Award ceremony on June 23rd, 2008
What is good design, what distinguishes the winning products?
You will find an answer to these questions in the red dot design museum in Essen - a museum of a special kind. Here you can see the largest exhibition of contemporary design - worldwide. On an exhibition area of 4000 square metres only current products are shown, everyday objects of which the visitor will recognise many and perhaps even have one or the other at home. What distinguishes these exhibits from other everyday objects, however, is one very special quality: good design.
Good design comes from a balanced synthesis of four qualities: Function, Aesthetics, Use and Responsibility. Every year, design experts from all over the world decide which products will be shown in the red dot design museum. They form the jury of one of the most important design competitions worldwide, the red dot design award. In long sessions the jurors test and discuss the products, examine them for their innovative design quality according to various criteria depending on the field of application and intended use, and finally decide which objects deserve the "red dot" quality seal and thus a place in the museum. One place is reserved this year for the product innovation, the Protect magnetic frame.
This year the jury had to evaluate more than 3000 submissions from 51 nations. In the end, 676 products were awarded a red dot for high design quality, another 50 products received a red dot: best of the best for high design quality. The outstanding design achievements were honoured at the red dot gala on the stage of the Essen Opera House with a certificate framed in a HALBE aluminium magnetic frame.