Kyiv’s Eurovision branding wins Red Dot Design Prize

Pavel Vrzhesch (the Creative Director from Banda) has confirmed that Banda’s collaboration with Republique has earned them a Red Dot Design Prize, so there’s reason for Kyiv to celebrate! They received the prize for the design of the 2017 Eurovision branding.

Ukrainian tradition

The ‘Celebrate Diversity’ theme shows a modern interpretation of a traditional Ukrainian necklace which connotates that each bead is a different character.  The namysto is Ukraine’s oldest piece of jewelry. This fit perfectly as the Eurovision Song Contest is about bringing people together from different countries and cultures. Obviously, it also went really well with introducing viewers to Ukrainian culture.
The branding continued throughout the contest, so it was not just the logo, but also trams, trains and other artwork. The host broadcaster also used a similar setup during the contest, by portraying the introductionary flag colours on the necklace. In recent years, we’ve seen the country colours in many different ways, such as portrayed on the arena in Baku, 2012.

What is the Red Dot Design Award?

The Red Dot Design Award looks into awarding the best designs in product, communication, and concept. They mentioned on their website that:

“The accolade of the Red Dot Design Award, the “Red Dot”, is an internationally recognized quality label for excellent design.”

This means that this accolade could potentially open a lot of doors for Banda and Republique. Both of those companies were behind the 2017 Eurovision Song Contest logo design. The award is not only for logos, but also features winners like the Citroën C3 and Modern Life, a wall-hung toilet. And no, we are not kidding.
Do you think that this year’s branding deserves the recognition it received? Or do you think that previous contest deserved the prize? Let us know your opinions and thoughts below or at social media @ESCXTRA