red dot presents excellent communication design in Basel

Communication designers from around the world are creative like never before – and those interested in design can see this for themselves in Switzerland this spring. With the exhibition “Quality has a form. red dot presents: Excellent communication design in Basel” red dot presents in the exhibition area of the Basel School of Design from 13 April to 9 May 2010, the best communication design works that have won awards in the “red dot award: communication design 2009”. The festive vernissage took place on 12 April 2010.

There was a heavy rush at the opening of the exhibition: “Quality has a form. red dot presents: Excellent communication design in Basel”. About 500 guests altogether registered for the festive opening and vernissage on 12 April 2010 at the exhibition rooms of the School of Design on the Lyss. After the opening speech of Regierungsrat (member of the cantonal government) Christoph Brutschin, head of the Basel Department for Economic, Social and Environmental Affairs, Jean Jacques Schaffner, designer and communication consultant, explained the motivation to show the best works of international communication design at the creative location in Basel for the first time. Subsequently, Professor Dr. Peter Zec, initiator of the red dot design award and head of the Design Zentrum Nordrhein Westfalen, reported on the value of design. Finally, communication consultant Lars G. Wallentin held a lecture titled “Stop informing – start communicating”. The Klezmerband Kolsimcha provided for the background music of the event, which was presented by the journalist Roger Thiriet.

Afterwards, those interested in design could convince themselves of the fact that communication designers from all over the world are very creative. Be it videogame design, an advertising film or an annual report, print or digital – the exhibition of the award-winning works from 42 countries in 25 competition categories in total illustrates the large spectrum of artistic skills required of communication designers today. The international jury of the red dot award: communication design 2009 assessed 6,112 entries in total. Only approximately eight per cent received an award. “The excellent designs of the winners have deeply impressed the independent jurors, and thus the presentation of the works in the red dot design museum in Essen, Germany, has already been a complete success,” says Professor Dr. Peter Zec, initiator of the red dot design award and head of the Design Zentrum Nordrhein Westfalen. “We are particularly delighted about the offer to present the whole spectrum of communication design to all those interested in design at the creative location of Basel for the first time.” The present red dot: design agency of the year, the KMS TEAM from Munich, presents a cross-section of their design performance for international top companies from the last 25 years in the form of an installation.

For a long time Basel has been regarded as one of the European centres of excellent graphic design. Famous designers, among them Niklaus Stöcklin, Burkhard Mangold, Herbert Leupin, Donald Brun, Armin Hofmann, and Emil Ruder, have had a formative influence on the history of communication design and the city’s reputation abroad over decades. The exhibition presenting the winners of the “red dot award: communication design 2009” continues this tradition and aims to ensure that the awareness of the global significance of creative work remains high in future.

red dot on tour
The exhibition in Basel is part of the “red dot on tour” programme, which regularly offers the winners of the international design competition the opportunity to also present their works beyond national borders. Thus, time and again exhibitions of the red dot design museum go on tour and are presented to a broad audience in different continents. Previous stops included Dubai, Tokyo, Sydney, Seoul, Moscow, Singapore and Beijing.

Download exhibition flyer here.