The Magic Box
Norwegian Design Council, concept for the Innovation Award for Universal Design, October 2011
Norwegian Design Council, concept for the Innovation Award for Universal Design, October 2011
The Norwegian Design Council asked me for concept ideas for a new award. The award is called the "Innovation Award for Universal Design", and is divided in seven categories, amongst them architecture, transport, furniture and interior design, and service- and interaction design. These are the great projects that won each of the categories.
The brief was very open, and it could have ended up beeing the design of the statuettes. But my idea was more of a concept to create a dramatic moment as a part of the award ceremony. The winners of each category were announced first, and before the winner of the whole thing was announced, we created a one-minute-dramatic-moment to build curiousity for the price winner, and to make the ceremony something to remember. It's not often I get a brief that is this open, making this a very fun project to do. My idea was to do something multisensory on the moment when the winner is awarded. First I was thinking about lots of small, coloured balls that could bounce up from a box, that included everyone in the audience, as it was something they could catch and feel. The Design Council liked the «pandoras box» idea (except for the fact that this box doesn't open up the gates of hell…). The logo of the Innovation Award is in fact a black box opening up with lights coming out of it. My contribution is therefore a way of branding the award with a physical installation. The black box is sort of a symbol for limitations, and how innovation and creativity comes from that, and just surprises you when it reveals itself and opens up. The wholes in the box is to show a glimpse of the unknown, the innovation - the things we don't yet know about, that will change us.
I made the box and built a lamp in it (with help from my co-worker, Julia Edin), and made it reflect and shine strong light when opening the lid. This was combined with lighing, sound effects and smoke (by Medvind Productions, who did a great job). When the lid opened itself (with invisible threads), animation on the screen started coming up from the open box, making it look like digital confetti that came from the box and onto the screen. The animations were made beautifully by Racecar.
The brief was very open, and it could have ended up beeing the design of the statuettes. But my idea was more of a concept to create a dramatic moment as a part of the award ceremony. The winners of each category were announced first, and before the winner of the whole thing was announced, we created a one-minute-dramatic-moment to build curiousity for the price winner, and to make the ceremony something to remember. It's not often I get a brief that is this open, making this a very fun project to do. My idea was to do something multisensory on the moment when the winner is awarded. First I was thinking about lots of small, coloured balls that could bounce up from a box, that included everyone in the audience, as it was something they could catch and feel. The Design Council liked the «pandoras box» idea (except for the fact that this box doesn't open up the gates of hell…). The logo of the Innovation Award is in fact a black box opening up with lights coming out of it. My contribution is therefore a way of branding the award with a physical installation. The black box is sort of a symbol for limitations, and how innovation and creativity comes from that, and just surprises you when it reveals itself and opens up. The wholes in the box is to show a glimpse of the unknown, the innovation - the things we don't yet know about, that will change us.
I made the box and built a lamp in it (with help from my co-worker, Julia Edin), and made it reflect and shine strong light when opening the lid. This was combined with lighing, sound effects and smoke (by Medvind Productions, who did a great job). When the lid opened itself (with invisible threads), animation on the screen started coming up from the open box, making it look like digital confetti that came from the box and onto the screen. The animations were made beautifully by Racecar.
"To show a glimpse of the unknown, the innovation – the things we don't yet know about, that will change us."
Lighting of the event was done by Medvind Productions, who I collaborated with.
The Black Box (to the right of the screen) stayed black during the first presentations. When getting closer to the award ceremony, the lights in the box started pulsating.
We used some "confetti-champagne", big bottles of confetti, that "explodes" over the audience. Great fun!
