials Palette

Feedback from one of the regions on 2024’s palette was that fully reflective elements on stage created viewing challenges. So for this year I provided a range of material direction that ran the gamut from textiles to hard surfaces with metallic sheen instead reflectivity. Each region could lean into whichever material worked best for their venue conditions and budget.

I provided the palette and design direction to Montoya Design Works to create a new stage design that would incorporate any of the materials, screens, and the Spark in ways that the regions can assemble for their venue. I then went into the initial design and reworked it with slight tweaks and into smaller options.

  • Initial design created by Montoya Design Works

  • Reworked design for the Large Stage

  • Medium Stage Design with reduced overall size

  • Small Stage Design: reduced overall size and fewer details and icons

  • Extra Small Stage Design

Simplified versions were also designed for budgets that could not fabricate the Spark shape, and could instead utilize the standard 16:9 screen.

How the Regions Implemented the 2025/2026 Stage Design

Most of the regions successfully leveraged the key elements of the stage design into their respective venues, some using the Spark as a screen while others used it as a brand signifying moment on stage. Others couldn’t get the Spark but leaned into the infinity mirror effect from 2024 for their venue’s stage entrance.

The Awards Toolkit saved each region time and money from developing any of their own assets, instead leaning fully into the system to build out their own event.

Trophy Design

I’m still very much an industrial & product designer, and tapped into that to create the new trophy design for 2024-2026. Iridescent material is in line with the character and energy of the TikTok Awards, and I went for a full iridescent note with a round base but left the base shape open to each region to develop as they chose.

  • Sketchbook: TikTok Note trophy ideation sketches

  • Shortlisted note trophy base options

  • Trophy drawing shared to the regions for manufacture

  • Alternate faceted base option

And the winner is…

Smiling winners show off their trophies from various TikTok Awards across the regions. Shown here are winners from the Awards held in South Korea, UK, Japan, and Brazil.