INDEX: Award 2013

INDEX: Design to Improve Life® is a non-profit organisation focusing on awarding, teaching and promoting sustainable design thinking and solutions to global challenges. Among other initiatives the organisation hosts the prestigious INDEX: Award every other year awarding €500,000 to five talented designers. The award had its 5th anniversary in 2013, and that meant rethinking the whole award ceremony concept and creating a new experience for the 1,300 special invited guests from all over the world.

As inhouse art director I was in charge of creating the visual universe around the award and design and implement the overarching concept of “Good News” on a number of different platforms. The aim was to tell the good stories about designers that are using their creative skills in making life-improving design solutions in a serious, concise and visually appealing way.

INDEX: Award Ceremony

The award ceremony was designed to be a hybrid between a live TV news broadcast and a theatre production, complete with sound effects, live interviews and a composed news anchor in the shape of renowned Danish journalist Steffen Kretz. 

Live News Broadcast

I designed the visual identity and look and feel of the fictive news channel “Design to Improve Life News”. Click below to watch the entire INDEX: Award 2013 ceremony. It was filmed at Kulturværftet in Helsingør in front of a live audience of 1,300 people from 35 different countries.

Winner Prizes

The winner prizes had previously been re-designed from year to year, but I wanted to make one iconic INDEX: “statuette”—like the Oscars—to keep consistency and a stronger brand alignment. My idea was to design a sculpture that could vary in materials if needed but keep the same recognisable shape. The sculpture was an interpretation of the INDEX: colon squares and made of dyed concrete and acrylic plates with foil.