WASHINGTON, D.C. — Winning projects in the 2017 SEGD Global Design Awards were announced on June 10 at the 2017 SEGD Conference Experience Miami. The SEGD Global Design Awards is the only international awards program focused on user experiences in the built environment.
The 41 winning projects span a range of topics, disciplines and verticals from an immersive wine exhibition in Burgundy to a thematic movie theater in Guangzhou to an interactive office space in New York. What all of the projects share is their effective use of design to communicate brand values, tell stories and create a strong sense of place.
"SEGD represents a community of diverse design expertise, all contributing to the fabric of forming a jaw-dropping holistic experience,” says Paul McConnell, Design Director at Intersection (New York) and chair of the 2017 SEGD Global Design Awards. “As our field expands and our spaces are reimagined, the SEGD Global Design Awards will continue to recognize a cross-section of purposeful and inspirational solutions.”
The Best of Show award went to “Kunstmuseum Basel Light Frieze,” which was a collaboration between iart ag and architects Christ & Gantenbein. The award was accepted by Valentin Spiess, CEO of iart ag, who served as Creative Director as well as Chief Engineer on the winning project. The frieze can display content—dynamic or static text and images—on the bricks at any time of day or under any light condition due to an ingenious system of sensors and LED lights. This innovative, dynamic element successfully harnesses immobile architecture to communicate the goals of the organization within.
Another both purposeful and inspirational solution was the project that won the 2017 Sylvia Harris award, an interactive experience called “Who, Like Me, is Threatened?” at the Center for Civil and Human Rights in Atlanta. Using sensors and interactive mirrors to tell the story of persecuted individuals, the design team at Second Story, part of SapientRazorfish (Atlanta) created an experience that educates and helps visitors connect and identify with the suffering of others around the world.
In addition to McConnell, the 2016 SEGD Global Design Awards jury included eight talented and innovative designers leading their fields in experiential graphic design, user experience design, architecture and digital experience design:
- Patrick Blanchard, Designer, NBBJ (Seattle) and student winner in the 2016 SEGD Global Design Awards
- Rachel Einsidler, Senior Designer, Airspace (New York)
- Michael Freimuth, Founder and Creative Director, Franklyn (New York)
- Carlo Giannasca, Head of Environments, Frost*Collective (New South Wales)
- Keith Helmetag, Founder and Partner, C&G Partners (New York)
- Christina Lyons, Chair, Graduate Exhibition Design Program, Fashion Institute of Technology (New York)
- Kristine Matthews, Owner and Principal, Studio Matthews (Seattle)
- Udo Schliemann, Principal and Creative Director, Entro (Toronto)
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.
Nine Honor Awards and 32 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 406 submissions of experiential graphic design projects from around the world, up 10% from entries submitted in 2016.
The following is a listing of the 2017 SEGD Global Design Award winners. Images, descriptions and 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.
2017 SEGD GLOBAL DESIGN AWARDS
2017 Best of Show and Honor Award
Kunstmuseum Basel Light Frieze
Placemaking & Identity | Basel, Switzerland
Design: iart ag
2017 Sylvia Harris Award and Merit Award
Who, Like Me, Is Threatened?
Interactive Experience | Atlanta
Design: Second Story, part of SapientRazorfish
2017 Honor Awards
AnyPixel
Digital Experience Content | New York
Design: Google Creative Lab
Border City
Exhibition | London
Design: Pentagram
En/Gulf: Ecopoetics of the Gulf and Bay
Exhibition | Houston, Texas
Design: University of Houston
Etsy Global Headquarters
Placemaking & Identity | Brooklyn, N.Y.
Design: afreeman
Exhibitionism: The Rolling Stones
Exhibition | New York
Design: Pentagram
Google Wayfinding
Wayfinding | Kirkland, Wash.
Design Firm: Studio Matthews
Jinyi Cinemas Guangzhou Haizhucheng IMAX
Placemaking & Identity | Hong Kong
Design: One Plus Partnership Limited
Rabobank Sydney Headquarters
Placemaking & Identity | Sydney
Design: THERE
2017 Merit Awards
1 Martin Place
Wayfinding | Sydney
Design: Frost*collective
Boris Yeltsin Presidential Center Media Façade
Public Installation | Yekaterinburg, Russia
Design: Lichtwerke GmbH
Boy Scout Scott Visitor Center
Exhibition | Glen Jean, W. Va.
Firm: Volume Inc.
Closed Worlds
Exhibition | New York
Design: Pentagram
The Contemporary Craft Center, Featuring Tara Donovan
Interactive Experience | Los Angeles
Design: Art Center College of Design
Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum Signage
Wayfinding | New York
Design: Pentagram
Designing Awareness with Placemaking for Goodman
Placemaking & Identity | Sydney
Design: Frost*collective
DinoStomp
Interactive Experience | Corrales, N.M.
Design: Ideum, Fort Worth Museum of Science and History
Free Zone
Wayfinding | Atlanta
Design: Second Story, part of SapientRazorfish
Fred Hutch Visitor Center
Interactive Experience | Seattle
Design: Studio Matthews
King's Cross Plimsoll
Wayfinding | London
Design: Holmes Wood
Knight Frank Placemaking
Placemaking & Identity | Sydney
Design: THERE
La Cité du Vin Permanent Exhibition
Exhibition | Bordeaux, France
Design: Casson Mann
LOOK/HEAR
Interactive Experience | Baltimore
Design: Ran Design
Mac Conner: A New York Life
Exhibition | New York
Design: Studio Joseph
MahaNahkon CUBE
Digital Experience Content | Bangkok, Thailand
Design: Pentagram
Nest Experience
Interactive Experience | Vevey, Switzerland
Design: Tinker Imagineers
Photography Interpretive Gallery
Placemaking & Identity | San Francisco
Design: Second Story, part of SapientRazorfish
Pipe Dreaming at FESTA
Public Installation | Christchurch, New Zealand
Design: Massey University College of Creative Arts
Planned Parenthood Installation
Placemaking & Identity | New York
Design: Pentagram
Tadenava
Exhibition | Riga, Latvia
Design: Design Studio H2E
The Segregated Lunch Counter and Panorama of the Civil Rights Movement
Interactive Experience | Washington
Design: Cortina Productions
Seoul National University of Arts Research Center Wayfinding System
Wayfinding | Seoul, South Korea
Design: YiEUM Partners Inc.
Smart Bins
Public Installation | Seattle
Design: University of Washington
Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of African American History and Culture
Exhibition | Washington
Design: Ralph Appelbaum Associates
“Start an Evolution” Donor Recognition
Public Installation | Vancouver, Canada
Design: PUBLIC: Architecture + Communication
The Strand, American Conservatory Theater (A.C.T.)
Placemaking & Identity | San Francisco
Design: Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP
Tacoma Art Museum Rebrand and Sign Scheme
Wayfinding | Seattle
Design: Studio Matthews
Xintangwanke Mall International Cinema
Placemaking & Identity | Wuhan, China
Design: One Plus Partnership Limited
The Washington Post
Placemaking & Identity | Washington
Design: Gensler
Written Wor(l)ds
Exhibition | Houston
Design: University of Houston
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3M was the Presenting Sponsor of the 2017 SEGD Global Design Awards.
