Winning projects in the 2018 SEGD Global Design Awards were announced on June 9 at the 2018 SEGD Conference Experience Minneapolis.
The thirty-seven winning projects span a range of topics, disciplines, and verticals—from a technology-enhanced ancient temple experience in London to specialized wayfinding for a neurodegenerative disease center in Stuttgart to a university athletic center in Los Angeles. What all of the projects share is their effective use of design to communicate values, tell stories and create a strong sense of place.
The Best of Show award was received by Refik Anadol, Media Artist and Director of Refik Anadol Studio, who lead the winning project design entitled “Archive Dreaming,” which was a collaboration with SALT Research for an exhibition at SALT Galata, an art gallery in Istanbul, Turkey. The complex and striking interactive digital experience is fueled by cutting-edge developments in machine learning and 1.7 million documents from the Ottoman Bank Archives and Museum that result in an immersive installation that reframes memory, history and culture for the twenty-first century.
The 2018 Sylvia Harris award was awarded to a residential wayfinding system called “The Red Stairs” developed by students at the College of Design and Innovation at Tongji University in Shanghai, China. The project was part of an ongoing research and design initiative, “Open Your Space,” which explores how design intervention collectively shapes the public realm.
“The submitted projects are the best of the best from around the world,” says Christina Lyons, professor and chairperson of the Graduate Exhibition & Experience Design program at the Fashion Institute of Technology (New York) and Jury Chair for the 2018 SEGD Global Design Awards. “With seven major practices areas for entry, the variety of projects is vast, and as the traditional silos between practice areas continue to blur, we are increasingly seeing innovation in experiential design.”
In addition to Lyons, the 2018 SEGD Global Design Awards jury includes eight multitalented and internationally acclaimed designers:
- Brian Brindisi, Senior Associate, Firmwide Brand Design Practice Area Leader at Gensler (New York)
- Kathy Fry, Principal at Mayer/Reed (Portland, OR) and SEGD Board Member
- Jeff Grantz, Director of Creative Technologies at DCL (Boston)
- Allan Haley, Consulting Typographer & Writer (Georgetown, MA)
- Sasha Ichoonsigy, Graphic Designer at the Houston Zoo (Houston) and student winner in the 2017 SEGD Global Design Awards
- Joe Karadin, Executive Creative Director at TESSELLATE (New York)
- Valentin Spiess, Chairman, CEO and Member of the Executive Board of iart ag (Basel, Switzerland)
- Ellen Bean Spurlock, Brand Communication and Design at Little Diversified Architectural Consulting (Arlington, VA)
The jury evaluated projects in seven categories that represent the core of experiential graphic design practice: Digital Experience Content, Exhibition, Interactive Experiences, Placemaking and Identity, Public Installation, Strategy/Research/Planning, and Wayfinding.
Ten Honor Awards and 27 Merit Awards—spanning the full spectrum of experiential graphic design, from wayfinding to placemaking and identity, public installations, exhibitions and research projects—were chosen from among 338 submissions of experiential graphic design projects from around the world.
The following is a listing of the 2018 SEGD Global Design Award winners. Images, descriptions, and team credits can be found in the SEGD Global Design Awards section of SEGD.org. Past winners dating back to 1998 are also available in the archives.
2018 Best of Show and Honor Award
Archive Dreaming
Digital Experience Content | Istanbul, Turkey
Design: Refik Anadol Studio, LLC
2018 Sylvia Harris Award and Honor Award
The Red Stairs
Wayfinding | Shanghai, China
Design: College of Design and Innovation, Tongji University
2018 Honor Awards
Denver RTD G-Line Windscreens
Public Installation | Denver
Design: Ditroën Inc.
DZNE Signage System
Wayfinding | Stuttgart, Germany
Design: büro uebele visuelle kommunikation gmbh & co. kg
Escales découvertes (Discovery Halts)
Placemaking & Identity | Montreal
Design: julie margot design
The Handmaid’s Tale
Public Installation | New York
Design: Pentagram
LAVA Centre
Exhibition | Hvolsvöllur, Iceland
Design: Basalt Architects, Gagarin
Row DTLA
Wayfinding | Los Angeles
Design: Rios Clementi Hale Studios
London Mithraeum Bloomberg SPACE
Exhibition | London
Design: Local Projects
University of California, Los Angeles, Wasserman Football Center
Placemaking & Identity | Los Angeles
Design: ZGF Architects LLP
2017 Merit Awards
150 Media Stream
Public Installation | Chicago
Design: Leviathan, McCann Systems
Allen Institute for Brain Science
Placemaking & Identity | Seattle
Design: Studio SC
Any > Which > Way
Wayfinding | London
Design: University of the Arts London
Bill & Melinda Gates Discovery Center
Digital Experience Content | Seattle
Design: Bluecadet
Brick Lane Threads
Strategy/Research/Planning | London
Design: Steer Davies Gleave
City Point
Placemaking & Identity | Brooklyn, N.Y.
Design: Pentagram
DAZZLE
Strategy/Research/Planning | San Diego, California
Design: Ueberall, LLC
Exploring Pueblo Pottery
Interactive Experience | Corrales, New Mexico
Design: Ideum
Fashion for Good Launchpad Exhibition
Exhibition | Amsterdam, Netherlands
Design: Local Projects
Flight Gallery, Discovery Centre
Exhibition | Halifax, Canada
Design: Studio Matthews
Here East Wayfinding
Wayfinding | London
Design: dn&co
Project 100
Wayfinding | Indianapolis
Design: Section 127
Like Me: Our Bond with Brands
Exhibition | New York
Design: Lippincott
We are HSI—MSU Denver Hispanic Serving Institution Interactive Installation
Public Installation | Denver
Design: Metropolitan State University of Denver
NASA: Data Lens
Digital Experience Content | Greenbelt, Maryland
Design: Bluecadet
Northwestern University Common Spaces
Strategy/Research/Planning | Chicago
Design: Gensler
Nubo
Placemaking & Identity | Alexandria, Australia
Design: Urbanite (part of Frost* Collective)
Out of Line
Interactive Experience | Providence, Rhode Island
Design: RISD Museum
Rent-Event-Tec Façade Design
Placemaking & Identity | Mannheim, Germany
Design: büro uebele visuelle kommunikation gmbh & co. kg
Roche Sydney
Placemaking & Identity | Sydney, Australia
Design: THERE
Sagamore Pendry Hotel
Placemaking & Identity | Baltimore, Maryland
Design: Ashton Design
SaRang Global Mission Center Clock Tower
Placemaking & Identity | Seoul, South Korea
Design: YiEUM Partners, Inc.
T3 Minneapolis
Placemaking & Identity | Minneapolis
Design: RSP Architects
The Sydney Foreshore Story Line
Wayfinding | Sydney, Australia
Design: University of Technology Sydney
Wing It—The Winged Insect Exhibit
Exhibition | Blacksburg, Virginia
Design: Virginia Tech
W Shanghai Entry Installation
Public Installation | Shanghai, China
Design: Fabio Ongarato Design
Westpac Place
Wayfinding | Sydney, Australia
Design: THERE
