Norwegian Design Council 2010 Award

Statoil, NTNU, Kongsberg Maritime and Synfiber is this year's four nominees for the prestigious Honor Award for Design Excellence 2010. - It is both gratifying and important that the industries that are most important to Norwegian value creation in the future, also appears to be capable of purchasing design services, says Eline Strøm-Gundersen of the Norwegian Design Council.

This year's prize is awarded by the Norwegian Design Council on Wednesday the 17th of March during the Design Day, the most important design event in Norway.

Already, the nominees are being exhibited at DogA - The Norwegian Design and Architecture Centre in Oslo.

- These are four companies that have worked very strategic and targeted with design and used it as a catalyst for innovation, which have allowed them to experience both great and exciting results and leadership roles in their industries, said Strøm-Gundersen, who is Project manager for the Award for Design Excellence.

STIHL X-FIT
STIHL is the world’s most-sold chainsaw brand and is also among the market leaders in protective clothing for forestry workers. One of the reasons why is that it is seen to be among the most eye-catching in terms of design. When individual competitors also introduced functional clothing for working with trees and timber which, in terms of design, differentiated itself from the crowd of grey, STIHL needed to consolidate its position at the top. STIHL has worked closely with Norwegian company Synfiber for some time now on protective clothing for forestry workers, and with its strong professional design environment and broad technical skills, Synfiber decided to develop new ”high end” protective clothing for STIHL that was superior to the competition. The protective suit had to be more eye-catching, even more technical and yet still be the most comfortable to work in on the market. It should also have an extreme fit – X -FIT. X-FIT would be a ”high visibility” protective suit, which basically means that it has a strong colour that makes it highly visible. The most fastidious and critical users specified design and functionality so that X -FIT had to meet strict requirements for both appearance and fit. The new protective suit had to be as lightweight as possible and completely comfortable, allow full freedom of movement and have an unmistakable STIHL design. Orange, black and grey were therefore the natural colour selections. In addition to a cool new design that had to fit both men and women, new solutions for visibility and comfort were required. A newly developed variant of the protective material was also used. Five layers were used instead of the previous six, which significantly improves mobility and ability to breathe. This gives less risk for heating which is considered as a safety risk in forestry work. X-FIT is certified as chainsaw trousers and will also soon be certified according to visibility standard EN471. More info.

 

Company: Synfiber AS
Project group company: Jan Fyrde, Product Developer, Synfiber AS
Designdrafts: Katrin Denk, freelance designer, München. 

Operating station for controlling vessels and operations
Kongsberg Maritime is among the world leaders in integrated electronic solutions for professional vessels. It supplies proprietary integrated control systems to merchant marine and off-shore vessels in addition to platforms and rigs.Kongsberg Maritime therefore decided to develop a completely new workstation, aimed at aft-bridge operators on Offshore Service Vessels. K -Master is the result of this project. It is a unique solution that harmonises the critical systems required by the aft-bridge operator for safe and efficient operation, demonstrating Kongsberg Maritime’s excellence in the field of navigation, manoeuvring and automation in a single workstation. It combines a strong industrial design ethic and an innovative user interface to create a brand new and groundbreaking Offshore Service Vessel workplace. The idea behind K -Master is to move the focus away from separate consoles, systems and equipment towards function, information and operation. The foundations for the visual and functional framework were laid in a pilot project in the autumn of 2008, but from the point at which the decision to develop K -Master was made, there was no doubt about the goal: To build a unique, revolutionary integrated workstation with feature-rich, user friendly functionality.More info.

Company: Kongsberg Maritime AS
Project group company: Prosjektansvarlig, Thor Hukkelås, Kongsberg Maritime - Prosjektleder, Knut Olaf Hoftun Knudsen, Kongsberg Maritime - Ingeniør, Jan Runar Karlsen, Kongsberg Maritime
Design: Hareide Designmill AS
Project group design company: Designer, Magne Ekerum Høiby, Hareide Designmill AS



Company strategy: Statoils guiding star
The merger between Statoil and Hydro meant that the company needed a new name and a new profile. The name Statoil was chosen. Statoil as a company is undergoing major development and needs to make itself known in a demanding competitive situation. Global players need to be faced, the right competences need to be recruited and energy forms other than oil and gas have to be integrated and communicated. With 30,000 employees in more than 40 countries, the profile also needs to function as universally as possible. The aim was to create a strong icon that was clear and easy to understand and associate with. A lot of work was put into the design and the relationship between the size of the different elements in the symbol in order to make the most of the constellations idea, while also giving it a refined shape suitable for both printed media and display surfaces. A unique typography was developed simultaneously to support the logo and to become an efficient tool for future communication in its own right. The discussion of colour was comprehensive, but that it was the North Star was important – it had to be clear, luminous and radiate energy. Most importantly, Statoil should still be able to clearly differentiate itself from all competitors, who largely used conventional tools and colour combinations. The colour magenta is seen as different, in a sense challenging and suitable for a pioneer wanting to contribute to identifying new solutions to the energy dilemma facing the world. More info.

Company: Statoil ASA
Project group company: Team StatoilHydro: - - Marketing Director: Kjetil Undhjem & Ole Gunnar Dokka, Carl Fredrik Olsen, Karin Tangrud, Ågot Holgersen, Cato Meling andNina Opsahl.
Design: Scandinavian Design Group
Partners: FutureBrand - London,McCann - Oslo, Mediaprint - Oslo, Toxic -Oslo, Harkess-Ord - UK, Enigma - UK, Zink - Oslo



NTNU: The Wise Heads
The Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) is Norway’s premier academic institution for technology and the natural sciences, with equally strong programs in the social sciences, the arts and humanities, medicine, architecture and fine art. The university’s cross-disciplinary research results in innovative breakthroughs and creative solutions with far-reaching social and economic impact. NTNU’s ambitions are therefore huge. Their promise is: The creative university. The goal of the new recruitment campaign is to keep the pressure on, strengthen the university’s position and reach everyone between the ages of 17 and 21 who is thinking about higher education. Nobody in the target group should fail to consider NTNU as somewhere worth applying to. The internal feedback is extremely positive. The organization likes the campaign and has adopted it at all levels. Also, the number of applicants increased for the most recent enrolment date. The students at NTNU believe that the university differentiates itself through the campaign and they like what they see. Technology students recognize themselves in the communication, as do the humanities students. The different student groups have their own interpretation of the campaign and
identify themselves with it in their own positive way. There is strong competition for students between colleges and universities, but those with the best grades want to study at NTNU! More info.

 

Company: NTNU – Norges teknisknaturvitenskapelige universitet
Project group company: Prosjektleder NTNU: Camilla Prytz, NTNU
Design: Agendum