Red Dot Awards: Inspired Design

This year the communication design awards went to a series of food packaging, a concept car with a fishy inspiration and a board game as annual report, among other things

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By Matt Vella

December 10, 2007 at 9:20 PM UTC

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Ostracion cubicus (or boxfish) was the crucial inspiration for one of the designs that nabbed top honors at this year's Red Dot Awards for communication design. Announced Dec. 6 at a posh Academy Awards-like ceremony at the Red Dot design museum in Essen, Germany, the awards are some of international design's most coveted.

This year, 12 jurists from across Europe examined nearly 3,900 entries from 34 countries. The prestigious Dot, as the award is known, was awarded to 336 winners, of which 27 received a "best of the best" designation. A separate "junior prize," of $15,000, went to an innovative piece of software that enables designers to quickly create their own fonts. Only open to students, the junior prize is also the only one that comes with a cash award. Other winners earn the right to use the well-recognized Red Dot logo to distinguish their products and earn the admiration of fellow designers.