Leading multidisciplinary design consultancy Ammunition is honored with a prestigious Red Dot award: communication design 2009 for its work on a catalogue, designed as part of a product launch campaign for bathroom and kitchen company Kohler's latest matte finish, "Honed White". Headquartered in Germany, the Red Dot award is the largest and most renowned design competition in the world.
Inspired by nature, the gentle texture of a worn river pebble, and the warm white tone of winter snow come together in "Honed White", a revolutionary new vitreous china matte glaze finish on a selection of premium bathroom products. Honed White evokes the sensual qualities of traditionally honed stone, while the matte color brings a natural and organic feel to bathroom spaces.
The challenge of the work was to express subtle, tactile qualities and the near absence of color of the glaze finish. Ammunition created a narrative through visual metaphors to highlight the unique qualities of Honed White. Aimed at architects and design specifiers, the result seeks to accomplish this by means of color and texture in both the photography and book production.
Specifically, visual metaphors for Honed White utilized rich fine-art photography, creating dynamic photo spreads to illustrate the depth, quality and "feeling" of the new glaze finish. Interspersed between the art spreads are color photos, using a minimal color palette, that showcase the new products and glaze finish in an actual setting. The product photography in the back of the publication adopts an architectural approach with color images, using a restrained palette. Images of each product were presented in plan and elevation, rather than the more traditional three-quarter views.
"We are very excited and honored to receive a Red Dot award in recognition of our work for Kohler," says Ammunition Partner Brett Wickens. "The problem we were handed was very unusual. How do you sell the concept of 'white' as a new finish for bathroom products to visually astute audiences? We feel our solution conveys the unique and superior qualities of Honed White as an original and desirable option in a commoditized marketplace, where white fixtures are both typical and expected."