On 1 November 2024, the winners of the Red Dot Award: Brands & Communication Design were honoured in Berlin. Guests from around 35 nations accepted the invitation to the awards presentation. Special highlights were the announcement of the winners of the Red Dot: Grand Prix and the honouring of the Red Dot: Agency of the Year 2024, PepsiCo Design and Innovation.
The presentation of the Red Dot: Junior Prize also drew astonished looks: Chuantao Zhu from the Macau University of Science and Technology received the top award in the junior category for his remarkable project “La Divina Commedia”.
Red Dot Gala at the Konzerthaus Berlin
“It was a fantastic evening, bringing together creative minds from around the world. The diversity and quality of the communication design honoured here are truly impressive. Designers from different countries have shown how important good design is for global communication. It was a particular pleasure for me to honour their outstanding works and to celebrate their success with our guests from around the world,” said Professor Dr. Peter Zec, CEO and founder of Red Dot, summarising the evening. Together with Red Dot jurors Irene Au, Réka Bucsi and Holger Windfuhr, he presented the Red Dot trophies to the winners of the highest distinctions as the evening's host.
Winners of the Red Dot: Grand Prix
This year, the highest individual award in the competition was presented six times. The identity of the projects that received the Red Dot: Grand Prix was kept secret until the evening of 1 November. The winners are:
Poster Series “Masters – Interbrand's Best Spanish Brands 2023”
Client: Interbrand, Spain
Design: Interbrand, Spain
Exhibition Design “JORAKAY PAVILION 2024”
Client: Jorakay, Thailand
Design: DUCTSTORE the design guru, Thailand
Public Installation “Mirror Me”
Client: Elastique., Germany
Design: Elastique., Germany
Brand Store “Beauty from within”
Client: SHISEIDO, Japan
Design: SHISEIDO CREATIVE, Japan
Hakuten, Japan
Annual Report “PUMA Online Annual Report 2023”
Client: PUMA, Germany
Design: 3st kommunikation, Germany
Digital Campaign “855-HOW-TO-QUIT-(OPIODS)”
Client: Anzen Health, USA
Design: Raw Materials, USA
SERVICEPLAN GERMANY, Germany
Red Dot: Junior Prize for Chuantao Zhu
With prize money of 10,000 Euros and a high profile, the Red Dot: Junior Prize is one of the most coveted awards for young designers. This year, the special honour went to Chinese student Chuantao Zhu, who was delighted with this outstanding recognition.
His project “La Divina Commedia” deals with the topic of “desire” over 2,000 pages and contains more than 300 drawings and graphics based on Dante Alighieri's “Divine Comedy”. It is published in two languages, Chinese and English, with the binding styles of the two versions being designed differently. The project impressed the jury in many ways: “It is a fantastic piece of work when you look at the paper, the binding, the design itself, the layout and the micro-typographic details. He also designed a small book that contains all the pages in a compact format,” says juror Thilo von Debschitz, describing the award-winning work.
Red Dot Vice President Jova Zec presented the trophy, which crowns the award, to Chuantao Zhu on stage.
PepsiCo Design and Innovation is Red Dot: Agency of the Year 2024
One of the highlights of the award ceremony was the ceremonial presentation of the “Stylus” challenge cup. Thomas Clever, co-founder of CLEVER°FRANKE with Gert Franke and last year’s winner, presented the trophy to Mauro Porcini, Chief Design Officer of PepsiCo.
PepsiCo is a leading global company whose brands are enjoyed more than a billion times a day by people in more than 200 countries. Classics such as Lay’s, Doritos, Cheetos, Gatorade and Pepsi epitomise enjoyment and joie de vivre. PepsiCo Design and Innovation is PepsiCo’s in-house creative department. “The team’s strategic design approach combines empathy, sustainability and innovation in a remarkable way, drawing on an in-depth understanding of consumer needs,” states Peter Zec.
Architect Fabio Novembre, founder of Novembre Studio honoured PepsiCo with an inspiring laudatory speech: “Since the team’s founding in 2012, PepsiCo Design has expanded from a single New York office to a global team across five continents, with 17 Design Hubs in cities like London, Shanghai, Sao Paolo, Mexico City, Istanbul and many more. The team includes more than 400 multidisciplinary creatives on the ground in every region of the world helping building brands with a deep understanding of local nuances. Designers are empowered to design and innovate for their own local cultures, resulting in authentic cultural relevance and pride.”
Mauro Porcini, upon accepting the award, expressed deep gratitude to his team, whose dedication and resilience he described as the backbone of their success. In his speech, Porcini emphasised that excellence is the key competitive advantage, particularly for designers who are committed to crafting value for people. His message underscored that when excellence is paired with a human-centred approach, design has the power to transform both businesses and lives.
After-show party at the BRICKS Club Berlin
This year, the after-show party took place for the first time at the BRICKS Club Berlin – an exciting new setting that not only invited guests to dance the night away, but also to celebrate their creative successes. DJ Chrissi D's beats created a lively atmosphere on the dance floor, while guests enjoyed the night with drinks and a flying buffet. Designers from all over the world came together to exchange ideas, make new contacts and celebrate their success together – until the early hours of the morning.
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