Design Achievement Awards

Adobe Systems Incorporated announced the winners of its 12th annual Adobe Design Achievement Awards (ADAA) at the DesignThinkers 2012 conference in Toronto, Ontario.

The event honored students and educators whose winning projects were selected from 41 finalists out of nearly 5,000 total entries from 70 countries. Winning students were recognized in 13 categories encompassing interactive media, video and motion, and traditional media; educators were recognized in three categories celebrating innovative teaching methods.

"In a globally competitive world, students who can express their ideas and solve problems in creative ways will be the most successful," said Jon Perera, vice president of education at Adobe. "Recognizing top talent among next-generation designers is part of a broader commitment at Adobe to fostering creative thinking and expression in education."  

Winning student entries were selected based on originality, effectiveness in meeting the communication objective and skill in applying Adobe products. Faculty submissions were scored on educational innovation and the development of applications to better an overall educational experience.

Winning student entries were selected based on originality, effectiveness in meeting the communication objective and skill in applying Adobe products. Faculty submissions were scored on educational innovation and the development of applications to better an overall educational experience.

Individual student winners and the leader from each group winner received a 3,000 USD cash prize, winner's certificate and a 3-D trophy, plus roundtrip airfare/expenses to attend the DesignThinkers conference in Toronto, in addition to Adobe software. Faculty individual and group winners received the same respective prize packages as well as a 3,000 USD educational grant for the faculty member's institution.

I found very interesting the work of Yeni Kim, who won the award for illustration. She is originally from Seoul, South Korea, and is currently studying MA Visual Communication at the Royal College of Art in London. City Acrobat' is a narrative pop up book about life in the big city. The story is created by Yeni Kim and is told through sequential illustrations without text. The story is based on Kim's personal experience. Life in the big city is not easy. People struggle to survive in the fast-paced and busy surroundings. They become unconscious about their routine life. The main character, an isolated female acrobat, represents the self portrait of a citizen. She needs to perform on the high wire all day, like the workers laboring in the city. Infinite roads, crowded buses, and skyscrapers illustrate the routine life of the busy citizen. Like the female acrobat's dream, the city we belong to might not be the real world, but a kind of stage that we need to perform on.

Yeni Kim

Yeni Kim

Christopher Lavelle (Live action award) produces music videos and animations, as well as illustrations. He works from concept inception to post production. The Turn of the Screw  is a visual interpretation of his brother's song. It is about a woman unable to come to terms with the loss of love. Throughout the narrative her world is unveiled and she slowly dismantles the machinery of her mind. The video,which is very loosely based on the Henry James novel The Turn of the Screw, illustrates the mind of a young war widow and her ever loosening grip on reality.

Christopher Lavelle

Student Awards

Animation: Ainslie Henderson, Edinburgh College of Art, Great Britain
Application Development: Bram Monstrey , Hogeschool West-Vlaanderen (HOWEST), Belgium
Browser Based Design: Vanessa Li, Sheridan College, Canada
Game Design and Development: Mitchell Brien (group leader), Swinburne University of Technology, Australia
Illustration: Yeni Kim, Royal College of Art, Great Britain
Installation Design: James Coltman (group leader), University of the Arts London, Great Britain
Live Action: Christopher Lavelle, Sunderland University, Great Britain
Mobile Design: Kirsten Southwell, North Carolina State University, United States
Motion Graphics: Michael Rigley, California College of the Arts, United States
Non-Browser Based Design: Lee Soyoung (group leader), Hongik University, Korea
Packaging: Richelle Rogers, York University/Sheridan College, Canada
Photography: Pablo Jimenez, Academy Of Art University, United States
Print Communications: Jeff Han, Art Center College of Design, United States

Faculty Awards

Innovation in Interactive Media in Education: 

Anna Zyrianova, St. Petersburg State Academy of Art and Design, Russia

Innovation in Motion and Video in Education: 

Hector Herrera, Ontario College of Art and Design, Canada

Innovation in Traditional Media in Education: 

Kyuha Shim, Rhode Island School of Design, United States