Ikigai Design, a Dhaka based communication and design agency has won two awards in this year’s Red Dot Award: Communication Design. This year, around 8051 nomination entries were submitted this year from 50 participating countries. On 27th October the ceremony was held in Berlin, Germany and the awards were given across 18 categories, among which Ikigai Design has won the two Red Dots in Brand Design and Poster Design categories, for their work on Bengal Classical Music Festival – a world-class music festival organized annually by Bengal Foundation.
This particular work for Bengal Foundation has brought Ikigai Design a total of five global awards, including the two mentioned above – two A’Design Awards in Milan, Italy and one Silver in Design Spikes at the recently held Spikes Asia 2017: Festival of Creativity.
In a post from their official Facebook page, Ikigai Design has expressed their immense gratitude towards Bengal Foundation and thanked all the stakeholders of the creative communication industry for their support. Ikigai wrote, “All this would not have been possible if not for the support of our clients, collaborators, well-wishers and family members. We believe our achievements are not just our own, but accomplishments for the entire design industry of Bangladesh. This is only the beginning of what the country’s creatives have to offer, and we hope we’ll be accompanied by many more entries from our industry in the coming years. Here’s to ending the year on a high note, and planning for even bigger things ahead.”
As for the design work, their concept was to visually showcase what happens to the soul when listening to classical music. They wanted to appeal to a much larger, global audience, not just the region of Bengal or South Asia. To do this, Ikigai developed a generative system which showed the statue of a musician (playing his instrument) unraveling and being illuminated in accord with 378 ragas, which are essentially building blocks of classical music. As each raga is tied to a specific time of day, the lighting of the statue reflected the different times of the day, and musical notes and interval sequences manipulated and unraveled the 3D figure spontaneously while staying in perfect synchronization.
This clever idea and a brilliant execution was welcomed with a lot of praise, both locally and globally. This project allowed the organizers, Bengal Foundation, to take the annual event to a different height. With record attendances and spectacular reviews across international media, the event brought music lovers and classical music maestros together in one of the biggest shows of the world. In fact, Bengal Classical Music Festival became the largest classical music festival in the world! Thanks in a huge part to Ikigai Design Dhaka and their brilliant project.
About Red Dot Award
The origins of the Red Dot Design Award date back to 1955. The institution behind the competition is the Design Zentrum NRW, which is led by Professor Dr. Peter Zec since 1991. Its distinction, the Red Dot, is established internationally as one of the most sought-after quality marks for good design. In order to assess the diversity in the field of design in a thorough and professional manner, the award breaks down into three disciplines: the Red Dot Award: Product Design, Red Dot Award: Communication Design and Red Dot Award: Design Concept – each award is organised once a year. From products to communication projects and packaging to design concepts and prototypes, the Red Dot Award tracks the most prominent trends worldwide.
Since 1993, the Red Dot Award: Communication Design, known as the “Deutscher Preis für Kommunikationsdesign” (German Prize for Communication Design) until 2001, is hosted annually by the Design Zentrum Nordrhein Westfalen. It is geared to agencies, designers and companies from around the world. In 18 categories, they can enter their works, which will be evaluated by the Red Dot jury. A winning work receives the distinction “Red Dot”, while outstanding entries get the Red Dot: Best of the Best. Only the best piece of work in a category receives the top award “Red Dot: Grand Prix”. Part of the Red Dot Award: Communication Design is the Red Dot: Junior Award. It is intended for up and coming young designers (up to two years post-graduation). The Red Dot: Junior Prize is endowed with 10,000 Euros and goes to the best project.
