The Red dot design award is a large and coveted international product design prize awarded by the Design Zentrum Nordrhein Westfalen in Essen, Germany.

The aim of the prize is to honor outstanding design quality and trendsetters. Since 1955, designers and producers can apply for the prizes with the winners being presented in an annual ceremony. Winning products are presented in the red dot design museum on the premises of the Zollverein World Cultural Heritage site in Essen.

With more than 11,000 submissions from 61 countries, the international “red dot design award” is the largest and most renowned design competition in the world. The red dot is awarded in three different categories:

Product design / design team
The oldest of the three awards, the red dot award: product design had been known as Design Innovationen until 2000. The competition is open to several fields of manufacturing, including, but not limited to furniture, home appliances, machines, cars and tools.
red dot: design team of the year This special distinction, for which you cannot apply, has been awarded annually since 1991 to design teams which have had an impact on worldwide markets due to their consistently innovative design achievements. The prize-winners include companies such as Siemens in 1995, Apple Computers in 2001, BMW Group in 2007 and the Bose Design Center in 2008.

Communication design
Since 1993, the red dot award: communication design is awarded for outstanding achievements in the fields of corporate design, advertising, interactive media or sound design. Since 2008, the title of honor ‘red dot: design agency of the year’ is awarded to a design agency which has had an impact on the whole branch due to their constistently innovative design achievements. The first ‘red dot: design agency of the year’, Strichpunkt, received this special award, the ‘stylus’, on stage at the award ceremony of the ‘red dot award: communication design.

Design concept
Since 2005, the red dot design museum Singapore also awards a prize for whole design concepts. The “red dot award: design concept” centres on design concepts, on ideas and visions that are new, creative and exciting. The competition distinguishes truly creative achievements and thus pays tribute to the high potential of young, up-and-coming creative talents,designers and design companies around the world.

Number of applicants
The number of applicants has been rising steadily. In total, the 2008 competition has received more than 11,000 entries from 61 nations. In 2008, there were over 3.200 submissions from 51 countries for the product design prize (with 676 winning) and over 5.800 submissions for the communication design prize (with 343 winning).