LFP - Large-Format-Printing
Creative implementation of “Make me smile:”
Monday 25. November 2013 - designmaker 2013 winners have been determined
It all started with the theme “Make me smile” and ended with the smiles of four lucky winners at the designmaker 2013 award presentation. The award recognised designs able to use various advertising media to the fullest effect. Designs reflecting the smile theme had to be adapted to different media such as roll banners, pens, light boxes and full vehicle wraps. As such, the contest was positioned right at the intersection where designers, technicians and producers meet. An expert jury with seven members from the trade press, equipment manufacturers, advertising technology wholesalers and design agencies used a special evaluation matrix to judge entries. The interplay of aesthetics and perfectly reproducible data was the basis for selecting the best submissions to be recognised at viscom düsseldorf 2013. Only those who succeeded in considering design and manufacturing in equal parts had a shot at a top spot.
Beatrice Seidel, owner of the ad agency Chamäleon – Werbeatelier Seidel in Wiesbaden, was thrilled about winning first place for her “Crazy Chamäleon” design. Her advert stands out thanks to the contrast between the black background and the signal colours used. The “colours” theme is further reinforced by the stylised face of a chameleon. As a provider of design concepts, corporate designs, printed collateral, illuminated displays, vehicle lettering and the like, Beatrice Seidel succeeded in applying her eye for holistic communication to her designmaker entry. Her design is ideally suited for advertising applications on cars, flip-flops or floor stickers. That last one she endowed with a unique touch in the form of an exclamation mark. Bold, striking and effective even from afar – this design received the judges’ best marks overall.
Sebastian Karbowiak, one half of the Cologne artists’ duo Debug Visuals, was awarded second place at designmaker 2013. Debug Visuals – that’s he and Pierre Galic, and together they crisscross the intersecting worlds of graphic design, urban art and multimedia installations, working with a vast range of media. At the designmaker award, Karbowiak was honoured for his “Laurel, Hardy & Smiley” design, which pairs American comedy double act Laurel and Hardy – known in Germany by the moniker “Fat and Dumb” – with the iconic yellow smiley face. The jury was persuaded by the well-executed, intelligent combination of “smile classics” from two different eras.
Not one but two designs finished in third place. Both Jessica Görlich and Arno Ludwig received great marks from the jury and came in dead even in the end. Jessica Görlich, a media design trainee at the ad agency Potter Werbeagentur, presented a convincing design called “prominente Köpfe belächelt” – a play on words suggesting that famous faces would be endowed with smiles so that we may smile at them. Her good-mood stickers make smiles magically appear on the faces of Angela Merkel, Oliver Kahn and Mister T. The slogan “Add a smile to every face” further drives home the message.
Arno Ludwig, who’s received two designmaker awards already, was honoured for his “Umarmung” (“Embrace”) design this year. He’s worked as a freelance artist and illustrator since 1988. His company Air Atelier covers a broad spectrum of artistic work, product design, print solutions, merchandising concepts as well as CI developments. His interpretation of the “Make me smile” theme is a playful, emotional and likable illustration-style design.
About the designmaker award
For the third time, this year’s designmaker award recognised designs that can be implemented on a vast range of different materials and advertising media. Next to the artistic quality of the design, the consistency of the overall concept across different kinds of media is decisively important. Thus, the contest aims to bridge the gap between the creative economy and advertising technology. designmaker is organised jointly by Reed Exhibitions Deutschland GmbH, the organiser of viscom, and Potter Werbeagentur, Karl Gröner GmbH and creativ collection Verlag GmbH. The contest is generously supported by platinum sponsor Hewlett-Packard Deutschland GmbH and silver sponsor Complott Papier Union GmbH. The top design ideas were presented at a special show during viscom düsseldorf 2013, and the award presentation took place at the same venue on the first day of the trade fair.