August 2008
The results of the red dot award: communication design 2008 have been finalised. In the competition, which is one of the most important and largest design competitions worldwide, the international jury of experts had to sift and assess a deluge of in total roughly 6,000 submitted works from 39 countries. Out of these entries, which were all from the field of communication design, 343 received the “red dot” distinction, and the “red dot: best of the best” for particularly outstanding design achievements was awarded 38 times. This year for the first time a design company or communication agency will receive the honorary title “red dot: design agency of the year” for continuously above-average design achievements.
The winner of this honorary award as well as the winners of the special awards “red dot: grand prix” and the “red dot: junior prize”, which comes with a prize purse of 10,000 euros, will be announced at the awards ceremony on 3 December 2008 in the gala hall of the Casino Zollverein. All prize-winning works will be presented to the public in an exhibition taking place at the red dot design museum in Essen, Germany, from 4 December 2008 to 11 January 2009.
“The current number of entries is proof of how sought-after the ‘red dot’ quality label is worldwide,” explains Professor Dr. Peter Zec, head of the Design Zentrum Nordrhein Westfalen and initiator of the red dot design award. “In fact, only roughly 6.5 per cent of all entries received an award – the competition is tough, and only the best, most creative entries from the twelve competition categories held up under the critical scrutiny of the red dot jury.”
Design instead of trivial advertising messages
This year, there has been a clear trend towards more and better design in the advertising sector. “Agencies seem to have noticed that bad and trivial advertising misses the advertising target and is only regarded as a nuisance,” concluded the jurors from their observations. In contrast, good advertising was attempting to offer well-designed information or an entertaining message which did not have an annoying effect. This meant that also in the field of advertising design was receiving a lot more attention.
“Design quality in advertising has improved significantly. While in the past design only played a minor role in advertising, it is now increasingly gaining significance. Trivial advertising messages are passé for the best of the industry,” summarises design expert Zec. “This is also the reason why the red dot design award is increasingly gaining importance with top advertising agencies. They also want to convince consumers with good design in advertising. The advertisers seem to have understood that consumers have become more demanding. This does not only apply to buying decisions but also to the attention that is paid to advertising. People want more authenticity and less annoyance!”
Awards presentation and exhibition
The award-winners will be honoured at the festive awards presentation in the gala hall of the Casino Zollverein and at the vernissage of the special exhibition in the red dot design museum in Essen, Germany. The exhibition “Design on stage – winners red dot award: communication design 2008” featuring all prize-winning works will be on show in the red dot design museum from 4 December 2008 to 11 January 2009.
The publication documenting the competition
In time for the awards ceremony the “International communication design yearbook 2008/2009” will be published. The yearbook has become an established reference work of contemporary design. It is published by the in-house publishing company, the red dot edition. To present the winners of the multimedia categories appropriately, this year for the first time an accompanying CD-ROM featuring all the winning works from these categories will be published.
This news message is supported by The Bazaar, a marketplace to buy and sell creative objects. Earn more revenue by selling your prints, downloadable images, or custom products. Set up your store today and stand a chance to have your products featured on DesignTAXI, towards millions of lovers of creative content!
