Two Red Dot Design Awards for our brand

The visual identity of Valencia as World Design Capital in 2022 and its graphic application on posters, created by graphic designer Ibán Ramón, have been distinguished with two Red Dot Awards: one for brand identity and another for graphic communication.

The brand is the result of different inspirations that are motivated, in turn, by the history of Valencian design based on simple geometric elements that, using letters, connect directly with the history of Valencian graphic design

The brand of Valencia as World Design Capital 2022, created by the graphic designer Ibán Ramón, has been rewarded with two Red Dot Awards, considered the international design Oscars, in the brands and communications categories.

Both the graphic identity and its application on posters thus receive these two awards, which represent excellence at world level, in awards considered to be an international seal of quality of good design. The selection has been made by a jury of 24 international experts from among almost 7,000 proposals received.

The main virtue of the brand, designed as a modular system, lies in the versatility and variability of the system, which can be adapted to different configurations and media.

“The initial letters of Valencia World Design Capital have been interpreted on the basis of simple geometric shapes, on a modular square grid that enables an infinite number of compositions. In fact, the abstract nature of the identify, since it is not read as an illustration or a text, will enable it to live together in the future with a wide range of images and titles. Furthermore, its colour evokes the Mediterranean: the sand, the sea, the sun. The typefaces used in the dossier are sufficiently formal while retaining their contemporary and fresh feel,” comments Ibán Ramón.

These two international awards, for both brand and communication, show the high level of this graphic identity which, furthermore, will be required to share the limelight with the primary brand of the World Design Organization. For Xavi Calvo, director of Valencia World Design Capital, “the exercise in mouldability of Ibán Ramón’s brand enables us to conjugate both brands for the more national events at which we want to showcase both identities. In fact, this second brand provides that level of identity and self-identification in addition to the principal WDO logo that we have as the next World Design Capital, following the line of the other seven capitals,” affirms Xavi Calvo.

The brand is the result of different inspirations that are motivated, in turn, by the history of Valencian design. “Geometry is a natural resource of graphic design, and it is also a universal language, which does not expire, it has been present since the Bauhaus. In my work there are some fundamental precedents to understand this proposal, such as We love geometry (2009). Moreover, the use of simple geometric elements, in the form of letters, connects directly with the history of Valencian graphic design, which I already used in the exhibition project of La Nau ‘Valencia Capital of the Republic’ (2016), which is another precedent. But, above all, the important thing is that the solution is not capricious, it is appropriate at this time for an event of these characteristics, owing to its universality and timelessness, which will keep it contemporary for many years,” explains Ibán Ramón.

Since 1955, the Design Zentrum Nordrhein Westfalen has distinguished international product designs with the Red Dot Awards, which are presented at a ceremony organised at the Aalto theatre in Essen, Germany. The communications and graphics category has been in existence since 1993 and is aimed at designers, institutions, emerging agencies and companies. The winners of these awards are included in the yearbook, published worldwide, that presents the best projects in the field of design. They also benefit from being presented at the exhibitions held by the organisation’s museums (located in Germany, Singapore and China) as well as having a space in the virtual exhibition of the Red Dot Organization.

These awards are added to those achieved by the poster of Valencia World Design Capital 2022 at this year’s Graphis awards, with Gold for its yellow version and an honourable mention for the adaptation of the poster in grey. Both will be included in the book “Posters Annual 2021”, one of the most appreciated and widely demanded by the international graphic design sector.