BASF receives prestigious Red Dot Award 2014
- Distinction for "Under the Radar" Global Color Trend Book
Muenster, Germany – November 10, 2014 – BASF's Coatings division has once again proven its design competency. The BASF designers, along with the Raum Mannheim agency, have received the “Red Dot Award: Communication Design 2014” for the design of their "Under the Radar" Global Color Trend Book. The award was presented at the Berlin Konzerthaus on October 24, 2014. The Red Dot Award is one of the world's most prestigious design prizes and is granted annually by the Design Zentrum Nordrhein Westfalen.
Every year, BASF publishes a trend book exclusively for its automotive customers. It presents the latest automotive color trends from Europe, Asia Pacific and North America. The trend book also describes the social trends and developments observed by the BASF designers that they use to determine the color trends. It serves as a tool for the designers of the automotive manufacturers, offering both information and inspiration.
"We are very proud of the distinction. It strengthens the BASF brand in the global design industry and demonstrates that we have our finger on the pulse of our time with our color developments," said Astrid Van der Auwera from the global design team of BASF’s Coatings division. "With the trend book we are paving the way for future-oriented design solutions and approaches." The designers received the same award for a previous edition of the trend book in 2012. This year's Red Dot Award is the fourth design prize received by BASF’s Coatings division in the area of customer communication.
What makes the trend book so extraordinary is the fact that it visualizes the color trends with originally coated color samples. "This allows us to make the fascination of color a real experience and illustrate to our customers the effect a coating can have," explained Mark Gutjahr, head of Design Europe at BASF’s Coatings division. "For the trend book, the way the color, effect and surface interact is a key factor."
The trend book also highlights BASF's capacity to think interculturally and to offer the coatings for specific markets. "Drivers for color trends may be global, but when we translate them into color, we have to gear them to brand recognition, market development and consumer behavior in the respective regions," said Van der Auwera. For this reason, the trend book always takes both global and regional color themes into consideration.
About the Coatings division
BASF’s Coatings division develops, produces and markets innovative automotive coatings, automotive refinishes and industrial coatings as well as decorative paints. We operate sites in Europe, North America and South America as well as Asia Pacific. Within this network, we collaborate closely with our customers all over the world. In 2013, the Coatings division achieved global sales of €2.9 billion. More information about the division is available at www.basf-coatings.com.
About BASF
At BASF, we create chemistry – and have been doing so for 150 years. Our portfolio ranges from chemicals, plastics, performance products and crop protection products to oil and gas. As the world’s leading chemical company, we combine economic success with environmental protection and social responsibility. Through science and innovation, we enable our customers in nearly every industry to meet the current and future needs of society. Our products and solutions contribute to conserving resources, ensuring nutrition and improving quality of life. We have summed up this contribution in our corporate purpose: We create chemistry for a sustainable future. BASF had sales of about €74 billion in 2013 and over 112,000 employees as of the end of the year. BASF shares are traded on the stock exchanges in Frankfurt (BAS), London (BFA) and Zurich (AN). Further information on BASF is available on the Internet at www.basf.com.
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