Looking back on 2018

Red Dot Award: Product Design 2018

Whether furniture, robots, medical devices, commercial vehicles or smartphones – this year again, the jury of the Red Dot Award: Product Design was in search of products with a good design quality and a high innovation potential. With experience, expertise and a lot of passion for design, the 39 jurors assessed the more than 6,300 entries from 59 different nations. Thereby, they tested each object individually and decided about their design quality after intensive discussions.

The best products of the year received the Red Dot Winner Label. This year, the renowned distinction went to 1,684 innovations. Furthermore, 69 submissions were awarded with the highest distinction of the competition, the Red Dot: Best of the Best. 45 objects received an Honourable Mention for a well-thought-out detail solution.

These great successes were duly celebrated during the Red Dot Gala on 9 July. On stage of Essen’s Aalto-Theater, the laureates of the Red Dot: Best of the Best received their well-deserved trophies in front of around 1,200 international guests. The highlight of the event was the honouring of the Red Dot: Design Team of the Year 2018, Phoenix Design. The design team with its offices in Stuttgart, Munich and Shanghai convinced with its consistently innovative, top-notch design achievements.

The evening culminated during the Designers’ Night in the Red Dot Design Museum Essen. There, the laureates of the Red Dot and the Honourable Mention received their certificates. At the same time, the special exhibition “Design on Stage – Winners Red Dot Award: Product Design 2018”, which shows all of the awarded products, was opened. Furthermore, the design team of the year presented its achievements in the self-designed exhibition “PHOENIX – First. Now. Next.”.

Red Dot Award: Communication Design 2018

High-quality, elaborate and convincing: these attributes characterise the projects which enthused the jury for the Red Dot Award: Communication Design 2018. Up-and-coming as well as established designers, agencies and companies from 45 countries applied for the coveted award. They entered 8,610 works in 17 categories, out of which the jury selected the winners.

In mid-July, the entries were under high scrutiny over several days. 24 jurors evaluated their design performance and creativity. The international experts arrived at their decision by jointly critiquing the entries.

They awarded the Red Dot to 649 projects. Just 0.7% of all entries received the Red Dot: Best of the Best. The top awards of the competition emerged out of these 58 projects: the jury honoured only seven works with the Red Dot: Grand Prix in 2018. It was not before the award ceremony that the people responsible for these top performances gained knowledge of their success.

The year’s best in the international communication design and creative scene were honoured during the Red Dot Gala which took place at Konzerthaus Berlin in Germany on 26 October 2018. In front of around 1,400 international guests, the designers behind the 58 best works received their Red Dot Trophies. Moreover, Tom Hegen was awarded the Red Dot: Junior Prize together with a prize money of 10,000 Euros for his coffee table book “HABITAT – Vom Mensch geprägte Lebensräume”. With aerial photographs, the book shows how humans change their natural habitats.

Hyundai Motor Company was happy about its four Red Dots, three “Red Dot: Best of the Best” awards and moreover the honorary title “Red Dot: Brand of the Year 2018”. Wonhong Cho, Chief Marketing Officer and Executive Vice President of Hyundai Motor Company, was delighted to receive it. The highlight of the evening was the announcement of the Red Dot: Agency of the Year 2018. The entire team of Banda Agency from Ukraine – surrounding founders Pavel Vrzhesch, Creative Director, Egor Petrov, Head of Art, and Yaroslav Serdyuk, Strategy Director – rushed onto the stage.

Together with the other laureates and guests, they celebrated at the subsequent Designers’ Night into the small hours. During the party, the award-winning works were on show in the winners exhibition “Design on Stage”. Still until 13 January 2019, the Museum for Communication Berlin will present a selection of the exhibits in the studio exhibition “Best Communication Design – Red Dot Winners Selection 2018”.

Red Dot Award: Design Concept 2018

This year, the Red Dot Award: Design Concept received a record of 5,640 entries from 55 countries. Only 333 of them convinced the jury: 28 concepts received an Honourable Mention, 265 were awarded a Red Dot and 40 submissions, or 0.7%, got the Red Dot: Best of the Best. The electric motorcycle prototype “MOTOROiD” by Yamaha Motor from Japan was honoured with the highest distinction, the Red Dot: Luminary. Prof. Dr. Peter Zec, founder and CEO of Red Dot, and Ken Koo, President of Red Dot in Asia, handed over the trophies during the award ceremony in Singapore.

A stage for prize-winning design

Red Dot presents the successful products, communications projects and design concepts in the course of extravagantly designed exhibitions at a national and international level:

Events and more 2018

Red Dot’s numerous activities were complemented by various events around the topic of design: