“Creative Exchange”: Red Dot Design Museum Essen presents exhibition about communication design
From 15 March, the Red Dot Design Museum in Essen will host the exhibition “Creative Exchange: World’s Best Communication Design and Highlights from NRW”, featuring the best communication design achievements from North Rhine-Westphalia and all over the globe. From packaging to posters to advertising spots, the new special exhibition makes the various facets of outstanding and award-winning communication design experiencable.
Creative top performances
Analogue or digital, the design museum, located on the grounds of the Zollverein World Heritage Site in Essen, showcases Red Dot prize-winning works until 2 June 2019. The selection comprises all projects which won a Red Dot: Best of the Best or a Red Dot: Grand Prix in the Red Dot Award: Communication Design 2018.
These include among others the brand design for the Ukrainian petrol station network “OKKO”, colourfully designed by Banda Agency, the Red Dot Agency of the Year 2018. Furthermore, the poster series “Scars of Democracy” illustrates artists’ rights of freedom of speech and expression visually stunning with portraits of politicians.
Creative young newcomers have their place in the exhibition, too. So has Tom Hegen with his coffee table book “HABITAT – Vom Mensch geprägte Lebensräume”. Using impressive photographs, the work, which was awarded the Red Dot: Junior Prize, visualises human inventions in nature.
Spotlight on design works from North Rhine-Westphalia
The exhibition puts a special spotlight on the know-how of the regional creative industry. It exhibits the latest prize-winning works as well as selected designs from North Rhine-Westphalia which were awarded the Red Dot between 2015 and 2018. The projects on show in “Creative Exchange” were made by designers from NRW or commissioned by companies based in this federal state.
The exhibition devotes an especially large amount of space to communication design “made in NRW” because the results of the Red Dot Award: Communication Design show that North Rhine-Westphalia is one of Germany’s top design locations. At 29%, almost one third of all German entries that won an award in 2018 were from agencies, creatives, designers and companies in NRW. In 2015, this figure stood at 18%. This is a clear indication that the creative industries North Rhine-Westphalia are going from strength to strength, producing world-class quality, spanning over all categories.
For example, the beverage packaging of VELTINS Pilsener from Meschede, which offers a new haptic experience of the beer can, is exhibited. Also on show is the Red Dot prize-winning brand design “Fortuna Düsseldorf 1895”. Morphoria designed it for the football club together with the new corporate typeface “Fortuna Sans”, which was derived from the logo and conveys values like home, community, tradition and respect.
Communication design from the city of Essen, home of the Red Dot Design Museum, is also present: the poster for the “Kunstbaden” campaign in the popular swimming pool “Grugabad” was awarded a prize in the Red Dot Award: Communication Design just like the exhibition “The Age of Coal” of the neighbouring Ruhr Museum and of Bochum-based Deutsches Bergbau-Museum.
In 2018, even one Red Dot: Grand Prix, the highest single distinction in the competition, went to North Rhine-Westphalia for “zeitzeugen-portal.de Erzählen. Erinnern. Entdecken.” by Haus der Geschichte, located in Bonn. On the online portal, which was designed by Markwald & Neusitzer, contemporary witnesses grant very personal insights into the developments and events in the German history of the 20th and 21st century, using video interviews.
Exhibition opening on 14 March 2019
On Thursday, 14 March 2019 from 7.00 p.m. (entrance: 6.30 p.m.), the new exhibition will open its doors for the first time in the course of a vernissage. Designers, creative minds, company representatives and design enthusiasts who want to get an insight into the current top achievements of the international creative industry are cordially invited to attend the opening event in the Red Dot Design Museum Essen. Previous registration until 7 March at www.red-dot.de/wbcd is requested. The participation is free. Red Dot CEO Professor Dr. Peter Zec will deliver a welcome address. Afterwards, the guests can discover the new exhibition prior to the official start and exchange on the latest developments in communication design.
Red Dot Award: Communication Design 2019
Everybody, who wants to put his or her design performances to the test, can enter works in the Red Dot Award: Communication Design 2019 from 4 March. The international competition for communication design accepts submissions until and including 14 June 2019. Winners benefit from exclusive services, such as the presentation of their works in international exhibitions, in the yearbook and online.