Auckland's Alt Group wins seven Red Dot Awards at world's top design competition

Auckland based multidisciplinary design company, Alt Group, has added seven more accolades to its ever expanding list of international award successes, with the design firm this week scooping seven ‘red dot: communication design’ awards at one of the world’s largest and most illustrious design competitions, the red dot awards.

The red dot awards, which are judged by a panel of 15 of the world’s foremost design experts, recognise the best in product design, communication design, and design concepts from around the globe.

Alt Group, who last year took home four coveted red dot awards and then later went on to win the supreme red dot grand prix prize for communication design – widely regarded as the world’s most prestigious design accolade – beat off a record 6,369 entries, submitted from 44 countries, to take home the seven design prizes.

The seven red dots were presented to the company for a range of projects including the “We Make Light” booklet for global lighting designer and manufacturer Philips Selecon; “The Vigneron Centenary Wine” and “The Vigneron Book,” a hand-bound book and a limited edition series of 100 hand numbered magnums that were designed to celebrate the life of Najib Corban, of the Corbans wine dynasty, and “Thinking Outside the Chair” a book for New Zealand furniture designer and manufacturer Formway.

Alt Group’s other designs recognised in the international design competition included “Black Grace Gathering Clouds,” a campaign for Auckland based dance company, Black Grace; “Eat Drink Merry,” a quirky Christmas gift pack designed for Auckland based law firm, Hudson Gavin Martin’s clients; and “A Lean Year”, a gift for the company’s own clients which took the form of a leaning wine bottle, to symbolise one of the worst years in economic history.

Ben Corban, managing director at Alt Group said the company’s success at the red dot awards was the “icing on the cake” for what had been a hugely successful year for the company, during which time they have scooped 31 international design awards.

“Winning awards for us is about benchmarking our work globally, to ensure we continue to deliver fresh and innovative design solutions for our clients that help their businesses succeed. Beyond that it is about getting New Zealand recognised on an international stage,” said Corban.

Alt Group’s winning entries will be presented in the bilingual “International Yearbook of Communication Design 2010/2011” and also featured in the red dot winners’ exhibition at the red dot design museum in Essen, Germany.

The red dot awards will be presented on December 8, 2010, in the gala hall of the Casino Zollverein in Essen, Germany.
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About the red dot awards
Established in 1955, the international red dot awards rank among the largest and most renowned design competitions in the world. Divided into three categories – product design, design concept and communication design – the awards are judged by a [panel of the world’s leading design experts, who access each entry according to criteria such as degree of innovation, functionality and formal quality www.red-dot.de

About Alt Group
Alt Group is an award-winning multidisciplinary design firm based in Ponsonby, Auckland. With a team of 17, the company works across a diverse range of design disciplines inducing strategy, graphic design, interactive design and three dimensional design.

Alt Group has won over 167 international and national awards in the last five years, including a Red Dot Grand Prix, ADC Gold Cube, Cannes Gold and Silver Lion, One Show Silver and Bronze Pencils and a Webby Award. In April 2010, Alt Group was named the Australasian Design Agency of the Year in CREATIVE’s Hotshop Awards. The company’s work has been featured in leading international design publications including the ID Design Annual and Creative Review.