Award-winning design and its makers: “PHILIP”
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 customer magazine “PHILIP”, designed by “MILCH + HONIG designkultur” from Munich, Germany, for “Rosenthal”.
200 pages extravagance
The anniversary magazine “PHILIP” celebrates the 100th birthday of the visionary entrepreneur Philip Rosenthal. Designed as a high-quality hardcover oversized book, the magazine comprises nearly 200 pages. Featuring expressive photography, it visualises the life and work of the entrepreneur, complemented by numerous anecdotes and incidents that render a vivid image of his eventful life.
The special friendship to architect and designer Martin Gropius has inspired the distinctive cover design element. Since the motif of the “pig” played a role in a bet between the two about the emergence of the gold rim on porcelain, it was made to feature on a porcelain plate fully decorated in gold, attached to the front cover as a special eyecatcher. Aside the three solid colours, a colourfully designed “happy birthday folder” and truncated pages, a photo story by photographer Joachim Baldauf enriches the liveliness of the magazine that comes in a protective box made of the same material.
Red Dot: Grand Prix for „PHILIP“
The Red Dot jury summarised: “This magazine traces and illustrates the eventful life of entrepreneur Philip Rosenthal. Each of the excitingly told stories in the book represents an epoch of innovative porcelain design, which is also visualised by the porcelain plate consistently integrated into the cover. The surprising combination of pictorial material and graphic elements with a congenial typography is infused with high-level design skills.” Red Dot talked to Christina Sofie John und Rafael Bernardo Dietzel from “MILCH + HONIG designkultur”:
Red Dot: What makes somebody a good designer?
Christina Sofie John and Rafael Bernardo Dietzel: Reinvent yourself over and over again and surprise people with design and concepts. Have the courage to try something new and now and again upset people with it.
How do you convince clients?
By being enthusiastic ourselves about a project. Key for us is relevant content and surprising design.
What are the main challenges you have to overcome in your work life?
The decision “OK, we’ll leave it as it is”.
» Further information on the Red Dot Award: Communication Design
