Designers were invited to define the visual identity of a UNESCO City of Design, expressing each city’s most distinctive aspects. The competition aroused great interest among creators, and a total of 807 posters were received from the seven participating cities, 87 of them eligible for the Montréal competition.
The producers and partners of the Building Montréal UNESCO City of Design initiative are pleased to announce the finalist and the winning posters in the Montréal portion of the CODE international poster competition, organized by the Bureau du design of the City of Montréal and co-ordinated by Melinda Pap, of Atelier Punkt.
The Montreal posters were featured in an exhibition presented from September 9 to 12 at Atelier Punkt.
The 70 selected posters will be exhibited together at UQAM's Centre de Design in June 2011 and will be presented in each of the UNESCO Cities of Design from this month until December 2011. In addition, they are shown online on the websites of the participating cities.
CODE Montreal Grand Prize
Serge CôtéGraphic Designer
Code Montreal Finalists
Alexis Coutu-MarionGraphic Designer
Christine Demarbre
Jean-François ProulxArtistic Director
and Graphic Designer
Jean-François ProulxArtistic Director
and Graphic Designer
Jolin M. St-Onge,Anne-Marie Saucier
Graphic Designer
Julie BissonGraphic Designer
Josianne Poirier,Caroline Blais
V
Maxime David
Sophie PépinGraphic Design
Student
About the Grand Prize
The jury chose the poster created by graphic designer Serge Côté [bio]. Singled out for its quality of execution, his work expresses the individuality, dynamism and free spirit of Montréal’s cultural life, resulting from the symbiosis of the French- and English-speaking cultures. Mr. Côté describes Montréal as a city of contrasts, both American and European, synchronized with the seasons that influence our way of life. Drawing inspiration from water to illustrate what he is articulating, Mr. Côté explains his concept this way:
“This fluid and constantly moving ferment is the results of two opposites meeting to form a whole. The blue and the red blend with one another, without ever losing their tonality. In it can be seen the letters forming the name Montréal. The T is in the shape of a cross. This either represents Mount Royal, or simply the street intersections where east meets west on Saint-Laurent Boulevard.”
Each of the seven Grand Prize winners received a cash award of US$2,000 and a UNESCO medal.
About the jury
Submissions were judged based on the originality and creativity of the concept, relying on solid principles of design, relevance and connection with the competition’s theme, as well as the possibility of adaptation in whole or in part to other applications, formats or merchandise.
The CODE Montréal jury comprised:
- Raphaël Daudelin, associate graphic designer, Studio FEED
- Matthieu Dugal, host, Tout le monde s’en fout, Canal Vox
- Hélène Godin, Creative Director and Partner, Sid Lee
- Masaaki Hiromura, graphic designer, creative director and professor, Faculty of Design, Tokyo Polytechnic University
- Philippe Lamarre, graphic designer, co-founder of Toxa and Urbania, President, Société des designers graphiques du Québec
Marc Choko, professor at UQAM's School of Design and author of several works on poster design, sat as an international expert on the CODE Shanghai jury.
