The jury for the Red Dot Award: Product Design 2019 has reached its decision and selected the year’s best products. From the objects submitted, the experts chose only those that won them over with their outstanding design quality after intensive discussions. The competition winners are setting trends in the design industry with their achievements and are giving a sneak preview of what is to come. Sustainable and customisable products are currently very popular.

Diverse range of products submitted

In 2019, designers and companies from 55 countries entered more than 5,500 products in the competition. “This year, the quality of the entries is very high. What is nice about it is that the products are very international so that there is a real crossover of different cultures solving similar problems. It is nice to see that there is a huge variety in what comes out of it”. This is how designer and juror Adriana Monk describes this year’s entries. 

Professional interaction as a central element of the assessment process

As part of an evaluation process spanning several days, the jurors looked intensively at each individual product and examined the entries in great detail. In order to award a distinction, the experts must reach a group decision. The process is characterised by exciting discussions and an open interaction between the jury members. “How do we come to a common decision? It is fairly simple. We talk,” explains design consultant and juror Robin Edman. Adriana Monk sees the interaction as the most fruitful part of the adjudication process: “Having that debate is the best thing about this award. […] It brings out this real balance of understanding of what is good design.”

Red Dot: Best of the Best only awarded 80 times

What all of the laureates of the Red Dot Award: Product Design 2019 have in common is good design. The jury awarded the highest distinction in the competition, which only the best objects in a category receive, to just 80 products. The Red Dot: Best of the Best thus only went to 1.5% of the entries – an indication of the ground-breaking nature of their design quality. In addition, 1,549 designs won the Red Dot, the distinction for high design quality. An Honourable Mention was awarded to 43 products. They won over the jury with well-thought-through detail solutions.

“I would like to congratulate the laureates sincerely on their wonderful success. The fact that their products were able to satisfy the strict criteria of the jury bears testimony to their award-winning design quality. The laureates are thus setting key trends in the design industry and are showing where future directions may lead,” said Professor Dr. Peter Zec, founder and CEO of Red Dot, in reference to the winners.

Product offering influenced by trend toward individualisation

Nowadays there are scarcely any limits to individualisation. It is very evident from viewing the designs that have won an award this year that the trend in favour of self-determination is also leading to a change in our product culture. From cars to clothing or furniture – products are often personalisable and can be configured individually by the customer. For example, many of the objects that won an award in the Red Dot Award: Product Design 2019 are available in different colour combinations and sizes or can be adapted to the special requirements of the user in other ways.

One example is the dentist’s treatment chair “Signo T500” from Morita, which was designed by Porsche Design and won a Red Dot: Best of the Best. This product was developed with maximum comfort and perfect functionality in mind. The latter is achieved in particular by the product’s modular nature, which makes it possible to respond to each user’s individual needs: “Very sensitively integrated in the treatment chair are smart touchpoints with easy-to-understand icons that allow the patient and the dentist to adjust the chair to their perfect working position with a motor that is virtually silent. For example, the spit bowl can be automatically moved to the patient at the touch of a button. […] For me, this new treatment chair sets a new benchmark. Congratulations to the design team.” This is how Wolfgang K. Meyer-Hayoz, jury member and founder of the Meyer-Hayoz Design Engineering Group, sums up the convincing features of the treatment chair.

Sustainable products booming

Alongside the current boom in individualisable designs, there is also a rush on eco-friendly products. The topic of sustainability has long since become mainstream. This trend is also important for the jury. For example, it awarded the top award in the competition to the reusable bottle “LARQ” by the American manufacturer of the same name. The special feature of the product designed by Impel Studio is its UVC light source, which prevents the development of bacteria and viruses in the water in the container. This sterilises the drinking water and makes it easier to clean the bottle thoroughly.

Celebrating the laureates on 8 July 2018

The laureates will be celebrated at the Red Dot Gala in Essen’s opera house, the Aalto-Theater. The winners of the Red Dot: Best of the Best, which include Apple, Bosch, Blackmagic Design, Ferrari, Grohe, Hyundai, LG, and Sony, will accept their well-deserved trophies on stage in front of roughly 1,200 international guests. At the subsequent Designers’ Night in the Red Dot Design Museum, the party will go on well into the early hours and the award-winning products will be added to “Design on Stage”. The exhibition will be on show at the museum for five weeks.