It was a unanimous decision across the board that this year’s Hotshop Design category winner deserved to be the personality-plus Alt Group.

The multidisciplinary design firm based in Auckland in New Zealand works across a diverse range of design disciplines – strategy, graphic design, interactive design and three-dimensional design.

The studio, with a philosophy of ‘do disturb’, believes in ideas-driven communication and is actively involved in promoting the strategic use of design in business through its work with the government-initiated program Better by Design, at the Designers Institute of New Zealand (DINZ).

Alt Group retained its full team and survived the uncertainty of the market that was 2009. Beyond survival, the Alt Group team picked up a steady stream of awards, beating its impressive collection of 55 awards in 2008.

In 2009, Alt Group clocked a total of 57 local and international design awards, including a Red Dot Grand Prix, ADC Cold Cube, Cannes Silver Lion, One Show Silver and Bronze Pencils, a Webby Award and a Stringer Award at the DINZ Best Awards.

Projects were also showcased in leading international publications including the ID Design Annual 2009 and the UK’s Creative Review 2009, placing the design studio in the company of the world’s top players.

Standout projects completed throughout the year were the Vigneron book and packaging projects, Selecon branding, and Formway Design’s ‘Thinking outside the chair’.

The Vigneron project was an inventory of sorts, dedicated to the life and work of Najib Corban, one of New Zealand’s wine industry pioneers who lost his sight as a child. The book, which includes photographs of his tools and poetry, was published in conjunction with a limited edition magnum, dipped in blackboard paint and hand numbered in an edition of one hundred.

The completion of the Selecon brand book was also a milestone for the company and was a result of Alt Group working closely with the client to tell a compelling company story in order to create a consistent voice for it. Identity and communications work soon followed, building on the client’s strategy and aligning all external communications around the new brand direction.

Last year Alt Group created Thinking outside the chair, a book to coincide with the launch of Formway Design’s new task seating product called Be.

Created to support the research behind the development of the book, it was designed to function as a tool for facility and human resource managers, architects and designers, charged with the task of creating and maintaining high performance workplaces. Alt Group was involved in all aspects of the book, including research, writing, photography and design.

Comments from this year’s Hotshop judges amplify the courageous personality, attention to detail and quality of Alt Group’s output of diverse creative work.

“Delightful, smart, thoughtful plus exceptionally crafted – I couldn’t keep my eyes of the work,” said one happy judge. “I wanted to absorb every little detail and no detail was overlooked. I sat there with a smile and wanted more.”

“Alt is seriously playful but not without smarts,” summed up another.

FINALISTS:

Naughtyfish

Toko Design