Award-winning design and its makers: the “Frankfurt Zoo - Holoquarium”
Once a year, the jury of the Red Dot Award: Communication Design honours projects of high design quality. Among the works which received a Red Dot: Best of the Best, the jury awards the Red Dot: Grand Prix. In 2016, the top individual award was granted to the 3D video “Frankfurt Zoo - Holoquarium”, designed by Leo Burnett.
Discover the beauty of the water world
The Frankfurt Zoo is not only one of the most popular zoos in Germany, it also has one of the most beautiful aquariums. However, most visitors do not know about it. To change this, a traditional print ad was brought to life with a 3D video. For this contemplative experience, the viewers need a smartphone as well as the plastic film, which will be fold into a small pyramid. This is placed on the screen of the smartphone. The QR code is then read by the phone and takes people to a specially produced four-part video. When started, the plastic film reflects the projection to create a three-dimensional image of the fascinating underwater world, a virtual mini-aquarium – the Holoquarium. It shows jellyfish, sea horses and turtles swimming in the aquarium, giving viewers a vivid impression of what to experience when visiting the aquarium. Who wants to see more of the underwater world, is invited to visit the aquarium of the Frankfurt Zoo.
Red Dot: Grand Prix for “Frankfurt Zoo - Holoquarium”
The Red Dot jury summarised: “The Holoquarium awakens the childlike wonder of the creatures of the deep sea and creates awareness of the fantastic aquarium of the Frankfurt Zoo. Using 3D projections on a transparent film pyramid placed on the screen of a smartphone, the inhabitants of the aquarium magically seem to swim in front of the viewer’s eyes, hovering millimetres above the smartphone screen – a brilliant illustration of the power of interactivity.” The jury awarded this outstanding design achievement with the Red Dot: Grand Prix. Red Dot talked to the designers from Leo Burnett, the Red Dot: Agency of the Year 2015
Red Dot: How would you describe Leo Burnett in a nutshell?
Leo Burnett: We’ve always put people at the centre and not the brand. And that’s why we see ourselves as a brand agency: “Creativity has the power to transform human behaviour” is a guiding principle of Leo Burnett. The topic of human behaviour has become increasingly the focus of communication in recent years. The impact of human behaviour on brands has become bigger and more complex. We take advantage of it in the sense of the brand.
There aren’t many agencies in the industry that manage to keep their clients for as long as Leo Burnett does. How is that achieved?
It requires a strong commitment to the brand. The client knows that he can rely on us. And if you work with a client, such as Fiat, over a long period of time, you have to keep introducing new highlights. It’s like in a relationship.
At the moment, the Red Dot Award: Communication Design 2017 is on and “in search of good design and creativity”. It offers agencies, designers and companies from all over the world a platform for evaluating their design and creative achievements. At the moment, they can submit their works and projects to the international competition featuring 18 categories. A 24-member jury will assess each individual entry separately and will award the Red Dot seal only to those that win it over with good design quality and creativity.
» Further information on the Red Dot Award: Communication Design 2017
