Red Dot Awards honour best in product design

The Red Dot awards, which celebrate the world's leading product designers, saw record entries of more than 5,500 innovations for its 2017 awards.

This year sustainability in materials was core to its finalist requirement, as was sustainability in product design.

This year's fashion and accessory product designer entries include Moi & Co Oy’s reflective gloves, Medi’s cozy winter compression tights, and Frisch Beutel’s N Uber C cork collection of bags. Other finalists include Puma Mostro, JS 3-D knitted shoes, Fred and Matt galoshes, Everbrand’s eco puncture-proof shoes, Hickies no-tie lacing system and an assortment of umbrellas including BMW’s Iconic Regenschirm, a driftwood one and a bamboo one both from Hangzhou Teak Culture.

This competition saw designers and manufacturers from 54 countries compete for the coveted award, which will be officially handed out on July 3rd in the Aalto Theater in Essen, Germany.

Contenders for the “Red Dot: Best of the Best” will be given to companies including Audi, Kartell, Artemide, Hansgrohe, Bora, Electrolux, LG, Canyon Bicycles, Philips, Puma, Niessing, Apple and Bose.

Jury member Professor Renke He from China, an expert in industrial design, says: “Design quality decides the quality of the user experiences of products or services of the companies; it is the key issue for a company’s economic success.”

39 experts from all over the world assess each individual product or object live and in situ in a process spanning several days. Only designs that won over the jury with their high design quality are awarded the Red Dot.

Winners of the prize use the red dot label as a marketing tool, for example on their packaging or in advertisements. In this way, a brand can be associated with award-winning design quality in the long term.

Juror Martin Darbyshire, founder and CEO of internationally renowned design office “tangerine” stated: “For brands, the Red Dot award is a mark of excellence, offering a point of difference over their competitors in the marketplace and gives consumers security in knowing that the products that they are purchasing are of the best quality.”

Photo credit: Red Dot Award Deitchmann wedge and Porsche bag