This is second time that the STI Group has organised a creative competition aimed at students of design. This year the Kunsthochschule [School of Design] and the Hochschule [College of Higher Education] Munich were attracted as partners. After the students worked on the development of new packaging solutions for sweets and drinks in 2006, this year the focus was on display.
“It is our aim with the STI Design Award to promote the exchange between design students, our customers and the creative team of the STI Group,” according to Prof. Dr. Frank Ohle, CEO of the STI Group. “Against this background we shall in the future also work with different themes and higher education establishments.”
The focus was on brand presentation
The task of the next generation designers was the development of a cross-national modular placing with additional POS measures. Additionally, for one product from either LEGO, Red Bull or Unilever, cross-communication channel concepts for the product presentation in the retail trade were to be derived. The work submitted was judged by an independent jury composed of selected experts from science, the branded goods industry, the retail trade and design agencies.
Integrating three branded goods manufacturers into the award guaranteed a high practical orientation and at the same time a realistic task definition. While LEGO was interested in the development of a POS presence with a strong message for the annual advent calendar, the staff from Unilever were primarily concerned with new presentation options for the brands Dove ProAge and AXE. Red Bull was hoping however for new thought-provoking ideas for the presentation of its cult drink in the European trade.
Special prize for innovation
Because of the creative diversity of the students, the Group together with the jury chairman, Prof. Dr, Hermann Diller from the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, had agreed to award two special innovation prizes alongside the first three places. The first two places went to the Kunsthochschule Kassel – Sarah Henß was awarded the first prize for her draft design of a Dove display, Olga Koval was able to secure the second place with a display for Red Bull. The third place went to Jan Hopf from the Hochschule Munich who scored with a secondary placement for AXE. The two special innovation prizes went to Sharon Moschner from the Kunsthochschule Kassel (draft design for LEGO) and Martin Jelinek (draft design for Red Bull) from the Hochschule Munich.
“The award presented a challenge not only for you as students but also for us as the jury”, said Prof. Diller on the occasion of the award presentation, “as we had to bundle creative ideas that should stand out on their own into an evaluation package.“
