Best communication designers honoured at Red Dot award ceremony

Red Dot Gala © Red Dot Award website.

The makers of the year’s best communication design works were honoured during the award ceremony in the Konzerthaus Berlin. The suspense was guaranteed right to the very end, as the winners of the top individual award, the Red Dot: Grand Prix, as well as the Red Dot: Junior Prize with prize money of 10,000 Euros were first announced on the evening of the award ceremony.

67 works recipients of the Red Dot: Best of the Best

Agencies, designers and companies from 50 countries entered 8,051 projects in the Red Dot Award: Communication Design 2017. The 24-member jury selected the winners of the international competition in 18 categories. The sought-after awards were given to the laureates on 27 October 2017.

Only 0.8% of all entries received a Red Dot: Best of the Best from the jury in 2017. The makers behind the 67 works that won over the jury with their high design quality and creative achievements were duly celebrated at the Red Dot Gala in the Konzerthaus Berlin. They accepted their trophies in front of around 1,400 international guests. Prof Dr Peter Zec, founder and CEO of the Red Dot Award as well as host of the award show, handed over the trophies together with the jury members present: Eric Chang, regional vice president of OgilvyOne Taiwan, who travelled especially for the award ceremony, along with his jury colleagues Prof Philipp Teufel, professor of graphic and spatial Design at the Peter Behrens School of Arts in Germany, and Michel Chanaud from France, founder and director of étapes: Éditions.

Outstanding – five works awarded the Red Dot: Grand Prix

The atmosphere remained exciting to the very end, as it was not until the evening of the gala that the prize-winners and the audience were told who had received an additional award. Only five works – each the best in their category – were awarded the Red Dot: Grand Prix for their outstanding design.

One of the top achievements to win this title was the corporate design for the Eurovision Song Contest 2017, designed by the creative heads at Banda Agency and Republique from the host country Ukraine. The humorous advertising campaign “Hovering Art Director,” designed by Achtung!/Studio Kraftwerk from the Netherlands for US software manufacturer Adobe Systems, was also successful in this regard. Daeki & Jun Design Studio from the South Korean city of Seoul was another winner of a Red Dot: Grand Prix – for its unconventional poster “Book Club 01 – Center 2 Center.” The top individual award was likewise bestowed on the exhibition design “S.F_Senses of the Future – Milan Design Week 2017” by Tokujin Yoshioka Design from Japan and LG from South Korea. Last but not least, the jury awarded the online platform “Earth 2050” by Kaspersky Lab from Russia designed by Possible Moscow as the best piece of work in its category.

Best work from a newcomer comes from Germany

The newcomer designers were also kept in suspense, as only one of the up-and-coming talents could win the Red Dot: Junior Prize. The award along with its prize money of 10,000 Euros went to Sarah Müller from the School of Design Ravensburg. She won the enthusiasm of the jury with her book, See Acoustics – Rhapsody in Blue (Akustik sehen – Rhapsody in Blue), which discusses the perception and impact of music as well as its visual interpretation. The jury appreciated the newcomer’s very analytical approach, which despite rigorous clarity created an emotional experience and used this to make the invisible visible.

Audi honoured as Red Dot: Brand of the Year 2017

The most successful brand in the Red Dot Award: Communication Design 2017 also received a distinction. The title of honour “Red Dot: Brand of the Year” went to Audi and is the recognition for design quality and consistent decisiveness in brand management. Together with various agencies, Audi succeeded in 2017 in winning a total of 14 Red Dots as well as five “Red Dot: Best of the Best” awards. Giovanni Perosino, vice president marketing communication at Audi, accepted the trophy.

thjnk celebrated as Red Dot: Agency of the Year 2017

The concluding highlight of the evening was the appearance of the Red Dot: Agency of the Year 2017. Germany agency thjnk, which for years has been consistently producing outstanding achievements in communication design, received the “Stylus” trophy in recognition of its successes. In addition to its awards in past years, 17 Red Dots and four Red Dot: Best of the Best awards this year bear testimony to the design and creative expertise of the full-service agency.

Designers’ Night in the E-Werk in Berlin

After the Red Dot Gala, guests partied into the early hours of the morning at the Designers’ Night. The Red Dot laureates received their well-earned certificates during the legendary party in the E-Werk Berlin. In addition, the award-winning communication design works were presented in the exclusive winners’ exhibition “Design on Stage.” A selection from the exhibition will be on show in the Museum for Communication in Berlin from 29 October 2017 to 14 January 2018 in the studio exhibition “Best Communication Design – Red Dot Winners Selection 2017.”