Winner of the visual identity design competition for the Design Montreal Open House

Following past successes—including record attendance at the 2009 event—the Design Montréal office is preparing to organize the next Design Montréal Open House. With three editions having been held so far, the time was ripe to rethink the event’s overall brand identity and create a new graphics platform.

The Design Montréal office is pleased to announce the winner of the graphic design competition for the Design Montréal Open House visual identity.

Among the three competing teams, orangetango, Renzo Designers and Sid Lee, the jury selected the proposal by orangetango, whose concept stood out from the rest thanks to its festive, amusing and playful look, its simplicity and its ease of application, among other things.

To download the three competing teams’ proposals, see the Related Documentation section.

The jury

The jury was composed of five members:

• François Beauchamp – Graphic Designer, Studio de design graphique, Ville de Montréal
• Béatrice Carabin – Design Commissioner, Design Montréal office, Ville de Montréal
• Philippe Lamarre – Vice-President, Société des designers graphiques du Québec
• Pierre Laramée – Founder and Director, Commissaires
• Anouk Pennel – Partner and Graphic Designer, Feed

The competition

The competition was a two-stage design competition, by invitation, with payment for concept.

Stage 1 – Pre-qualification for selection of competitors

The jury selected three competing teams, based on their résumés and letters of intent, to move on to Stage 2 of the competition.

The applicants were evaluated on:
– their understanding of the mandate;
– the relevance of their submitted selections of previously completed projects; and
– how well the team members complemented each other.

Stage 2 – Selection of the winning concept from among the competing proposals

Each of the three competing teams received $3,000 in professional fees to cover part of the cost of preparing its proposal.

The teams then had one month in which to develop their concepts.

The proposals were evaluated on:

• the quality of the graphics platform’s operating principles;
• its flexibility of use and application;
• its fit with the event’s values of openness and accessibility; and
• its capacity to co-exist with and evolve according to the visuals developed for each annual event.

The competition was organized by the Design Montréal office of the Ville de Montréal, whose mission is to implement the municipal action plan aimed at improving design throughout the city and positioning Montréal as a city of design.