Since its inception in 2005, the award began as an outlet for design teams and designers to showcase their latest research without customer constraints. Today, it has matured into the largest and most prestigious international award for design concepts at a professional level. With new categories increased to thirty four spanning across an extensive spectrum from public space, lifestyle to security needs. Concept categories are deliberately kept wide to ensure limitless imagination, encouraging new innovations and explanations.
This year, 240 concepts were awarded the Red Dot, with 43 being honoured Red Dot: Best of the Best for its exceptional design excellence. 62 concepts were also credited with an Honourable Mention. Prof. Dr. Peter Zec, initiator and CEO of Red Dot, and Mr. Ken Koo, President of Red Dot, Asia, gave out the awards at the awarding ceremony in Singapore.
The Red Dot jury nominated three concepts from the 43 Red Dot: Best of the Best laureates for the Red Dot: Luminary. Major themes were revisited referencing how dissemination of information and crowd sourcing can be more efficient through an interactive communication system; the future of user experiences in autonomous driving with the creation of an automobile sculpture that shows new ways of interaction between driver, passenger and vehicle; and the future of personal travel devices aimed at solving “the last mile” problem of urban daily commute. Consequently, ”Blood SOS” by Kim Euimin, Kim Heejung, Lee Wonjin from South Korea, “BMW i Inside Future” by BMW Group Designworks from the United States and “Halo City” by Beijing Onemile Technology from China were nominated respectively for the highest accolade at the Red Dot Award for Design Concept.
This year’s Red Dot: Luminary aims to change the way urban citizens explore their cities. “Halo City” is a ready-to-launch micro-electric foldable scooter and personal transportation tool which allowing users to travel effortlessly to and from bus or subway stations. “We have seen a lot of ideas in the past few years, but here we seem to experience a next-level-solution“ Red Dot juror Professor Lutz Fügener explains. “Almost all problems resulting from the challenging compromise between usability, simplicity, aesthetics and attractiveness have been solved. This "all-of-a-piece” product surprisingly communicates self-awareness and highest usability in all details - from folding to riding, and all the added useful features.”
The Red Dot: Luminary trophy is then presented to Beijing Onemile Technology by Prof. Dr Peter Zec, initiator and CEO of Red Dot and Mr Ken Koo then concluded the ceremony with the presentation of Red Dot Award: Design Concept winners’ exhibition at the Red Dot Design Museum which now overlooks the waterfront promenade of Singapore’s Marina Bay.
The result after a year of compiling work, the winning concepts are also presented at the online exhibition at the Red Dot Award: Design Concept website as well as the Red Dot Design Yearbook for Design Concept 2017. The exhibitions and yearbook are traditions of the Red Dot Design Award, providing designers with a reference to the best in design.
Top 15 organisations and institutions in 2017
15 organisations and institutions have emerged top for their continuous achievements in design excellence this year. Released by the Red Dot Institute, Red Dot Design Ranking 2017 for Design Concept consists four distinct honorary lists for Companies, Design Studios, Universities in Asia Pacific and Universities in Americas and Europe. For their constant pursuance of design excellence, the ranking is based on a cumulative weighted formula based on their achievements over the past five years.
This year’s Red Dot Award: Design Concept received 4724 entries from 58 countries. 20 international design experts from the Red Dot jury panel selected 345 design concepts to be honoured. Since its inception in 2005, the Red Dot Award: Design Concept has grown to be the largest and most recognised professional design competition for design concept and prototypes worldwide.
Emerging top in rankings for 2017 are LOTTE Group (South Korea) in the list for Companies, Massey University (New Zealand) in the category for Universities in the Asia Pacific while Umeå Institute of Design (Sweden) maintained its #1 position for Universities in Americas and Europe. Emami Design (Germany) maintained its position at the top for the seventh consecutive year in the list for Design Studios.
Other notable successes include Savannah College of Art and Design (United States) making its way to #2 spot from its previous fourth placing as well as Panasonic Corporation (Japan) being ranked for the first time in the list for Companies. Other newly ranked institutions include The University of Montreal (Canada), Central Saint Martins College of Art & Design (United Kingdom) and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (United States).
Winners of the Red Dot Award: Design Concept 2017 were announced and presented during the awarding ceremony in Singapore, in the newly opened Red Dot Design Museum overlooking the waterfront at the Marina Bay. The Red Dot Design Yearbook 2017, the winners’ exhibition at the museum as well as the online exhibition on the Red Dot Award: Design Concept website were also revealed upon the announcement of the highest accolade for the award, the Red Dot: Luminary.
Red Dot Design Museum Singapore
Established in 1955 at the Villa Hügel in Essen, Germany, the “Ständige Schau formschöner Industrieerzeugnisse” (Permanent Show of Elegant Industrial Products) evolved over the years to become the Red Dot Design Museum. Today, the Red Dot Design Museums in Germany and Singapore present the world’s largest exhibition of contemporary design.
Red Dot Design Museum Singapore now sits on a glass building located at one of the most popular sites in Singapore, the Marina Bay Waterfront. The building used to be the Marina Bay City Gallery that showcase the story of Singapore’s urban transformation and the development of Marina Bay. Now given a new lease of life, clever space transformations have been made to include several galleries, retail, cafe and outdoor seating space to host year round design exhibitions.
Opening with a glimpse into the future, Red Dot Design Concept Exhibition showcases 345 award winning futuristic design concepts from the most talented designers and innovative organisations worldwide. Visualise how concepts may evolve and how we may live and interact in the foreseeable future. Design concepts explore topics on the need to rethink how we deal with urban living, user experience & interactions, work with new crafts and materials, to even product services which are future enablers.
Notable winning works include &Y01 (electrically power-assisted wheelchair that plays music), which is a “ridable musical instrument” based on Yamaha Motor’s electric wheelchair. With the wheels built using drums and a TLF (Thin-Light-Flexible) Speaker, it transforms a user into a mobile performer. Designers from Japan contributed ideas and technologies from their respective companies to create a “ridable musical instrument” reminiscent of a white sailboat and a 1/8th musical note. Another working prototype, Halo City by Onemile Company from China is a ready-to-launch micro-electric foldable scooter and personal transportation tool which allowing users to travel effortlessly to and from bus or subway stations. It is an effective solution for “the last mile” problem in how urban citizens move around. From Singapore’s KIN Studio LLP, the KIN Wallet is the world's first wallet that sorts out the notes from coins. Change is received together in notes and coins, leaving the receivers to sort and separate them. The wallet presents an elegant solution that keeps the woes of receiving change to rest by managing coins and cash efficiently in ways never imagined.
Every year, international expert panels of Red Dot jury decide which product designs, communication designs and design concepts will be on display at the museum. They test, discuss and assess the innovative design quality based on stringent design criteria. The jury will ultimately decide which designs have earned the Red Dot seal of quality, thus a place in the museum.
Red Dot Design Museum Singapore is now open to visitors along the Marina Bay Waterfront Promenade with its museum galleries, shop and the design cafe & bar open late till 2am daily.
